pp social media knowledge sharing inholland 29jan13

Knowledge sharing

• 2/3 of professionals keep knowledge close by• Quarter does not share at all

One big brain

“If HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times as profitable”

Lew Platt, former CEO Hewlett Packard

Not breaking the circle...

... means redudancy of ideas!

‘the strenght of weak ties’ lies in diversity of ideas from different groups

Sorts of knowledge

Explicit => operational => easy transfer

Tacit => context specific/personal => difficult

Question

If you consider your organization to be one big brain, how big is the part you have access to?

Answers from the past

Building IT systems

Unified theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology framework

Offering rewards

Did not work either

Internet

• Dutch people over 31 hours per month on the internet

• 25% above EU average

• Part of population using internet is 88,6%

Was not always so...

• Oldest newspaper 1618

• More newspapers 20th century, start TV 1951

Þ Information gathering watersnoodramp 1953

How did you gather information on

Þ 9/11 Þ Capture of Khadaffi

How did I gather information on

Þ 9/11

Þ telephone, television

Þ Capture of Khadaffi

Þ Twitter, web

Power of communication

• Internet broke through 15 years ago

• Wide audience could gather information

• Users responded, posed questions, answered

• Unknown people became experts

• Power of communication shifted to the public

Where is everyone?

Social Networks

• Around 2005 blogs • Dialogue from, with, to,

between all• People share

experiences, we all have become news

• Positive & complaints• Personal & business

Social Media NL

Update 2012

• Hyves 66%• Facebook 39%• LinkedIn 17%• Twitter 17%

(August 2010)

How active are you?

• Non-users 33%

• Inactives 19%

• Joiners 14%

• Collectors 31%

• Creators 3%

What makes users participate?

• 3 dimensions relate to Social Media use, positively or negatively

Þ Openness to experiences

Þ ExtroversionÞ Emotional stability

Age

• Extraversion predicts young adults’ use of Social Media

• Openness to new experiences predictor for older people

Gender

• Extroversion leads to more Social Media use for men and women

• Only more instable men more regular users

Forms of social media

• Wiki’s: platforms to share knowledge and ideas

• Social network sites: connect with other people online

More forms

• Microblogs: platforms to publish short messages on

• Blogs: online columns with personal observations/opinions

Share with your neighbour

What social media are you active on?

Media richness & self-disclosure

Respondents

• 412 (13% of the 3.026 employees)

• 69% completed survey: 284 participants (9%)

• 46% male (Inh. 44%)• 54% female (Inh. 56%)

Generation

87% 13%

• Age range between 65 and 20 years old

• Average age 46

• Generation X, digital non natives, < 1980

• Generation Y, digital natives, > 1980

Employment years

• Mean 9,4• Std. Deviation 8,0• Minimum 0• Maximum 40

Inholland56% teaching staff44% non-teaching

DomainsDomain Participants Inholland

Communication, Media, and Music 16,5% (+ 2,4%) 14,1%

Health, Sports, and Social Work 14,4% (- 4,2%) 18,6%

Management, Finance, and Law 11,3% (- 3,5%) 14,9%

Marketing, Tourism, Leisure Management 13,7% (+ 3,1%) 10,6%

Education, Philosophy of Life 11,6% (- 0,9%) 12,5%

Technique, Design and Information Techn. 7,4% (+ 1,5%) 5,9%

Unit Agriculture 2,1% (- 0,1%) 2,2%

Inholland Main organization 22,9% (+1,6%) 21,3%

Grade yourself

What grades do you give yourself?

Þ Knowledge sharerÞ Social media user

Be honest!

Grades

• My job: 8

• Knowledge sharer: 7

• Social Media user: 5

Inholland users on social media

Friends M = 86 64 125 47/58 17/24

SD = 106 90 137 102/114 42/73min = 0 0 0 0/0 0/0max = 700 365 800 700/650251/489

Inholland employees have 339 friends / relations on social networks on average – overlaps possible.

Social Media in the workplace

• Boundaries between private and business blurring, emergence of “Enterprise 2.0”

• Social Media during work hours allowed by 87% of all organizations

• Rules or “codes of conduct” by 63%

Internal use of Social Media

• 42% of companies use Social Media internally, but without direction

• 17% fully integrated

• 28% plans for future

• 13% no Social Media at all and no plans

Advantages of Social Media use

Professionals:• Increase network• Gather information

Organizations:• Marketing• Relationship building• Knowledge sharing

within the company

Professionals

• Use Social Media to share information, pose questions, give answers

• Positions as expert• Gives network boost• Social media supports:

co-operation 26%finding people 65%sharing knowledge 77%networking 81%

Advantages for Inholland professionals

Costs for Inholland professionals

Summing up: “Social Media....”

• Help my career• Good for my reputation• Brings me valuable

knowledge

• Don’t cost too much time• Don’t cost too much trouble• Rather share knowledge,

don’t expect criticism

Þ Slightly disagreeÞ Slightly disagree Þ Slightly disagree

Þ NeutralÞ NeutralÞ Slightly agree

Behaviour

18%

12%

9%

10%

How about knowledge sharing?

Virtual communities without rich knowledge are of limited value, content is king!

Sharing is natural, knowledge sharing within organizations is complex.

Will tools do the trick?

Companies facilitate internal communication with IT, intranets and more, and have a core that is Social Media.

But... It’s easier to give communities tools, than tools communities.

Motivations to share

• I naturally share info on strategy and methods

• I share info on strategies that did not work well

• I go out of my way to help others with a problem

• I help without being asked• I respond quickly to e-mails• I send detailed e-mails

Þ Slightly agree

Þ Slightly agree

Þ Agree

Þ Slightly agreeÞ AgreeÞ Sligtly agree

TrendCommunication

professionals consider the increase of sharing experiences, knowledge and information through Social Media the most important trend to anticipate.

Shared awareness who knows what

If HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times as profitable. – Lew Platt

Sharing alone not enough, knowledge has to be applied. Who knows what? Can be improved with information technology.

Transactive Memory of Inholland

• I can find info and know who to ask questions

• To find info or expert I use traditional media

• To find info or expert I use Social Media

Þ Often

Þ Often

Þ Sometimes

Hypotheses (or assumptions)

What do you expect?

Will social media use have positive effect on knowledge sharing?

Benefits

The more benefits outweigh the costs of social media use, the more people use social media actively

Information

The more people use social media, measured by the activity and number of contacts, the more often people find information

(only: reading LinkedIn updates & co-worker contacts on LinkedIn)

Finding experts

The more people use social media, measured by the activity and number of contacts, the more often people find experts

(only: co-worker contacts on LinkedIn)

Weak ties

The more people use social media, measured by contact intensity, the more knowledge is being shared with weak ties

(contacts with external professionals)

Identification

The higher the identification with the organization, the less knowledge is being shared with weak ties

Tacit information

The more people use social media, measured by content creation, the more tacit knowledge people share

(main effect ‘creating professional content’)

Better knowledge worker

Improving transactive memory, sharing with weak ties, and sharing tacit knowledge, is positively related to performance as knowledge worker

(effects of Transactive Memory and Sharing Tacit Knowledge)

So

Using social media is good for knowledge sharing. Now what?

Fish where the fish are

Don’t ignore the professional media people use every day

Benefits vs costs

Use of social media driven by making up balance

Decreasing time and trouble (costs) will encourage social media use

How?

Make it easy!

Integrate social media on platform of organization

Support inexperienced people

Offer trainings

Question

Are social media integrated on the platform of your organization? Any plans?

Cherish your expertise

Want to bring knowledge to the workplace?

Do not first look to outside professionals, with help of social media

experts can be found inside the organization

Increase tacit knowledge sharing

Stimulate people to share professional knowledge

for example through (micro) blogs

Differences between generations

Take them into account

Value all members, learn from each other

Babyboomers best knowledge workers

Digital natives good social media users

Please use my data and share alike

nicolette.bakhuisen@inholland.nl misscomm

Discussion with a drink

Handouts at the exitFace-to-face will never die (also be social offline)Offer your expertise to a strangerStay in touch through LinkedIn or Yammer

How can you contribute to sharing knowledge using social media in the workplace?