Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration

There is a new wave of business communication tools including blogs, wikis and group messaging software that allow for more spontaneous, knowledge-based collaboration. This article offers a paradigm that highlights the salient characteristics of these new technologies, which the author refers to as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:MIT Sloan management review 2006-04, Vol.47 (3), p.21
Main Author: McAfee, Andrew P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blogs
Collaboration
Communication
Information technology
Instant messaging
Internet
Intranets
Knowledge management
Operations management
Organization development
Software utilities
Web 2.0
Wikis
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Summary:There is a new wave of business communication tools including blogs, wikis and group messaging software that allow for more spontaneous, knowledge-based collaboration. This article offers a paradigm that highlights the salient characteristics of these new technologies, which the author refers to as SLATES (search, links, authoring, tags, extensions, signals). The resulting organizational communication patterns can lead to highly productive and highly collaborative environments by making both the practices of knowledge work and its outputs more visible. Drawing on case studies and survey data, the article offers managers a set of ground rules for implementing the new technologies. First, it is necessary to create a receptive culture in order to prepare the way for new practices. Second, a common platform must be created to allow for a collaboration infrastructure. Third, an informal rollout of the technologies may be preferred to a more formal procedural change. And fourth, managerial support and leadership is crucial.
ISSN:1532-9194