On the last HR Happy Hour show we talked quite a bit about organizational culture, and how culture influences the acceptance of 'alternative' appearance and attitude.
The culture discussion carried on via Twitter the next day as well, and since I have to put a Technology spin on things, it led me to this question:
Can the application of technology, specifically technologies designed to increase employee communication and enhance collaboration actually change culture?
Flickr - Pinheiro
Or does an organization's shared culture and their norms drive what technologies are adopted and how these technologies are used?
If you take the position that culture, values, mission and organizational priorities drive the design, content, and implementation of technology, then only those companies that already possess an open, transparent, and collaborative culture stand to benefit from the application of the literally hundreds of new technolgoy solutions meant to help foster these objectives.
But if you believe in the power of these tools, then potentially even the most closed, insular, and hierarchical companies can see benefits in their implementation.
So the question is, can collaboration and 'social' technology transform company culture?