Web 2.0 empowers employees

Johannesburg, 11 Jun 2009

The knowledge worker works with ideas and therefore needs to be measured and managed differently. Any industry which employs knowledge workers is competing for talent and the competitive advantage is achieved through employee engagement and empowerment.

So said Kate Elphick, director of Digital Bridges, during her keynote address at the Human Capital Management using Web 2.0 technology conference in Johannesburg this week.

Focusing on the 21st-century business model, Elphick highlighted collaboration and innovation as future currencies of business. Innovation within this model is about management, which includes engaging the knowledge worker to act in the interests of the business. “Web 2.0 allows us to engage the knowledge worker,” she stated.

Interactive intranets

Elphick suggests interactive intranets as a way of engaging the knowledge worker. “An interactive intranet is an internal Web-based tool which forms the strategic backbone for sharing information, communication and collaboration.”

These interactive intranets afford employees the opportunity to build their own profiles within the organisation. “Virtual reward systems could be displayed on the individual employee's personal profile,“ she suggested.

Interactive intranets are based on the core values, processes, workflows and content structures of the organisation and at the same time transparently illustrate the end-to-end business value chain to the employees, explains Elphick. “Once employees recognise that they are part of a system they can identify with, they will understand which behaviours are required from them,” she said.

Within the knowledge worker environment, the interactive intranet provides a powerful communication system in the form of blogs and wikis, as well as instant messaging between employees, she added. These communication tools ensure that the employee is getting value from the system.

Elphick concluded that interactive intranets provide an inclusive culture within the knowledge worker environment that is energising and reinforces sustainable competitiveness.