Intranets: powerful agents of corporate change

reproduced with permission from Mass High Tech, August 27, 1999

by W. David Stephenson

If you still believe that technology is neutral, it’s time to take a new look at intranets — the most powerful agent for corporate change in our lifetime.

Despite all of the organizational development initiatives of the past decade, the majority of organizations are still hierarchical — albeit more”flattened” than before.

Intranets — restricted-access networks that work like the Web, but operate behind “firewalls” to protect proprietary information — inherently destabilize hierarchies because they allow people throughout the organization to communicate directly, unfettered by titles or job descriptions.

Intranets do more than just undermine traditional organizations. Again, the technology isn’t neutral: it encourages evolution of corporate organizational styles that are fundamentally different from, and (I argue) more humane and creative, than the Industrial Age ones they replace.

Three values differentiate intranet-centric organizations.

First, they empower the individual.

Downsizing, re-engineering, etc. eliminated whole levels of corporate bureaucracy, often resulting in one person being asked to do the work that two or more did historically. Until the intranet, these remaining workers were rarely given the tools and power they needed to make up the difference.

Now, in enlightened companies, the intranet gives workers new power and removes much of the former minutiae that interfered with creative problem-solving. According to a recent survey, the majority of intranets put corporate policies and procedures online. Some allow online purchasing and/or filling out expense reports or arranging travel one’s self — all significant time and paper savers (a tip: almost without exception, the most successful intranets first put personnel policies and information on vacation scheduling, 401 Ks, etc. online. Not only did this assure instant, company-wide use because the subject matter was important to every worker, but it inspired creative imitation by other departments, which now had first-hand evidence of the intranet’s power).

The most advanced intranets let workers schedule and hold live, on-line meetings instead of having to book a conference room weeks in advance. They can also collaborate, using groupware and share documents in real time, dramatically reducing the amount of time that used to be consumed by routing documents in linear fashion (unfortunately, as David Weinberger, editor of the online “Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization,” pointed out recently, only a minority of corporate intranets really capitalize on these possibilities).

Putting knowledge at he command of every worker is perhaps the most important empowerment tool. This “knowledge management,” one of today’s hottest management topics, would be impossible without intranets. The accumulated wisdom from past projects, which was formerly locked away in file cabinets as well as recorded online dialogues on current projects can and should be made available to those just joining the company or those undertaking a new project. By being able to tap this accumulated corporate wisdom, much trial-and-error can be avoided.

Second, intranets are “out of control.”

This concept, coined by Kevin Kelly in his book by the same name, relates closely to empowering workers. It scares those who want to control power. However, the kind of creative chaos that an intranet spawns is an asset in today’s fast-changing business environment. Because there is no central control, intranet-based companies can adapt to change the way organisms do: constantly mutating , sloughing off obsolete methods and creating new ones that meet the challenges of a changing environment. Work groups can arise spontaneously as team leaders — whether formally-annointed or self-appointed — enlist others who they discover have the relevant skills for the task at hand, then disband as soon as the job is completed, rather than being perpetuated just due to institutional inertia.

Third, intranets let workers “weave a web.”

The intranet isn’t just a technological web, but fosters a social one, as well. In the past, departments worked on projects sequentially, with little ability to collaborate and find innovative solutions that could achieve several objectives simultaneously and reduce costs.

By contrast, the intranet allows instantaneous feedback from everyone in the company affected by a decision, so that problems that would be costly if not corrected until the product was in production could be caught and eliminated at almost no cost in the design phase.

If you are concerned about protecting conventional hierarchies, don’t consider an intranet. However, if you are concerned with giving your workers the tools they need to deal with rapidly changing challenges and to make the workplace a more stimulating and satisfying one in the process, then the intranet will speed the change more than any other tool at your command.