There is lots of energy and interest in implementing 'social' collaboration systems inside the Enterprise. ;)
Flickr - steve took itThese systems have many goals, chiefly the facilitation of employee collaboration, development of a corporate knowledge base, and to provide a platform to speed new hire productivity.
For any of these 'social' systems to be effective, they must engender enthusiastic support and adoption by the organization's ranks. Employees must see the benefit in contributing and participating in these systems. They must be comfortable sharing information and sometimes explicitly documenting the 'how' of their work processes.
But in a climate where it seems like corporate America sheds thousands or workers every day, does it make sense that many employees will be reluctant to openly share and document this tacit knowledge?
If an employee feels like the safeguarding (in their heads), of this critical information is their best defense against a possible layoff, are they likely to enthusiastically participate in social systems, that rely on making such 'internal' knowledge transparent.
Is it possible that the implementation of corporate social systems can benefit the enterprise, but harm the individual employee?
What do you think?