Terry Doerscher posts a very interesting and eloquent entry on balancing the need for directive control and to give freedom to flourish in the work of Knowledge Workers. Quite rightly he concludes with no prescriptive answer, as there isn't one. I'm no expert on this matter and haven't the time to read even the two books Terry mentions let alone the library of thought that no doubt exists around this topic. Coming at this from a technical view we need to widen roads and lay traps.
People will use the tool that enables them to do what they need to do in the most efficient way. Efficiency means that not having to ask anyone for permission or assistance to get this done. People will sacrifice their contribution to the Greater Good if necessary. In other words, the tools we provide need to be obvious to use and unhindered by bureaucracy. (This reminds me of Andrew McAfee's post on The 9X Email Problem; if you need to make people change from what they are doing now the hill is so much steeper.)
Then there are the traps; not preventative measures but ones that capture what people are doing without requiring them to do anything different. This is the emergent attribute of technology that is at the heart of Enterprise 2.0 software. If we can harness every day activities and link them into the collective organisation in a way that contributes to the Greater Good then we gain something for nothing.
I'll conclude then to say that emergence will be a key technology contribution to the solution.
Planview - Blogs - Enterprise Navigator: Dancing on the Edge of a Razor Blade
People will use the tool that enables them to do what they need to do in the most efficient way. Efficiency means that not having to ask anyone for permission or assistance to get this done. People will sacrifice their contribution to the Greater Good if necessary. In other words, the tools we provide need to be obvious to use and unhindered by bureaucracy. (This reminds me of Andrew McAfee's post on The 9X Email Problem; if you need to make people change from what they are doing now the hill is so much steeper.)
Then there are the traps; not preventative measures but ones that capture what people are doing without requiring them to do anything different. This is the emergent attribute of technology that is at the heart of Enterprise 2.0 software. If we can harness every day activities and link them into the collective organisation in a way that contributes to the Greater Good then we gain something for nothing.
I'll conclude then to say that emergence will be a key technology contribution to the solution.
Planview - Blogs - Enterprise Navigator: Dancing on the Edge of a Razor Blade
Drawing upon the works mentioned and your basic daily observation, we know that knowledge workers, in particular, professionals, tend to be a highly independent sort and very cat-like. When you get right down to it, we like to do what we want and do it the way we want to, not necessarily how someone else wants us to. In fact, we are generally loath to take direction. Nor are we inclined to clue anyone else in on what it is that we are doing or our methods or progress, if we can avoid it. We want to establish our own list of tasks, set our own priorities for them, and figure out how to pull it all off without any help or oversight.
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