Can we use Enterprise 2.0 to Motivate our employees?

Now anyone who's done a half-day class on HR, or psychology, or performance management, or, for example, an MBA, will be familiar with the concept of motivating the staff of an organisation... how to do it, how not to do it, and what are the potential pitfalls.

The names 'Herzberg' and 'Maslow' figure highly in such discussions (though not everyone agrees with them). In brief, the idea is that once you surpass a minimal level of salary that affords you a 'decent' lifestyle (define 'decent' as you wish), i.e. a house/flat, food, clothing, entertainment and the security in knowing that it won't all be taken away next week, you are no longer motivated by salary increases.

Of course there are those who are only concerned with getting as much money in the bank as possible, but the vast majority seem, apparently, to be 'happy with their lot'. So if you can't increase someone's salary to motivate them, how can you get them interested in their job and performing better?

Well, (and correct me if I'm wrong any of the millions of people who know more about this than me) but Herzberg suggested (following a study of thousands) that it is certain intangible features of our working life that are more important than tangibles.

So rather than giving them (us?) a great canteen, gym membership, pension, health insurance, good holiday entitlements and, of course, a decent salary, it is more important to give them (us!) more responsibility, more automony, more freedom to manage tasks and interact with eachother.

To me this is obvious. We're all grown adults (if you're not, surely you should be playing video games rather than reading this blog?) and no one likes being patronised or treated like a kid... which is exactly the way many organisations, or at least many 'team leaders', seem to treat their staff. Processes are exact. Staff are reprimanded for arriving at 9.08 in the morning rather than 8.59 (despite the amount of total hours they work). Access to social networking sites such as Facebook are blocked, or certainly limited to a few minutes a day.

And yet, when one looks at the struggle of integrating Strategic Human Resource Management into an organisation, one of the biggest challenges is communicating the corporate strategy down to all levels of the business - enabling them - the workers - to know their part in it all and why they are being asked to do things in a particular way.

So what is 'Enterprise 2.0' (i.e. Web 2.0 for business purposes) if not the biggest, newest and bestest tool for communicating? Let's not even discuss the issues of collaboration and crowd-sourcing... the simple tools available through anything called '2.0' can make organisations work better, quicker, with more integration, and more enfranchisement...

... so ... at a time of recession when organisations are unable to promise long-term benefits or salary increases to their employees, what they can do is give those employees a voice. Let them talk amongst themselves. Let them talk to people outside the company... the contractual guidelines for employment can still stipulate that employees are expected to behave 'reasonably', to not abuse the system and to keep confidential information just that... that is, remind them that they're adults and treat them as such.

What's the worst that can happen? That 99% of the company spends 8 hours a day on Facebook? That's unlikely. That rivalries between different departments sprout up through an internal network or intranet? Such rivalries probably already exist and this simply gives the management a chance to identify potential problems and try and sort them out.

I find such issues a 'no brainer' - and yet am constantly surprised at the number of people I meet in the big wide world who have an attitude to staff that belongs in the nineteenth century. Not everyone will be stimulated by their jobs. Not everyone will reach the level of CEO or start their own business. Companies need people to do what are often, mind-numbingly boring jobs... so they should look at help relieving that boredom.

After all, motivated staff are more likely to stay on at the company - reducing recruitment and training costs and increasing productivity. And yet I feel that may organisations will take another 20 or 30 years to accept that the world will not end if they allow their staff to enjoy themselves.