BoardRoom Discussions

Dear friends and corporate people, as I shared in my personal blog, I will be active in writing again, and hopefully do some podcast and webcast along the way. And there is no better way to do it than start a blog series about HR 2.0.

HR 2.0 talks about the 2 dimensions of  HR transformation. 1st,   the cross over from the traditional HR silos– administrative and employee champion to strategic HR and change agent. And the 2nd , the acceptance of web 2.0 as productivity tool for Human Resource Management.

The objective of this series is not to discuss about strategic HR, but to explore the opportunities presented by web 2.0. We will start things slow to make sure we all see each other in the eye, and we are in the same language.

On this chapter, we will only discuss what web 2.0 is. I will be sharing 2 videos, the 1st one is about understanding web 2.0 in layman’s term and the 2nd one, the technical definition. Here is the first video

Now let’s proceed to the nose bleed part, the technical definition of web 2.0.

Basically, web 2.0 is about social connection where sharing and collaboration is encouraged. Unlike the 1st generation of the web, emphasis is on “read only” mode. Below are notable quotes about web 2.0

1. A mix of technology and business process that facilitates conversational marketing. www.bottlepr.co.uk/glossary.html
2. “Web 2.0″ refers to what was perceived as a second generation of web development and web design. It is characterised as facilitating communication … en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
3. A term used to describe a new generation of Web services and applications with an increasing emphasis on human collaboration. www.headland.co.uk/pages/glossary
4. Web 2.0 does not refer to any specific change in the technology of the Internet, but rather the behavior of how people use the Internet. …www.twinity.com/en/glossary

From the quotes above, I would like to put emphasis on the following key phrases: (1) mix of business process and technology, (2) Human collaboration and (3) Behavior of people using the internet. As human resource practitioner, our business is people, human behavior at work, productivity in our business process.

If we will be managing the present and future generation of workforce, these people are the e-generation, where almost everyone have a Facebook and Twitter account. These generation of workforce are communicating, collaborating, blogging about issues affecting them, including work, their bosses and the company.

At this point, lets ponder  and look at the options on how to handle these new generation of employees. In your opinion, how do you think HR should proceed?