Organizational Design

Social Intranet Design and Organizational Identity: Design for functionality and character

June 15, 2011

Tweet In a social organization, the design of digital social tools like intranets should reflect the organizational features that define the organization. These design features, no matter how subtle, can ‘auto-communicate’ and make salient the characteristics that matter most, and help organizations stay authentic. Especially in the digital workplace, our digital tools create an important […]

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7 Ways That Social Business Advice is Wrong for Your Organization

June 9, 2011

Tweet “Social Business” is coming to your organization, whether you’re ready or not. Social business tools, also known as enterprise social media or systems of engagement, are increasingly being advocated by vendors and consultants as tools that help any organization do its work better. But, while the influx of social tools could really benefit your […]

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Authentic Competitive Distinctiveness — It’s all in the details

May 19, 2011

Tweet There’s a great photo in the New York Times (May 19, 2011) of a whitepaper chart created to manage the Delta-Northwest Merger’s Long and Complex Path. The chart is full of of post-its, probably more than 200 of them. Each post-it reflects a point where the systems and processes of the organizations need to […]

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Systems of Engagement: Technology for Social Organizations

April 13, 2011

Tweet “Systems of engagement.” Isn’t that an evocative term? The minute I read it, I knew that the term “systems of engagement” captured something important–but what? I searched the web, I even consulted Quora, but I found no definition of “systems of engagement” that incorporates all that the term evokes for me. So at the […]

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Authentic From the Start-Up: 4 Tips from Cindy Gallop and IfWeRanTheWorld

October 21, 2010

Tweet If you were building an organization from the ground up, how would you “build authenticity in” from the very start? I had the chance to ask this question of Cindy Gallop, an entrepreneur and marketing/advertising/branding guru, who is the CEO of a start-up called IfWeRanTheWorld. IfWeRanTheWorld and Cindy have both been recommended to me […]

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3 Dangerous Assumptions in Corporate Work-Life Policy

October 12, 2010

Tweet Isn’t Corporate Work-Life policy great? Here we have a progressive set of programs and strategies that: Acknowledge that every employee is more than a worker, Recognize that she or he is also a ‘whole person’ with a life that extends outside the workplace, and Demonstrate that employees’ full lives should be respected and maybe […]

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Facebook for Women vs. Facebook Designed by Feminists: Different vs. Revolutionary

October 5, 2010

Tweet What would Facebook be like if it were designed by women? In my earlier post, I proposed that Facebook would look, feel and function differently if it had been designed by “women”. [What I actually was writing about what what Facebook might look like if it had been designed by Feminists– but I used […]

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If Women Had Designed Facebook

September 30, 2010

Tweet If women had designed Facebook, maybe it wouldn’t feel … So cold. So rectangular. So static. So emotion-less. So linear. So blue. So hierarchical. So rigid. So ego-centric. So boring. If women had designed Facebook, maybe it would be: Warmer. More welcoming. Flexible. Expressive. Inclusive. Emotional. Aesthetically inviting. Personalizable. Collaborative. Dynamic. Intimate. Engaging. Flow-y. […]

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Target Misses the Mark on Diversity: Corporate Donation equals Corporate Homophobia

July 28, 2010

Tweet How do you know whether an organization is racist, or sexist, or homophobic? You can use my 6 Degrees test, or you can use an even simpler method: You can watch where they put their money. Target has put its money behind the campaign of a homophobe who’s against same-sex marriage. This single action […]

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Changing the CEO at BP: It won’t make a difference, except where it will

July 27, 2010

Tweet For the past 90 days and counting, we knew this day was coming. You didn’t need an Irish bookmaker to tell you that Tony Hayward’s tenure as CEO of BP was coming to a close. Any organization facing a crisis like the BP Oil Spill would be likely to replace the guy at the […]

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