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Social networking in a corporate environment
Graduation Thesis
By:
Claire Willekens and Sten ter Horst
Study:
Human Resource Management
Faculty of Business, Hanze University of applied sciences
Coordinator Hanze University:
Jos van Kempen
Supervisor Ahold:
Hans Hijne
Organisation:
Ahold
Date:
May 31st 2010
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Social networking in a corporate environment
Graduation Thesis
By:
Claire Willekens and Sten ter Horst
Study:
Human Resource Management
Faculty of Business, Hanze University of applied sciences
Coordinator Hanze University:
Jos van Kempen
Supervisor Ahold:
Hans Hijne
Organisation:
Ahold
Date:
May 31st 2010
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Executive Summary
Social networking is a tendency that hits the corporate environment. We concentrated on the great
amount of different sites and applications and understood this development is difficult to oversee for
any given company. Companies see the advantages of this development and they want to benefit
from it. The only problem is that they do not know how. This thesis was undertaken for Ahold to give
leading principles of learning through social networking, that can contribute to Aholds future. Ahold
is an international organization in retail, based in Europe and the USA.
The main question in our research is as follows
Which leading/guiding principles, considering learning through social networking, can contribute to
Aholds future?
For a more structured approach to answering this question, the question was divided it into five sub
questions. These sub questions together are answering the main question. First, we performed a
literature study to define social networking, learning and generation management. We decided to
define these terms because in our opinion learning and sharing is the key to forming a good view on
social networking. Thereby we believe that we can't undermine the effects of changing generations.
After that, we researched five best practices in social networking within a corporate environment. To
achieve this we used qualitative research, in the form of interviews, conferences and webinars.
Besides that we had an interview about the experience of Ahold with social networking. Finally we
researched the experiences and willingness of employees to participate on social platforms. For this
we used quantitative research, in the form of a small survey.
We identified a set of critical success factors considering social networking. Every company has its
own approach and we selected the elements that can lead to an effective embedment of social
networking for Ahold. We concluded that the studied organizations cannot be identified as the
perfect situation of an ‘Enterprise 2.0’. Social networking is not entirely adopted in the corporate
world. That is why, there are no best practices yet, we do believe there a best fits.
The survey pointed out employees already use social network tools in their personal and professional
lives. Ahold should use this fact in their advantage through introducing a social network platform. A
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critical success factor is that employees see the benefits of using social network tools. An answer on
the question ‘What in it for me?’ is required.
From our point of view transparency and a bottom-up approach are the key elements in an effective
social networking approach. The various departments within Ahold should working together to
create a common view on social networking. A social network should be easy to access and offer
tools that are linked with each other. The focus of the owner of the system should be on facilitating
instead of controlling. The guidelines should be open minded: ‘we trust you until we cannot trust you
anymore.’
Looking at learning, Ahold should make a change in their current view on this topic. Ahold needs to
realize the importance of informal learning and adapt it in their future learning programmes. To
facilitate this change an integrated social network should be implemented. This social network needs
to give the employees the possibility to engage in the tools they already use. These tools should not
exclude the traditional learning methods. They should be mixed together to reach a blended learning
approach. A blended learning approach is the way the next generation (Screenagers) wants to learn.
This view on learning should also be used on the other generations. When people are using formal
and informal learning approaches combined, the process is more effective. Besides, the knowledge
of the Babyboomers can be preserved in a social networking platform. The preserved knowledge is in
this way available and ready to be used by the new generations.
Last but not least Ahold has to start seeing the possibilities of social networking instead of the
possible threats. Web 3.0 is coming and although the consequences are not concrete, it will ask for
yet another approach. In our opinion the external environment is to be treated as a great instrument
that can provide knowledge and contains experience. Start seeing the wisdom of crowds.
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Preface
This thesis presents a recommendation based on research, in the field of social networking in a
corporate environment, performed at Ahold Corporate Center in Amsterdam. This thesis is
performed under supervision of the Hanze University of applied sciences, Groningen.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our supervisor Hans Hijne. Without his guidance
and support this thesis would never had become a reality. Further we would like to thank all the
colleagues from the HR department for their great assistance, collegiality and cooperation.
We would like to thank the interviewees Jasper van der Valk, Bernard van der Vyver and Jerome
Brussee for their inspiring input and openness. We thank Charles Jennings, Celia Bohle and Nick van
Dam for their theoretical knowledge they were so willing to share with us.
We thank our family and friends who supported us all the way and dealt with us in the final stage of
writing this thesis.
Finally, we would especially like to express our greatest thanks to Jos van Kempen who gave us the
feedback ant helped us to create the ‘big picture’.
Claire Willekens and Sten ter Horst, May 2010
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Index
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 3
Preface..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Index ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 8
Chapter 1:
Organizational analysis .................................................................................................. 10
Chapter 2:
Literature study ............................................................................................................. 11
2.1
What is social networking ..................................................................................................... 11
2.1.1
History ............................................................................................................................... 11
2.1.2
Web 2.0 ............................................................................................................................. 12
2.1.3
Social media....................................................................................................................... 13
2.1.4
Social Networking .............................................................................................................. 13
2.1.5
Enterprise 2.0 .................................................................................................................... 15
Food for Thought ............................................................................................................................... 17
2.2
Learning ................................................................................................................................. 18
2.2.1
History ............................................................................................................................... 18
2.2.2
Formal and informal learning ............................................................................................ 21
2.2.3
70-20-10 Learning rule ...................................................................................................... 22
2.2.4
The Cone of Learning ......................................................................................................... 23
2.2.5
Social Capital: the wisdom of crowds ................................................................................ 24
2.2.6
Definition ........................................................................................................................... 25
2.3
Generation Management ...................................................................................................... 25
Chapter 3:
Problem context ............................................................................................................ 28
3.1
Research methodology and justification ............................................................................... 29
3.2
Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 30
3.3
Data analysis .......................................................................................................................... 30
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3.4
Target group .......................................................................................................................... 31
3.5
Reporting ............................................................................................................................... 31
Chapter 4:
Best Practices & Results Survey..................................................................................... 32
Interview Deloitte.............................................................................................................................. 32
Experiences KPMG............................................................................................................................. 35
Case Océ ............................................................................................................................................ 37
Hewlett Packard ................................................................................................................................ 40
Seminar Microsoft ............................................................................................................................. 44
4.2
Results survey ....................................................................................................................... 49
4.2.1
General results .................................................................................................................. 49
4.2.2
Results in context of generations ...................................................................................... 50
Chapter 5:
Future ............................................................................................................................ 52
5.1
Web 3.0 and the semantic web ............................................................................................. 52
5.2
From Hierarchy to Wirearchy ................................................................................................ 52
5.3
Hewlett Packards Integrated Advanced ................................................................................ 53
Chapter 6:
Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................. 54
6.1
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 54
6.2
Recommendations................................................................................................................. 57
Chapter 7:
Recommendations on Implementation ........................................................................ 59
Keywords ............................................................................................................................................... 62
References ............................................................................................................................................. 65
Appendix................................................................................................................................................ 67
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Introduction
The developments in the social media landscape are now entering fastly into the corporate world.
Companies see the advantages of this developments and they want to benefit from it. The only
problem is that they have difficulty to find out how. That is why Hans Hijne (Director Training &
Development), initiator and owner of this thesis, asked us to advice Ahold in this matter.
During the contracting phase of this thesis we spoke with different departments within the
organization. They all were in some way ‘busy’ with what social media means for their own
department. Their general view on this topic was and still is very diverse.

The Legal department is developing a code of conduct for social media

IT is focusing on new systems in which they can integrate social networking

Internal communications sees possibilities in attracting employees to the intranet

External communications is looking in to the effects of social media on the brand strategy

And HR wants to bring people together to better learn from and collaborate with each other.
During these interviews we became aware of the fact that between departments the communication
and information sharing about this topic could be improved . The different initiatives are not entirely
shared and a real and strategic common view on how to deal with social networking is absent.
Ahold is an international foodretailer based in the United Stated and Europe. Ahold wants to create
a platform for future growth and Ahold wants to successfully utilize the possibilities of social
networking. It wants a point on the horizon where they can focus on. People call it a mission or a
vision, we call it the leading principles. This leading principles can be used as the common view of
Ahold on this topic. Therefore we helped to find an answer to the following main question :
Which leading/guiding principles, considering learning through social networking, can contribute to
Ahold’s future?
This main question contains of several element that will be further addressed in the sub questions.
The focus in this report will be on the internal use and benefits of social networking. We will focus on
a specific target group within Ahold defined as the Corporate Center with approximately 5000
employees. This target group is an international group, located in the United States and Europe. This
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thesis will be presented to Hans Hijne and will be, at his approval, further distributed within the
target group.
This thesis is organized as follows. Chapter one presents the organization analysis and the experience
of Ahold considering social networking. Chapter two contains the literature study, which acts as the
foundation for the further chapters. Chapter three outlines the methodology, data collection and
analysing process. Chapter four describes the case studies and the results of the small survey.
Chapter five will summarize the expected developments. Chapter six concludes the thesis and
contains the recommendations. Finally, chapter seven presents the recommendations on
implementation.
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Chapter 1: Organizational analysis
CONFIDENTIAL
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Chapter 2: Literature study
Learning from each other and sharing information is a key feature of the Pragmatic generation and
the generations that will follow. The generations that now ‘run’ the business are familiar with the
term ‘knowledge is power’. At the moment there is a real shift from thinking in ‘knowledge is power’
to ‘knowledge is sharing, collaboration and communication’. Through this shift, the way how people
learn is also changing. Is social networking the key to this kind of learning?
Via this literature study we will explore different aspects of our research questions and provide a
solid base for our conclusion, recommendations and the recommendations on implementation.
2.1
What is social networking
The last few years the use of Internet has grown explosively. In our research ‘What is social
networking’, we did not found any definition that was embraced by everyone. There are many
different definitions. However, in the different definitions the same words came back over and over
again. These words are web 2.0, social media, social networks, social networking, tools, sharing, and
collaboration. The reluctance to offer one definition of this concept reflects the cautious and often
confused discourse that many people exhibit today when the topic enters the conversation. For
understanding social networking, we have to distinguish three keywords: Web 2.0, Social Media and
Social Networking. We will explain each one of these topics. We will explain Internet’s history first.
2.1.1
History
In 1995 Internet entered the world, but in 1998 it reached critical proportions and caught the
attention of everyone. Every company made its own website. Internet was the place where everyone
could get all sorts of information. However, in these first years not everyone had access to the
internet. In 2004, the new world was online. Most people had access to the World Wide Web and
one realized that the internet had more possibilities to offer. People could react and join
conversations instead of just being a spectator. Everyone was making new websites. Through the
incredible amount of possibilities, people were overloaded with information.
2004 was also the start of the new phenomenon of Social Networking. People could connect with
friends, colleagues, share ideas and post comments. For the first time, people could create their own
information. And so information became a tool for everyone.
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Three years later, as a result, television was no longer the primary source of information and
newspapers had a hard time to survive. Internet makes everything possible: you can get and see
information live from faraway places. Besides that it influences what and when we see something
and due to its possibilities we can publish or react on information. It is obvious that the internet is
dominating our world nowadays.
2.1.2
Web 2.0
The term web 2.0 implies that it is a new and improved version of Web 1.0. Web 1.0 refers to the
first possibilities on the internet. Users of the internet were limited to the passive viewing of
information. The provider of information was the owner of this information. The main difference
between web 1.0 and web 2.0 is that web 2.0 allows users to generate content.
Web 2.0 sites allow users to interact with each other as contributors to the website’s content. For
this reason, web 2.0 is somewhat of a misnomer, because it is not a new version of the World Wide
Web. Web 2.0 is web 1.0 extended with tools. These tools allow people to participate, share and
collaborate with each other.
In the future experts expect web 3.0, which can also be called the semantic web. Experts are not sure
what web 3.0 exactly means. The expectations are that 3.0 web will be able to understand the
content of websites. In this way, the web could think for you. Your search results will be based on
your interest and your previous activities on the web. In this way, you can be certain that only
relevant information is displayed.
Source: http://tiny.cc/9pgm5
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2.1.3 Social media
‘Media’ is the plural form of medium. The definition of media by the Oxford Dictionary is as follows:
‘Communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional
messages are disseminated. Media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as
newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax, and internet.’
This definition of media is based on traditional media. Examples of traditional media are newspapers,
magazines, books, television, radio, catalogues, CD’s and others. There is a difference between
traditional media and social media. Social media is characterized by two-way communication. People
are not limited to the passive viewing of this media, just like web 1.0.
Regarding social media, we adopt the definition by the Social Media Bible: ‘social media refers to
activities, practices, and behaviors among communities of people who gather online to share
information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media. Conversation media are Webbased applications that make it possible to create and easily transmit content in the form of words,
pictures, videos, and audios.’ To give a clear example of this definition the social media bible
describes the following: ‘Most likely you belong to several communities, and if you’ve ever used your
computer or cell phone to read a blog, watch a YouTube video, listen to a podcast, or send a text
message to other members of your group or community, you’ve already ventured into the social
media ecosystem.’
Essential in social media is interaction, communication and sharing. Its users have to be acting
actively instead of viewing passively the traditional media. The content is user-generated. The
difference between traditional media and social media looks a lot like the difference between web
1.0 and 2.0. In appendix 2 we present an example of a social media landscape.
2.1.4
Social Networking
Social networking is a category of Social Media. Defining social networking is complicated, because
there is not yet a definition available that has been generally adopted. Social networks are not new
terms; social networks refer to the connections between people. This sentence describes the term
social network for networking in the real world. We are looking for a term, which describes social
networking in the virtual world. Although we did not find one embraced definition of social
networking, the definitions we did find contain the same elements. In this thesis we combined these
elements. We apply the following definition: social networking is using social network sites and their
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tools for communication, collaboration, interaction and sharing ideas, interests and knowledge with
other people. These people can be friends, professional colleagues or other people. Examples of
tools are user profiles, communities, instant messaging, (micro)blogging and wikis.
For the definition of social network sites we refer to Boyd and Ellison of the Michigan State
University. Their definition is as follows: ‘Social network sites as web-based services that allow
individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a
list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of
connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these
connections may vary from site to site.’ (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).
What makes social network sites unique is that they make connections between people visible. In the
real world social networks are mostly hidden. On social network sites a lot of personal information,
the connections and the picture can be found of each user. There are many different social network
sites. The most common sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, Hyves, and YouTube. For social networking
you need a social network site and social network tools. Social network tools allow you to create a
profile and post content, for example photos and videos. One can share this content with friends,
colleagues and others . Besides that, you can share information about yourself and about your
interests. Essential for social networking is having an answer on the question: ‘What is in it for me?
90-9-1 rule
There are over 100 social network tools. One of these tools is
blogging. A blog is a column that reflects on policy or personal
experience published on internet. Users can publish their own blog
about any topic : about their interests, expertise, personal hobbies,
sports, family life. And all users can contribute content. However,
research1 has shown, that most users rather read than contribute.
These users are called lurkers. 90 percent of the users are lurkers.
They just read and observe content. 9 percent of the users contribute from time to time.
Contributing content is not their priority. Only 1 percent of the users contribute a lot of content.
1
William C. Hill, James D. Hollan, Dave Wroblewski, and Tim McCandless (1992): "Edit wear and read wear," Proceedings of CHI'92, the
SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Monterey, CA, May 3-7, 1992), pp. 3-9.
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2.1.5
Enterprise 2.0
Sogeti Nederland B.V. is a consulting company that is specialized in implementing social networks.
Social networks within organizations are mostly called Enterprise 2.0. Sogeti prefers an Intelligent
Organization instead of Enterprise 2.0. In their point of view an intelligent organization is as follows:
‘In every company, it is possible to identify processes that do not thrive well in a bureaucratic
structure. The localization of people, content, and expertise, the utilization of special talents and the
maintenance of usable innovation: many things run more smoothly when use is made of an
organization’s social dimension. Many tasks can be performed better by organizing employees not
just in teams but also in communities. An organization that also makes use of wikis, forums, social
networks, crowdsourcing, question and answer facilities and other ‘2.0’ media has an advantage over
its competitors.’
Within an organization there are two sides; the functional side and the social side. Sogeti defines the
social side as follows: ‘‘2.0’ is a new way of working together that breaks down the rigidity of the
bureaucracy by combining planning, predictability and controllability with the flexibility, creativity
and adaptability of social networking, communities and crowds.” Therefore they propose a special
platform for social collaboration. This platform should allow for discontinuous communication and
free participation modeled on the way nature organizes communal activity (stigmergy).’
Sogeti distinguishes three views on the word ‘social’; social networking, communities and crowds.
According to Sogeti social collaboration needs a special platform. Below a picture is presented,
considering the requirements of a social platform. A social platform needs to contain six elements;
Stimuli, Organic, Collaborative, Intelligent, Adapted and Linked.
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Content must be generated bottom-up instead of top-down. The organization is the facilitator. This
does not mean internal communication is uncontrollable. The question is to what extent an
organization needs to have control. Each organization developed social media guidelines or is still
busy developing it. Examples of guidelines for using social media are presented in appendix 3.
New technologies like web 2.0, social media and social networks, make it possible to find information
anytime you want and anywhere you are. Besides that, thanks to these new technologies people can
contribute, collaborate and share information with other people. Thereby the way of learning has
changed too. Knowledge is not presented one-way communicated by a source. There are more
sources and users are able to react on these sources. In appendix 4 the levels of sharing are shown.
In the next section the way of learning will be explained.
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Food for Thought
50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old
96% of Millennials have joined a social network
Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the USA
Social media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the Web
1 out of 8 couples married in the USA met via social media
Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
Radio needed 38 years for reaching 50 million users
iPod application downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months
If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 2nd largest
Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of
Sweden
Generation Y and Screenagers consider e-mail passé
Some universities have stopped distributing e-mail accounts
Instead they are distributing eReaders, Ipods, Tablets
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world
Wikipedia has over 15 million articles
78% of these articles are non-English
If you were paid $1 for every article posted on Wikipedia you earn $1,712.32 per hour
There are over 200.000.000 Blogs
60 million status updates happen on Facebook daily
24% of 12-18 year olds use another media most of the time while watching TV
31.7% of the larger, Dutch organizations use social media tools for internal communication
Within a year this will be 65%
173 companies listed by Fortune 500 have a Twitter account
Wal-Mart has a public-facing corporate blog
Wal-Mart has a Twitter account with a post within the past thirty days
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2.2
Learning
“I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.” - Confucius
Looking at social networking you repetitively see the same words coming back. Sharing information,
collaboration, podcasting communities and so on. In a brainstorming session we wrote all those
terms on a memo-board. While we were trying to get a hold on all these different subjects we
discovered one common feature. In all this different topics knowledge was a great aspect. We
decided to write our thoughts on paper. What is the reason of making knowledge available? Why are
people in a community so eager to share their knowledge? Suddenly we had the answer: the missing
link is Learning.
2.2.1
History
In this paragraph the history of learning, divided over the last sixty years, will be explained. There are
different great influences which created the view on today’s learning . All these influences seem to
have one thing in common. They come together with technical innovations. Figure 2.1 is a timeline in
which the biggest changes are displayed.
Figure2.1: from the presentation of Charles Jennings at Iventiv Learning technologies congress
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In 1950 instructional design was a development that arose. Instructional design is a method of
maximizing the method of learning. It was a well structured plan in which the needs of the student
were inventoried. With this information a goal was created. During the learning process a transition
was supposed to take place to reach the pre-determined outcome. The roots of instructional design
are in cognitive and behavioural psychology. In addition to this approach teaching machines were
used. Besides the instructional design Bloom’s taxonomy was an often used learning strategy.
Bloom’s taxonomy divides learning into three areas: Affective, Psychomotor and Cognitive. According
to this theory a student requires the basic knowledge and skills to ‘improve’ to the higher level of
education. To create a complete approach of learning all the three areas should be respected.
In the 1960’s programmed learning was the mainstream learning approach. One of the programmed
learning founders is B.F. Skinner. Programmed learning is based on the believe that human beings
learn best under controlled conditions. In practice there are three fundamentals. The first is that
knowledge should be delivered in small nuggets. The second is that every student can determine its
own pace. And the last basic principle is that feedback should be given as soon as possible. In the
sixties another new development came up: hypertext. It was officially founded by Andries van Dam
and Ted Nelson in 1968. Hypertext is very simple if you look with modern eyes at it, it is ‘just’ text
displayed on a computer. Besides text it was also able to show images and tables. The last
development in the sixties was TV teaching. The word covers the meaning for example an English
course on television. Students got their lessons presented in the form of moving images and spoken
word.
In the seventies and eighties Computer Based Training and the upcoming advent of desktop
computers gave a solid platform to facilitate learning. Computer based training is a way of learning in
which the student can determine its own pace. The content of the courses is presented in a
structured form that is similar to reading a book. The availability of the desktop computer made it
possible to follow this kind of courses at any given time or moment.
In the nineties a lot of new technologies were used for learning purposes. Especially the world wide
web had a great influence on learning. The distribution of knowledge and availability of it became
immense. Also the CD-ROM and the use of multimedia were facilitators of a revolutionary new way
of learning. By using diverse media, a learning program consists of different forms of content. By
combining computer-based training with a manual and a video multimedia are able to create a more
complete learning experience.
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In the late nineties and the early start millennium, LMS and Game based learning where
implemented in organizations. A Learning Management System (LMS) is a platform that supports the
learning of an individual in a company. It is able to support the selection and the following of a
course. The company itself can track which employees need training or education. LMS supports the
total offer of courses and other forms of education an organization has to offer. This system came
together with Game based learning. Game based learning makes learning possible through gaming.
An example of game based learning is found on www.e-learningforkids.org this organization offers
basic mathematics and language courses for kids worldwide.
The latest technologies that are used for learning purposes are:
Online Lectures /online Keynotes, Communities, Live virtual classrooms, Game based web-based
training, Mobile Learning, Electronic Performance Support, Podcasting, Videobased learning,
Webinars, User Generated Content and the 3D virtual classroom.
The key in using these forms of learning is not to see them as different tools, but to blend them.
Blended learning is, considering the view of Nick van Dam, the best way of letting employees develop
themselves. Via this approach they can individually choose the learning style they prefer.
to
Figure 2.2: from the presentation of Charles Jennings at Iventiv Learning technologies congress
In figure 2.2 the shift in learning is displayed in an insightful manner. It explains what the recent
developments mean for
achieving the reach of high quality content. In the former learning
approaches it was very difficult to make it effective. Nowadays, thanks to recent developments, it is
possible to reach a large public in a way they can benefit most from it.
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2.2.2
Formal and informal learning
In this paragraph the two concepts of formal and informal learning will be explained.
Informal learning has the following key elements:

Informal learning is integrated with work and daily routine

Informal learning is caused by internal or external ‘surprise’

It happens without being aware of the fact one is learning.

It is connected with the learning of others

It often finds its origin in coincidence and is influenced by chance

It is an inductive process of reflection and action.
Formal learning is the original classroom education. It is more planned, curriculum driven and topdown.
The main difference between these two lies resides in the fact that informal learning be the result of
incidental events. Incidental learning can also occur when sitting in a classroom, but in this way it
isn’t planned. Thereby lies the initiative with informal learning in the hands of the student. He or she
can decide if something is worth learning. With formal learning the teacher takes the decision for the
student. (Koopmans, 2009).
Informal and formal learning can both be used in an organization. The way it should be presented is
displayed in table 2.1. Table 2.1 shows that the drivers of informal and formal learning are different.
Formal learning focuses more on the external drivers while informal learning is best described as a
day to day activity that is triggered by the needs of the individual. The ways both informal and formal
is best practiced is further displayed in table 2.1.
What
Driven by
How
Formal Learning
Job/Role,
Planned
Requirements
Informal Learning
Performance needs
Career,
On demand
Company Classroom and E-course
Performance Support
Search, Learning Portal, Self Studie
Guides, Reference Ware
Informal Learning
Day to Day Learning
Social Learning
Expert Networks
Social Networks
Chats, Wiki, Blogs
Communities of Practice
Table 2.1: the presentation of Nick van Dam at Iventiv Learning technologies congress, 2010
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According to D. Schugurensky informal learning exists of three different aspects. He distinguishes the
self directed form, the incidental form and the socialization form of informal learning. The difference
between these three forms of learning are the intention and the awareness at the time of the
learning experience. In table 2.2 this theory is further clarified.
Awareness
Form
Intentionality
Self-directed
yes
yes
Incidental
no
yes
Socialization
no
no
(at the time of learning experience)
Table 2.2: Three forms of informal learning , by D. Schugurensky, The forms of informal learning: towards a
conceptualization of the field, 2000
We see a clear connection in the way social media can contribute in the way employees learn in an
informal manner. In this way social media facilitates informal learning and adds a great value to the
organization.
2.2.3
70-20-10 Learning rule
The use of social media for learning purposes can be easily seen in the perspective of the 70-20-10
rule. This rule explains the way how people learn in an organization. This approach is well known and
used by the Princeton University. Each of the different numbers stand for a percentage of how
people learn.
“70 percent of learning and development takes place from real-life and on-the-job experiences, tasks,
and problem solving. This is the most important aspect of any learning and development plan. For
example, the real learning from a skill acquired in a training program, or from feedback, takes place
back on the job when the skill or feedback is applied to a real situation.”
“20 percent comes from feedback and from observing and working with role models. An example can
be to look and learn from your superior and colleagues.”
“ 10 percent of learning and development comes from formal training.”
Source: Presentations of Nick van Dam (Deloitte) Charles Jennings (Reuter) and Nick Shackleton-Jones (BBC), 2010
http://www.princeton.edu/hr/learning/process/
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As explained before formal training is not a bad learning method. The 70-20-10 rule points out that
only 10 percent of what people learn in an organization is learned via formal learning programmes. It
is important to keep using this approach, but the effect is the best when it is ‘blended’ with informal
learning techniques.
According to the blog of Thomas Reilly (a Co-founder of Trifus, a SaaS online learning provider, and
currently consulting organizations on developing content for marketing and training) 90% of the
learning budget in organizations is spent on formal learning. Diagram 2.1 displays the great
contradiction between the amount of budget spent on formal learning and the actual percentage of
learning acquired through formal learning.
Diagram 2.1 by Thomas Reilly on http://tinyurl.com/35zcsuo
2.2.4
The Cone of Learning
In 1969 Edgar Dale, a famous U.S. educationist, created a pyramid which existed of six building
blocks. Each building block in the pyramid is a form of how content can be explained to students. This
theory strengthens the theories named before.
Figure 2.3 http://sparkinsight.wdfiles.com/local--files/factlets/cone_of_learning.png
Page | 23
According to the cone of learning people learn the best when they do it in an active manner. When
looking at the pyramid you can see that from classroom training (formal) a maximum of 50% can be
remembered after two weeks. This is only when during this classroom training different types of
learning methods are used.
When people interact with each other the amount of remembered content immediately jumps to
70%. In a social network people are used to share content and also used to discuss via several media.
A Yammer application for instance is often a starting point for a discussion and invites people to
react. If a company should use a social network it would facilitate employees to search their own
best mix of learning approaches.
2.2.5
Social Capital: the wisdom of crowds
Social capital and the link to knowledge productivity is a rather new approach in the learning
theories. It focuses on the social network of an individual and sees this network as a dynamic
learning environment. This theory sees added value in relationships that come from social networks.
It gives aspects like trust, shared values and shared expectations a crucial role in the creation of an
effective social capital.
Relationships in a network need to be categorized according this view. They distinguish three types
of relationships; Bonding, binding and linking. Bonding relationships can be described as the
relationship between direct colleagues. Binding relationships are the relationships between
employees from different departments. The last relationships identified are the linking connections.
The linking connections are, according to this research, the most important relationships inside an
organization that strives for innovation of processes, services and products. Linking connections
focus on the relationships with the world outside the company and strongly enhance the innovation.
One other interesting outcome of this study is that the roll of a facilitator in a network is not crucial.
They were not able to find any clear relationship between interventions of the facilitators and the
knowledge productivity in the studied networks.
http://www.kessels-smit.com/files/2010_Proefschrift_in_Opleiding_en_Ontwikkeling.pdf, 2010
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2.2.6
Definition
In our research we approach learning as a very broad definition. We see learning as the act, process,
or experience of gaining knowledge or skill. Learning is not only education, but also informationsharing, collaboration and working with people. Learning can take place in a formal and in an
informal environment. In social networks informal learning is more at its place, but formal learning
stays a part of the whole ‘learning experience’.
The only source of knowledge is experience.
- Albert Einstein
2.3
Generation Management
A generation is a group of people born in the same timeframe. A new generation arises under
influence of events, like war or crisis. In table 2.3 the various generations are presented. Although
various people researched generation management, there are no defined timeframes.
Period
Generations
1945-1960
Protest Generation or Babyboomers
1960-1975
Generation X
1975-1990
Pragmatic Generation
1990-2005
Screenagers or Einstein
Table 2.3: Generations
Each generation has their own characteristic values and behaviours. These values and behaviours
also effect organizations. Within organizations, various generations exist. According to A.
Bontekoning successive generations create evolutionary processes within organization. These
processes are necessary for survival of an organization. These processes are hardly visible. It is
important the different generations cooperate with each other for innovation. Therefore they have
to understand the other generations. Cooperation will become more important, the Babyboomers
will stay longer in the workplace and Screenagers will enter the workforce sooner to combine
learning and work. In table 2.4 the characteristics of each generation is shown.
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Generation
Characteristics
Protest Generation

‘Idealistic and emotionally driven
(1945-1960)

Searching majorities for the best ideas

A preference for re-structuring organization
Generation X

Modest and down to earth
(1960-1975)

Strong tendency to bridge

Differences in a constructive way

Process and quality oriented professions

Driven knowledge workers focused on fast learning in
Pragmatic Generation
(1975-1990)
Screenagers
(1990-2005)
work to create fast concrete results

Open and informal

Seek pleasure in work

Smart and boundless active authentic multi-taskers who
want to feel at home in their work and in their company
as soon as possible’
Table 2.4: Characteristics
The timeframes are determined by events. Figure 2.4 presents various generations and their use of
computers. The Babyboomers are born after World War Two. In this period, computer did not exist.
This generation does use computers for small things like searching information and library function.
Most of them do not participate on MSN Messenger. This is an instant messaging application.
People of Generation X are born around 1970. They were young adults during the introduction of
computers and the Internet. They are adapted more to these digital possibilities. Besides using a
library function and information search sites, most of them use instant messaging.
The Screenagers or Generation Einstein matured during the digital revolution (Figure 2.4). They are
used of finding information anytime and anywhere through social media. Instead of an individualistic
mindset, Screenagers have a collectivistic one. The main keys are social networking, collaboration
and sharing knowledge. The Screenagers attach great value to authenticity. Work is seen as a way to
express authenticity and personal development. They expect their future work to offer these
communications tools.
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Each generation renews the culture of an organization. To survive on the international market, the
basic idea is that organizations need more innovation. Through understanding generations, their way
of learning and their needs considering digital tools, organizations can progress innovative
progresses.
Figure 2.4
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Chapter 3: Problem context
Ahold is an international organization based in the United Stated and Europe. Ahold wants to create
a platform for future growth. Organizations often do not know how to deal with the possibilities of
social networking. Ahold wants a common view based on the current developments. To answer this
question we generated one main question, which is formulated below.
Which leading/guiding principles, considering learning through social networking, can contribute to
Aholds future?
We decided to use this question to set ourselves a goal and to create boundaries to the fields we
want to research. To answer the main question we started to form a set of questions to filter the
different aspects of this question.
Sub questions

What is social networking?

Which experience does Ahold have with social networking?

What are the best practices with social networking in corporate environments?
o
What are the critical success factors?
o
What are the boundaries for using social networks?
o
What are the responsibilities of the departments, considering social
networking?

In which way do different generations learn through social networking?

In which way can Ahold react on the developments in social networking?
The questions we formulated have got a good reason. Ahold wants a point on the horizon where
they can focus on. People call it a mission or a vision, we call it the leading principles. We decided to
use this questions because we believe learning and sharing is the key to forming a good view on
social networking. Using the experiences from other organizations is the way we plan to create a
horizon for this company. We thereby strongly believe that we can't undermine the effects of
changing generations.
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3.1
Research methodology and justification
In this paragraph we will explain our research methodology. During our research we will use different
kinds of channels to collect data. These methods are listed below:

Interviews

Meetings

Conferences/Webinars

Survey
Our first research method is formed by attending several conferences and webinars. In this way we
will be informed about the recent developments and the experiences from other companies
considering social networking.
Secondly, conduct interviews with employees who are involved in the process of social networking.
These people were from different departments, like Communications, Legal & Compliance, IT and
HRM. Interviews are a qualitative way of research. These interviews contained open questions. In
this way we discovered the vision of the interviewees on this topic.
Our third way of researching is by learning from other organizations. We are planning to conduct
several interviews with employees of organizations, that already use social networking effectively.
We want to use a set of ten standardized questions that can be found in appendix five. This set of
questions are merely a guideline for giving a structure to the conversation.
We will also conduct a small survey to find out the knowledge and experiences of the employees of
Ahold, considering social networking. The target group consists of 100 respondents worldwide, we
decided to keep it this small because it is not our main research methodology. The results of the
survey are used to support our conclusion and recommendations. Thereby it strengthens our vision
on the culture. This survey can be found in appendix six.
Finally we will set up a couple of meetings. One meeting is reserved for the HR department, to
inform the employees about our research. The last meeting will be combined with our final
presentation. We will share our view and results to inform and inspire Aholds staff.
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3.2
Data collection
The study we are going to conduct will focus on different aspects. These aspects will be researched
with different data collection instruments. Due to the diversity of topics we believe that using an
individual approach for each topic will contribute to an effective way of collecting data.
By personally interviewing the stakeholders of social networking within Ahold we want to gain an
insight in the initiatives that have taken place without our interference. Due to this qualitative study
we also want to collect data to get a good view on the current business environment and how the
decision makers look at the topic. The form in which the interviews will take place is the open-ended
interview style. We did add a set of standardized questions to guide the interview in the direction we
want it to develop. The interviewee has a certain influence on the output of the conversation. We
have chosen this approach to give the interviewee the possibility to share his or her knowledge and
vision on the topic.
To gain more knowledge on the best practices in implementing social networking we planned
interviews with different companies. During this interviews we want to use a checklist that is based
on the different aspects of the present culture that we find relative to research. By collecting this
combination of quantitative and qualitative information we can create a framework in which we can
get a good view on which social networking strategy is used in what kind of business environment.
The reason of this approach is to learn what kind of considerations fit a certain type of social
networking strategy and to become able to avoid obstacles that are already encountered by other
companies.
3.3
Data analysis
The data we collect using this approach will be partly qualitative and partly quantitative. The
qualitative information we will acquire shall be transformed into several different analysis of the
subjects. The interviews we will conduct with the different companies will lead to an insight in how
different organizations use social networking for their learning purposes. They will also lead to an
insight on how they implemented the use of social networking. By making interview reports we can
get a good view of what the different companies did considering social networking.
The analysis of the quantitative information we will get from the small survey we will be analyzed
with a site called surveymonkey.com. This site generates statistics and graphs based on the gathered
information. This site is also able to generate crosstabs and diagrams. This way we do not need
complicated software to get clear results.
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3.4
Target group
We will focus on the Corporate Center of Ahold. The Corporate Center has approximately the 5000
employees. This target group is an international group, located in the United States and Europe.
3.5
Reporting
The data obtained from the data-analysis are necessary to answer our sub questions. Finally we will
answer our main question: ‘Which leading/guiding principles, considering learning through social
networking, can contribute to Aholds future?’
There are two concepts essential by using the data-analysis, namely reliability and validity. The
research is reliable when the items of the data-analysis are homogeneous and the research is valid
when the results actually measures what we want to know. The results of the data-analysis can only
be used, if the research is both reliable as valid.
The initiator of the research is the Director Training and Development of Ahold. He is closely involved
and supervises our research. Our advice will be presented in a writing report and we will give a
presentation. The report is intended for the Director Training and Development and will be
approved by this Director. Finally the report will be available for employees of Ahold, who are
interested in this topic.
Our report will be a recommendation of leading principles considering social networking. These
leading principles will be based on the best practices. The results of our research will not lead to a
fixed solution. We assume that there are different ways integrating social networking. Like the saying
in Dutch: ‘more ways lead to Rome’. Our advice will be a guidance for Ahold.
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Chapter 4: Best Practices & Results Survey
Interview Deloitte
Interviewees
Bernard van der Vyver
Function: Director and Leader: Learning Solutions Netherlands & EMEA
and
Jasper de Valk
Function: Web strategy consultant
Date
16 April 2010
Deloitte is the brand under which tens of thousands of professionals collaborate in independent
firms throughout the world. They provide audit, consulting, risk management, financial advisory and
tax services to clients. Each firm is member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the member firms are separate and distinct legal entities, which have
none obligation what so ever towards other entities. Bernard van der Vyver and Jasper Valk are
both working for consulting in Holland. Van der Vyver is working in human capital and Valk is
consultant in web strategy. Deloitte has around 170.000 employees.
Social networking
Deloitte is already using social networks for internal communication. Most departments have a social
network on behalf of their internal communication. But there is not an integrated and fully operative
global network yet. However, they do have an international learning platform. Van der Vyver
explains that social networks and web 2.0 are expressions dating from the last twelve months and
that they are developing really fast since then.
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The current social networks are in use, but not yet adopted. Deloitte tried several applications like
microblogging, videosharing, blogging et cetera. These applications were used at department level.
Because Deloitte is an organization with many different branches, employees of Deloitte have a more
local approach. By local approach Deloitte means for example: accountants already participate in
communities for accountants worldwide. So the different platforms for collaboration and sharing of
knowledge are taking place worldwide, but only within a particular branch. This local approach
should be changed in a more integrated approach in a global network. Soon Deloitte will launch a
global university. This global approach requires a different mindset.
Deloitte uses Yammer and has got an internal social network called D-Street. Although its technology
needs to be improved, people are ready to use social media tools. This is a bottom-up approach. Valk
says that it is only when people are using the tools, you know that they are ready for it. In his view,
the availability of tools is the most important condition for its use, not its appearance.
Another example of the use of social networking in Deloitte is the Innovative BV. This initiative is a
contest amongst employees to think along with the organization about developments. The ideas are
posted online and through a voting system the best idea wins. This 'innovative' idea gets actual
funding to be carried out.
When people retire, all information is kept within the organization. Nowadays it is possible to
connect through social networks with retired employees to ask them for information. In this way
Deloitte can prevent the loss of knowledge. Deloitte wants to coach people to apply social
networking tools even when they are retired. In this way valuable knowledge and experience
remains available for Deloitte.
Goals
Deloitte’s main motive for social networking is to make money. Thereby knowledge is shared, used,
spread and held. Deloitte has many young employees, who grew up with the Internet and the
globalization. Deloitte’s point of view is that, for these employees, introducing social networking is a
natural process. People are ready, so the time is good.
At the moment the social network of Deloitte is global indeed, but only available for employees of
Deloitte and in separate enities. The goal for next year is to have customers taking part in Deloitte’s
social network. In the year 2012 Deloitte wants to make it possible that everyone who is interested
Page | 33
can join in. Deloitte will be totally transparent. They do not see any danger for their business. It is
their vision is that people may know what Deloitte knows, but Deloitte has the capabilities and
experience of carrying out this knowledge.
Valk believes that every organization is based on knowledge. All organizations have to react
immediately on social media. When organizations should wait for younger generations, they will be
too late. Organizations can involve elder people through community management. Elder people are
also networking, but they have to learn how to network in modern social networks.
Implementation
Getting people to see the benefits of using social networking is a critical success factor considering
the implementation of social networking. For employees there is one important question: ‘What is in
it for me?’, ‘How can social networking have benefit for me?’. Deloitte has organized workshops for
employees, like:

What is social networking?

What do you want to achieve with social networking?

What is your profit/advantage?
Employees need to experience immediate benefits of social networking. In this way, employees will
consider social networking as useful. But it is important that everyone has the same goals.
According to Valk implementation is a matter of adoption. It is not about the appearance of a social
network; what counts is the way a social network is embedded in the organization. All departments
need to participate. Thereby he mentions that success of a social network is not created by
controlling the entire process but by facilitating the needs of its users, the employees. In this way you
get a bottom-up movement that influences the durability of the tool.
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Experiences KPMG
Interviewee:
Jerome Brussee
Function:
Advisor Webcommunication
Date:
16 April 2010
In 1987 accounting firms Peat Marwick International and Klynveld Main Goerdeler merged and
formed a firm called Peat Marwick McLintock in the UK and KMPG in the rest of the world. Finally the
firms settled on the common name KPMG in 1995. Today, KPMG employs approximately 140.000
people in 146 countries worldwide. The company is one of the largest professional services firms in
the world. They are a global network of firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory.
KPMG in the Netherlands recently started implementing a corporate networking tool that can be
compared with Facebook and LinkedIn. It is based on the Microsoft Sharepoint system and is called
My Site. This initiative is guided and controlled by the Global KPMG organization. The route and
content of My Site is pre-determined and cannot be customized by the national IT departments.
Brussee mentioned that he really likes a certain type of networking tool. In the current setting this
tool can't be used or implemented in the My Site platform. The major benefit of this uniform
approach is that between countries connections can be made.
What does My Site look like
My Site is based on a personal profile page for each employee. The employee is able to put his
summary and contact data online. Besides this possibility every employee is able to add his or her
specialties and fields of interest. By putting this data online employees can easily contact each other,
share information and collaborate. It is also possible to add Blog and Wiki applications; Instant
Messaging and an on/offline button also are available.
How is it used?
My Site is only recently implemented; therefore Brussee was not able to share any statistics with us.
In this early stage the number of users is relatively low.
Page | 35
On the other hand, Brussee could tell us about the way blogging is managed within KPMG. KPMG
uses a policy for every blogger they have. They tend not to direct the content but they do give
standards and advice in how to use a blog. On a national level KMPG is actively using social media to
connect with the upcoming generations.
By using the website www.gaaan.nu KPMG created a portal through which they can communicate
with people that are interested in the company.
In this external communication KPMG wants their employees to act according their internal policies.
They like to keep separated personal use and business use. For example, if an employee wants to
react on a forum on anything about the firm, they have to react as a representative of KPMG. In this
way KPMG wants to control the way their personnel reacts in the social media. If the personnel don’t
show their affiliation with KPMG they are free to use any social media site or tool. Brussee's opinion
is that at this moment the Risk & Security department is too controlling. They try to monitor as much
as possible. Brussee believes that this is not the way social media are to be dealt with.
Implementation
At this moment KPMG is in the introduction stage of My Site. The goal is to let the entire staff of
KPMG the Netherlands adopt this system. Brussee mentioned that in his opinion there should be
more freedom inside My Site platform. It is understandable that the global organization are
obligating restrictions. Unfortunately, these restrictions do not encourage an efficient use of all the
abilities this site is offering.
According to Brussee the right strategy to attract people to the platform is to let the board of
directors take an active role in this new platform. We see this strategy as a top-down initiative to
motivate the personnel and push them to using My Site and all its applications.
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Case Océ
Océ was founded in 1877. Today, the company is one of the world’s leading providers of document
management and printing for professionals. Océ is active in approximately 90 countries; its
headquarters are registered in Venlo. Worldwide Océ has 22.000 employees. Océ is listed on
Euronext in Amsterdam.
In 2008, Océ had to face an important decline in sales. This decline started in the USA. The USA was
responsible for 40 percent of Océ’s revenue. The company lost more than 500 million Euros. More
than 2000 employees had to be fired. Also the intranet budget was cut back from 350.000 Euros to
only 5.000 Euros.
Jan van Veen is Manager Internal Communications at Océ.
The challenge of his department
Corporate Communications was how to reach all employees worldwide, considering the decline and
the small budget of the department for Corporate Communications. His answer was: use social
media for internal communications. Several social media tools were introduced, namely:

Rumorbuster

Blogging

Microblogging (Yammer)

Wikis

Idea management

Social bookmarking

Océ TV
Besides rolling-out social media tools, Océ rolled-out an enhanced corporate news service on the
existing home page. Below, every tool will be explained.
Page | 37
Rumorbuster
Rumorbuster is an internet site. In times of economic crisis, employees are
uncertain about their jobs and about the future. On this site, employees can
post questions. In this way the uncertainty could be reduced.
Blogging
At the moment, Océ has approximately 20 blogs. These blogs are divided into project blogs, product
blogs, department blogs and expertise blogs. They are available for employees only. For example, the
Chief Financial Officer has a blog. He asks readers for ideas and recommendations. For employees it
is easy to communicate directly with the CFO.
Yammer
Yammer is a microblogging service and looks like Twitter,
but Yammer is for internal use. Users are able to send and
read short messages. Océ started with two users. On this
moment, there are 650 employees worldwide active on
Yammer.
Wikis
The department Research & Development already used wikis. On this wiki platform they exchanged
information. Today, the other departments also have a platform. Employees are able to find and
create information that is both work-related and corporate. These platforms enhance the
cooperation between employees and departments.
Idea management
Idea management at Océ has the form of a blog, called MoneyMakers,
soliciting ideas and recommendations from employees how to save the
company money. Up till now, this blog has generated more than 60
ideas. One out of these 60 ideas was implemented; it saved about
400.000 Euros.
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Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for users to share, organize, search and manage bookmarks of web
resources online. The resources themselves are not shared, merely bookmarks that refer to them.
Bookmarks are called ‘favorites’ in Internet. Employees are using bookmarks instead of circulating
emails with links.
Océ TV
The department Corporate Communications has been responsible for short
films about the organization. Earlier, an external company made these films,
today the department itself makes these films.
Océ blogs are mostly product-focused for internal department communications. Yammer is mostly
used principally for cross-departmental information sharing. Jan van Veen thinks it is essential the
social media tools are geared to one another. That is why the department tries to work cross-media
in each theme.
Van Veen believes social media will be more and more important, also for contacts with their clients.
That is why it is crucial for employees to be familiar with this kind of media and that is why there are
guidelines for using social media, internal guidelines as well as external guidelines. The approach for
these guidelines is open-minded. Common sense of the employees is the basic principle; in other
words: ‘we trust you, until we cannot trust you anymore.’
According to van Veen social media need a cross functional approach. Departments have to
cooperate for integrating social media within the organization. A bottom-up approach is also needed.
It is important that the employees feel committed to successful social media.
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Hewlett Packard
HP is a technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the world. The
company is founded in 1939 and has grown to number 32 in the Global Fortune 500. HP employs
304.000 people worldwide. The main focus of this international concern is to provide a wide range of
technical products and services to fit their customers’ needs (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/).
We got in touch with their experiences in social networking through a congress organized by Inventiv
that was dedicated to Learning Technologies. Two representatives of HP gave a presentation about
the way that HP handles the upcoming technologies and possibilities that come along with these
developments.
Roadmap
In the presentation HP told about the way they see social networking and how they can use this to
create an integrated learning platform. They identify six building blocks in the development of
learning. These steps fit in the way technology has been developing in the last decades.
Page | 40
The first step is classroom training. Classroom training can be considered as the most formal way of
training. The students need to join a physical class room and participate in a one-way studentteacher approach. This is also the most structured way of learning. The second step is eLearning. Elearning is a way of learning where students can individually follow courses and determine their own
pace.
Blended learning is the third step. Blended learning is a combination of classroom training and
eLearning. In practice this approach often leads to a preparation of the classroom training through an
eLearning course. It is also used in HP to update students on new developments in the domain they
received their classroom training.
The fourth building block is Web 2.0. HP considers Web 2.0 as an organic system that facilitates
collaboration and information sharing. HP mentioned that it allows their employees to interact with
each other in a very efficient way. Because it is an organic system you have to keep it alive. It takes
time and manpower to keep a web 2.0 application effective and in operation. An example of a web
2.0 application that is currently used by HP is Watercooler. Watercooler is a Facebook like networking
site whose name refers to the informal way of sharing information ‘at the watercooler’.
The next step is the Collaborative or Social way of learning. This approach wants employees to share
their information and teach each other the best practices. The content of this learning process is
generated by its users. It is presented through different types of media. An example of collaborative
social is the use of podcasts, wikis and blogs to share information and experiences. HP is currently
focusing on this way of learning.
The final step and target for HP is the integrated advanced stage. This approach is based on all the
former building blocks. It is a way to facilitate the employee to use a blended approach to learning. It
gives people the possibility to access his or her learning portal and log in with one password to all the
applications. It offers the possibility to search in an efficient way all the content available in the
learning portal. Thereby it files the activities and interests of each employee. It isn’t just built for
looking up internal sources but there is also a link with external applications like eBooks and
all Google tools. The integrated and advanced learning portal helps and recommends in what one can
learn. It ‘thinks’ for you. This is the same as the development of web 3.0, the semantic web.
Page | 41
Using integrated advanced learning and its possible success is based on the 70-20-10 rule: 70% of
learning & development takes place from real-life and on-the-job experiences, tasks, and problem
solving. This is the most important aspect of any learning and development plan. For example, the
real learning from a skill acquired in a training program, or from feedback, takes place back on the
job when the skill or feedback is applied to a real situation. 20% comes from feedback, from
observing and from working with role models. 10% of learning and development comes from formal
training2. HP summarized this application in an overview which they named ‘the house’. The house is
displayed below.
During the presentation the representatives of HP mentioned that every next step doesn’t exclude
the one before.
Big Bang or evolution?
At this moment HP is in a piloting stage. They chose to implement a wide range of applications all at
once in a single department. This department was pushed in one year to a completely
integrated learning approach. This decision was top-down and really forced everyone in that
department to use yammer, blogs and other social network tools. From this pilot HP learned that
bringing it all at once is not the way to implement a social network or a learning portal. In the future,
when HP is rolling out the learning portal, they will do this step by step.
They told us that it is not technology what counts; what really counts is social change.
HP identified three keys to success for an effective learning portal or a social network:
1. People need to change and learn because they want to, not because they are forced to it; their
intrinsic motivation is essential for success.
2
http://www.princeton.edu/hr/learning/process/
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2. Mobile access to the system is needed for a good adoption of the applications.
3. The system needs to be integrated. Try to avoid different passwords for each application.
To put it shortly: it is very important to have, before starting, a well thought- out scheme.
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Seminar Microsoft
In 1975 Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft is a computer technology
corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses and supports software products for computing
devices3. Today, Microsoft employs approximately 90.000 people in more than 60 nations. Their
mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realizing their full
potential4. ‘Your potential. Our passion’.
One of the main activities of Microsoft is designing software packages for companies. A recent
product of Microsoft is called Sharepoint 2010. Sharepoint 2010 is the successor of Sharepoint 2007.
The main difference between these products is that Microsoft integrated social networking tools into
Sharepoint 2010.
Collaboration
Sharepoint 2010 is a business collaboration platform. The definition of collaboration is people
working together for a shared purpose. There are several ways for working together, like social
(blogs, wikis) real-time, instant message et cetera. Below the collaboration matrix is shown.
Source: presentation Joost Csidei, Microsoft
3
www.wikipedia.com
4
www.microsoft.com
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Research under CIO (IT decisions makers) has shown collaboration through using web 2.0 is growing
to 36 percent5.
Source: presentation Joost Csidei, Microsoft
Sharepoint 2010
The business world is very dynamic. Microsoft believes that in this rapidly changing world, it is
important for employees to be engaged. Participation of employees occurs they are feeling valued.
Microsoft thinks Sharepoint 2010 can contribute to engagement, productivity and knowledge
sharing. This software allows employees to work together. They can share ideas and expertise, create
solutions and easily find the right business information. For example, employees with the same
interests can start communities. Below the social tools of Sharepoint 2010 are shown6.
5
Forrester Enterprise and SMB Software Survey North America and Europe Q4 2009
6
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/capabilities/Pages/default.aspx
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The new way of working7
To sell Sharepoint 2010, it is important that employees of Microsoft are familiar with the software,
practice what you preach. That is why Sharepoint 2010 is fully integrated in the work of Microsoft.
Through the social network tools, employees of Microsoft are not only consumers of corporate
information but also the creators of the information. Instead of a top down approach, there is a
bottom up approach. Information is user-generated.
This technology makes it possible to connect with each other at any time of the day/night, wherever
you are. Microsoft goes beyond social networking. They already introduced a new way of working.
This new way of working is about organizing your work differently, working together differently,
using the possibilities of new technologies and making these technologies work for you.
In the new way of working, work is no longer tied to the office only. People can also work from
home, while they are traveling or when they find themselves in other places. The virtual environment
by using technologies can bring people together. The Microsoft office in the Netherlands has flexible
workplaces instead of the traditional-furnished office environment. However, the employees have
meetings with the department on regular basis
Implementation
Microsoft believes that changes take place in three areas: People, Place and Technology.
These three areas are related and success depends on understanding and optimizing the overlap
among them.
7
http://www.slideshare.net/vanwilgenburgh/whitepaper-a-new-way-of-working-for-microsoft-netherlands-external
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Microsoft developed the seven-step Guided Roadmap for implementing a new way of working.
Those steps are:
‘1. Secure executive support with a business case
2. Create an internal vision and goals for the New Way of Working
3. Assemble a New Way of Working stakeholder V-team and plan
4. Transform the physical environment
5. Embrace changes in culture among managers and employees
6. Create excitement and momentum with communication and involvement
7. Leverage technology to enable change’
Looking at these three areas (People, Place and Technologies), the seven-step Guided Roadmap
should be implemented parallel. Below a picture of this parallel implementation is shown.
Benefits
Microsoft achieved the following benefits

‘Sustainability by reducing carbon emissions from travel and office buildings

Reduction by 30 percent of real estate costs

Increase of market reputation

Increase of employees’ mobility

Increase of productivity

‘Great place to work’ award in 2009’
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This page shows an example of a smarter meeting .
Culture
Microsofts new way of working caused an enormous cultural shift. Internal communication is the
responsibility of all employees. A fixed protocol determines the communication. Besides, the lines of
communication are still hierarchical. Top-down has been determined the content must be generated
from bottom-up. However, this is a major contradiction. Unfortunately, we were unable to speak
with employees of Microsoft about the changed culture.
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4.2
Results survey
In this section the results of the survey are presented. The purpose of the survey was to find out the
knowledge and experiences of the employees of Ahold, considering social networking. The survey
contains eight questions. Firstly, the general results are explained. In appendix 7 all results are
presented. After that, the results are discussed in context of generations. In appendix 8 these results
are shown completely.
We planned to analyze the results in context of countries. Unfortunately, there are only two
respondents from Czech Republic. That is why this analysis would not be representative. Thereby,
there are hardly differences between the answers of the various countries.
4.2.1 General results
Out of 100 employees 40 have completed this survey, of which 21 are female and nineteen men.
Most respondents work in the Netherlands (28). Seven respondents work in the USA, two in the
Czech Republic and three in other not specified.
The respondents are familiar with most social media tools, but they hardly use these tools. According
to the results 50% of the respondents (20) are registrated as user on Facebook. Even more
respondents (77.5%) are registrated as user on LinkedIn.
They are unfamiliar with Yammer (92.5%), Google Wave(92.5%) and Flickr (72%). 92.5 percent is
equal to 37 respondents. Besides, it is remarkable that 62.5 percent of the respondents are
unfamiliar with Ping. Ping is a mobile device and most used by Blackberry owners. Most employees
of Ahold have a Blackberry.
Regarding to the amount of using social media tools, most respondents use social media tools weekly
(37.5%). Twelve respondents (30%) use these tools daily. Only one person never use social media
tools. The most respondents respond positive considering sharing information with all colleagues
within organization, except birthday, mobile telephone number and agenda. These information they
only want to share with direct colleagues. Most (55%) do not want to share their private address.
The last question contained statements about tools. The respondents had to rate these statements
by disagree/agree. Most respondents totally agree with the statements to participate in communities
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(35%) and to chat with colleagues about business (30%). The respondents totally disagree with
statements to create blogs (35%) and to participate on Yammer (32.5%).
4.2.2 Results in context of generations
The respondents can be classified into the following generations. A remark on this survey is, there
are only six Babyboomers. The amount of respondents of Generation X and the Pragmatic
Generation is almost equally.
Generation
Amount respondents
Babyboomers
6 (15%)
Generation X
16 (40%)
Pragmatic Generation
18 (45%)
Screenagers
0
Regarding to the knowledge of the social media tools one out of six Babyboomers is unfamiliar with
LinkedIn. Three of these Babyboomers are registrated as user on this social network site. Although
this generation is mostly familiar with Facebook, none of them is registrated as user. The
respondents of Generation X are better presented on these sites. Seven out of sixteen is registrated
as user on Facebook and 12 are registrated on LinkedIn. However two are unfamiliar with Facebook.
The respondents of the Pragmatic Generation are even better presented. Thirteen out eighteen are
users of Facebook and sixteen on LinkedIn.
Six out of 40 are registrated as users on Twitter. Two of them belong to Generation X and four to the
Pragmatic Generation. Most respondents are familiar with Twitter, regardless of which generations
they are. The general results showed respondents are familiar with most social media, but they are
not often registrated as user. Regarding to registrated users, there is a link between the amount
registrated users and the generation. The Pragmatic Generation is more often registrated as user
than the other generation. An interesting outcome is that one Babyboomer is registrated as user on
Wikipedia. Besides that, Babyboomers use social media more often for business purposes than the
other generation.
A remarkable fact is the daily users of social media tools are mostly from Generation X. Seven out of
16 respondents use these tools daily. Most of the Pragmatic Generation (9) use these tools weekly.
The person who never uses social media tools, belongs to the Babyboomers.
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Looking at the willingness to share information, there are hardly differences between the
generations. Most respondents are willing to share information with all colleagues within the
organization, expect their birthday, agenda, mobile telephone number and their private address.
For the last question, the respondents had to rate statements. An interesting remark is there are only
small differences between the generations. Most Babyboomers and Generation X are totally agree
with the statements to participate in communities, while the Pragmatic Generation just agreed.
More than 50 percent of the Pragmatic Generation would use wikis, while the other generations
mostly disagree with this statement. Almost all respondents responded negatively on the statement
about creating blogs and using Yammer. However, earlier results showed most respondents are
unfamiliar with Yammer.
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Chapter 5: Future
In this chapter the expected developments of social networking will be summarized. Because the
theories that are addressed in this chapter will mention future developments we are going to close
the chapter with our own view on this topic.
5.1
Web 3.0 and the semantic web
In the future people expect web 3.0. Web 3.0 is also called the semantic web. People are not sure
what web 3.0 exactly means. The expectations are that this web will understand the content of
websites. In this way, the web will think for you. Your search results will be based on your interests
and your previous activities on the web. This should ensure only relevant information is displayed.
Where web 1.0 is driven by site administrators and web 2.0 by user-generated content, the future
lies in user and content relationships adapted to the behaviour a user is displaying. This behaviour
leads to an individually tailored content delivered to you by the web. It brings together people who
share the same interests and this without having to fill in a large profile. By ‘remembering’ what
users clicked on and rated, the online profile is build. In this way the web gains intelligence about
your online behaviour and can advice you how to expand your social network. An early form of this
technology can already be found at online-dating sites.
http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/misc/threat_center/msj_future_social_networking.pdf by Craig Schmugar
5.2
From Hierarchy to Wirearchy
This theory is presented on the Iventiv learning technologies congress by Charles Jennings. It
describes the changes in organizations that can be expected in the future thanks to the upcoming of
technology and social networking. The connection of the organizational future with the
developments in the learning field are made clear in table 5.1.
Table 5.1 from the presentation of Charles Jennings at Iventiv Learning technologies congress
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The definition of a wirearchy is ‘a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on
knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results, enabled by interconnected people and
technology.’ According to this definition it can be seen as an adult-to-adult working relationship
(rather than a parent-child) in which both the participants share the same responsibilities. This shift
in mindset will eventually lead to a decrease of hierarchically structured organizations and the
increase of the wirearchy structures.
Working in a wirearchy is about adapting on a continuous basis, to an environment that keeps
changing based on realtime feedback. When a company can manage this in a successful manner it
will lead to an effective way of working.
http://www.wirearchy.com by J. Husband
5.3
Hewlett Packards Integrated Advanced
Hewlett Packards approach of social media is aligned with their learning strategy. They see social
networking and social media as a way to facilitate learning. In figure 1 a ‘subway’ map displays the
developments in the learning field. In this map is also web 3.0 a ‘destination’ point. You can also see
that they see social networks as a tool to manage content .
Cehia Bohle (HP), july 2009
HP is an organization where knowledge is an important issue. This company has to be innovative to
stay ahead off the competition. They believe that with adapting social networking in their learning
strategy they will achieve this.
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Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations
6.1
Conclusion
Which leading/guiding principles, considering learning through social networking, can contribute to
Aholds future?
Our definition of social networking is as follows: Social networking is using social network sites and
their tools for communication, collaboration, interaction and sharing ideas, interests and knowledge
with other people. These people can be friends, professional colleagues or other people. Examples of
tools are user profiles, communities, instant messaging, (micro)blogging and wikis.
In 1999 Ahold implemented a networking application called Ahold Networking. Employees were
encouraged to place content in the knowledge directory of this system. This content was not checked
or rated at all and the quality of this content was very poor. The implementation strategy was mainly
focused on the technology. The ‘human’ part of the implementation strategy was based on catalysts.
Aholds employees were judged on their participation. This approach is a top-down directed style
which eventually became the bottleneck of the adaption among the staff. The employees we spoke
that used this system in the past still see it as a bad experience. Besides all these bad experiences the
system also facilitated well functioning communities of interest.
Based on our case study and the interviews we held among companies, we identified a set of critical
success factors considering social networking. Every company has its own approach and we selected
the elements that can lead to an effective embedment of social networking for Ahold.
From our point of view transparency and a bottom-up approach are the key elements in an effective
social networking approach. The social network should be easy to access and offer tools that are
linked with each other. The focus of the owner of the system should be on facilitating instead of
controlling. The best strategy to approach employees is to treat them as ‘adults’ and give them the
trust they deserve. Thereby the guidelines should be open minded: ‘we trust you until we cannot
trust you anymore.’ The readiness of the staff is not a big issue. When they see the benefits starting
to become concrete around them, they will eventually adopt this way of working. In this approach
the ‘What’s in it for me?’ question is answered by the environment of the employee.
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A remark to the case study is that we selected the best practices for Ahold according to our opinion.
The studied companies pursue different business drivers and use different codes of conducts. The
limits of the use of social networking are determined by these codes of conduct. We identify two
types of codes; the defensive policy and the progressive policy. The defensive policy is used at KPMG
and tries to set the use of social media to certain boundaries. The more progressive approaches can
be found at Deloitte, Océ and Microsoft. They trust the ‘common sense’ of their staff-members. We
believe that, looking at the future developments, employees need to be treated as intelligent
individuals who can make their own decisions without compromising the company.
Due to the different approaches, internal departments at the studied companies have various
responsibilities. KPMG’s Risk and Security department has a big influence on the social networking
initiatives. They tend to control a lot of what happens. At Hewlett Packard the design and
implementation was performed under supervision of the global head of HR. They did involve several
departments in this process. IT was brought in to build the applications, communication was involved
to get the message across and HR was setting the goals. Deloitte and Microsoft share this view to
involve the most relevant departments. At Océ the communication department is the owner of all
the initiatives in the field of social networking. This makes perfect sense if you look at their original
business driver to reduce communication costs. Our opinion is that Ahold would gain a lot by letting
the different views of the departments come together, share their ideas and work together to a
widely supported social network approach.
In our research we approached learning as the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or
skill. Learning is not only education, but also information-sharing, collaboration and working with
people. Learning can take place in a formal and in an informal environment. In social networks
informal learning is more at its place, but formal learning stays a part of the whole ‘learning
experience’. The combination between informal and formal learning is called blended learning.
Blended learning is aligned with a bottom-up approach. We see a clear connection in the way social
media can contribute in the way employees learn in an informal manner. In this way social media
facilitates informal learning and adds a great value to the organization.
A generation is a group of people born in the same timeframe. Four generations are distinguished:
the Babyboomers, Generation X, the Pragmatic generation and the Screenagers. The Babyboomers
posses the most knowledge and experiences within organizations. Literature study shows this
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generation is not active on social network platforms. In our small survey out of 40 respondents six
belong to the Babyboomers. This survey points out that this generation is less prepared to participate
on social network platforms then other generations. On the other hand, they are not against sharing
information and knowledge through social networking.
Out of 40 respondents 34 belong to Generation X (16) or the Pragmatic generation (18). These
generations were (young) adults during the introduction of the Internet. In contrary to the literature
study, the survey hardly shows differences between these generations. Although the negative
experiences caused by Ahold Networking, the survey points out both Generation X as the Pragmatic
Generation are ready to share information and knowledge through social networking.
The last generation, Screenagers, is born during the digital revolution. They are used to finding
information anytime and everywhere and are the largest group of users of social network sites. This
generation has a collectivistic mindset. The learning tools of social media are aligned with this mindset. Blended learning is an effective learning approach, especially for this generation. Unfortunately
the Screenagers are not represented in our survey.
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6.2
Recommendations: its not the tools that counts, its the people.
Our recommendations start with a note on the reliability of the case study. Although the studied
organizations are in an advanced stadium of using social networking in a successful manner, they
cannot be identified as a perfect situation. The best practices we identified in our case study, do
work for this companies. Because social networking is not entirely adopted in the corporate world
there is no ideal situation of an ‘Enterprise 2.0’. There are no best practices yet, we do believe there
are best fits. In this recommendation we describe the best fit for Ahold according to social
networking.
A bottom-up approach is the way for Ahold to use the networking tools. The survey points out
employees already use social network tools in their personal and professional lives. Aholds goal
should be to use this fact in their advantage. To reach this goal a change of mindset in several areas is
required.
The first relevant change Ahold should make is a change in their current view on learning. Ahold
needs to realize the importance of informal learning and adapt it in their future learning
programmes. To facilitate this change an integrated social network should be implemented. Social
networking supports informal learning in a company. This social network needs to give the
employees the possibility to engage in the tools they already use. These tools should not exclude the
traditional learning methods. They should be mixed together to reach a blended learning approach. A
blended learning approach is the way the next generation (Screenagers) wants to learn.
This view on learning should also be used on the other generations. The reason to use this approach
on the Babyboomers, Generation X and the Pragmatic Generation has two advantages. The first
advantage is crystal clear. When people are using formal- (traditional learning methods) and informal
(social networking) learning approaches combined, the process is more effective. The second
advantage lies in the fact that the knowledge of the Babyboomers can be preserved in a social
networking platform. The preserved knowledge is in this way available and ready to be used by the
new generations. Another development of learning is the use of mobile devices. Especially Hewlett
Packard recognizes the tendency towards this approach and identifies it as a critical success factor.
Before Ahold can start designing a social networking platform the view on the staff needs to become
more open-minded. Ahold needs to embrace of a progressive set of guidelines. They should trust the
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workforce and has to treat them as intelligent individuals with a healthy common sense. In the
design process of the social media platform, every department needs to be represented.
The reason for this cross-departmental gathering is to create a widely accepted platform in which
every department had its input. An important feature of this platform should be a system in which
posted content can be rated.
Last but not least Ahold has to start seeing the possibilities of social networking instead of the
possible threats. Web 3.0 is coming and although the consequences are not concrete, it will ask for
yet another approach. In our opinion the external environment is to be treated as a great instrument
that can provide knowledge and contains experience. Start seeing the wisdom of crowds.
Our last word of advice is to conduct a follow-up study to get a view on the possibilities of social
networking for external purposes.
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Chapter 7: Recommendations on Implementation
In this chapter we will give recommendations on implementation. The goal of our report is a
recommendation of leading principles considering social networking. The results do not lead to a
fixed solution. That is why we only give recommendations on implementation instead of a structured
plan for implementation. Besides that, we concluded a bottom up approach is needed for the
integrating of a social network platform. An implementation is mostly a top down process.
We are using the eight steps of implementation described by J.P. Kotter. Microsoft’s seven steps
resembles the theory of Kotter. The eight steps of Kotter are as follows:
1. Establish a sense of Urgency
2. Create the Guiding Coalition
3. Develop the Vision & Strategy
4. Convey the Change Vision
5. Empower Action – Get Some Wins
6. Cement Gains – More Wins
7. Anchor New Change Culture
Figure 6.1: Kotter’s eight steps
Establish a sense of Urgency
Social networking is a tendency that hits the corporate environment. Social networking leads to a
fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Instead of ‘knowledge is power’, knowledge will be
sharing, collaboration and communication. In a few years, the screenagers will enter the labour
market. They are used to find information anytime, anywhere through social network tools and they
expect these tool are available in their workplace. For integrating a social network platform, the
support of the Corporate Executive Board is necessary.
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Create the Guiding Coalition
For integrating a social network platform, it is essential various departments cooperate with each
other. A common view on social networking is important for integrating it successfully. Besides, the
support of the Corporate Executive Board is needed.
Develop the Vision and Strategy
Instead of developing the vision and strategy, the coalition needs to develop business drives. What
are Aholds purposes considering social networking? Examples of business drives are learning through
social networking, costs reduction or attracting new generations. Besides that, Ahold has to appoint
so called ambassadors. These ambassadors have to participate in a pilot. They are the people, who
can inspire other employees.
The ‘house’ of Hewlett Packard is a strong matrix in which the future developments and the ‘horizon’
of social networking and learning are displayed. In this thesis we already mentioned this way of
setting a goal and we believe that Ahold should create a comparable matrix that fits their own needs.
Convey the Change Vision
Social networking requires a different mindset amongst employees. The power of social networking
is collaboration and sharing information. This information is user-generated and requires a bottomup approach. Participation of employees is necessary for a fully integrated social network platform.
To encourage this participation, Ahold can organize workshops. Employees have to see the benefits
of using social network tools. Topics for workshops are: ‘What is social networking?’ and ‘What is in it
for me?’
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Empower Action – Get Some Wins
Employees need to experience quick benefits of social networking. In this way, employees will
consider social networking as useful. Ambassadors can stimulate the staff members to share their
benefits with other employees. It is crucial management only facilitates the process and people
remain generating the content from bottom up.
Cement Gains – More Wins
There are many social networking tools. It is important to align the tools to the needs of the
employees. The chosen tools should not be implemented at the same time. For this implementations
a step by step method should be used.
Anchor New Change Culture
Social networking has to be embedded in the organization. The main change is a bottom up approach
instead of a top down approach. Content is user generated. Employees are communicating,
collaborating, sharing ideas, interest and knowledge with other employees, through social
networking.
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Keywords
Learning
In our research we approach learning as a very broad definition. We see learning as the act, process,
or experience of gaining knowledge or skill. Learning is not only education, but also informationsharing, collaboration and working with people. Learning can take place in a formal and in an
informal environment. In social networks informal learning is more at its place, but formal learning
stays a part of the whole ‘learning experience’.
Web 2.0
'The term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive
information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide
Web. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in
contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information
that is provided to them' (www.wikipedia.com).
Web 3.0
Web 3.0 will be the successor of web 2.0. Web 3.0 is also called the semantic web. This web will think
for you. Search results are based on your interests and your previous activities on the web.
Social Media
We prefer the following definition of social media by the social media bible: ‘social media refers to
activities, practices, and behaviors among communities of people who gather online to share
information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media. Conversation media are Webbased applications that make it possible to create and easily transmit content in the form of words,
pictures, videos, and audios.’
Social Networks
A network is a group of like-minded people who have come together in a common place to share
thoughts, ideas, and information about themselves. A social network is a group of people who
interact through newsletters, blogs, comments, telephone, e-mail and instant messages. They use
text, audio, photographs and video for social, professional and educational purposes. The goal of a
social network is to build trust in a given community.
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Ahold Networking
Ahold have had a internal social network around 2001. This network was called Ahold
Networking. This network has been put to a hold during the crisis.
Business networking
Networking with business purposes.
Intracompany Community
Some companies have created their own internal social networks, called Intracompany Communities.
Some allow coworkers to view member profiles and make connections based on needed and
demonstrated expertise. Intracompany Communities can be a boon to productivity, or they can be
the equivalent of the message board in the breakroom, or they can be both.
Wiki
The word Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for fast or quick. Wiki sites are also referred to as
What I Know Is. 'A wiki is a browser-based web platform that lets volunteers contribute information
based on their expertise and knowledge, and permits them to edit content within articles on specific
subjects' (Social Media Bible, 2009). The most familiar example of wikis is wikipedia.
Podcast/Vodcast
The term podcast is a combination of Ipod and broadcasting. Podcasts are audio files that are
published on the internet. People can download this content and listen to it. Vodcasts are similar to
podcasts, but instead of audio, vodcasts are video files.
RSS
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is meant to exchange text and links between computers.
The image that indicates the availability of RSS is given below.
Blogs
Blogs are mostly columns reflecting on policy or personal experiences published on internet. Readers
can respond on these blogs.
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Instant messaging
Instant messaging is a form of direct online communication. It is also described as a real-time text
based online networked communication system. This improves the efficiency and effectivity of
communication due to the immediate reply one can receive.
My profile/My Site
The profile contains a set of personalized information of one individual. This data often includes the
interests, picture, workfield and for example the way you can connect with this person. The profiles
are used to give other people the possibility to connect with the owner of the profile.
Yammer
Yammer is a microblogging service and looks like Twitter, but Yammer is for internal use. Only
colleagues can read messages. Users are able to send and read messages. These messages are textbased posts containing up to 140 characters. They are displayed on the profile of the author and
delivered to the followers of the author.
Webinar
Web based seminar.
Enterprise 2.0
Social network platforms within an organization.
Blended learning
Blended learning is the combination of different learning techniques, which can be both formal and
informal.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc, March 2010
http://consommacteurs.blogs.com/files/socialnetworksites_boyd-ellision_2007.pdf, May 2010
http://www.princeton.edu/hr/learning/process/, May 2010
http://www.kessels-smit.com/files/2010_Proefschrift_in_Opleiding_en_Ontwikkeling.pdf, May 2010
http://www.aartbontekoning.com/downloads/JongeHonden.pdf, April 2010
http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/20060627_generatie_einstein_slim_sterk_en_sociaal/,
April 2010
http://trendslator.nl/wordpress/wp-content/generaties.pdf, April 2010
http://www.aartbontekoning.com/downloads/JongeHonden.pdf, April 2010
http://www.aartbontekoning.com/downloads/Waves%20of%20New%20Generations.pdf, April 2010
http://www.pluck.com/social-media/why-social-media.html, May 2010
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Appendix
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Appendix 1 Organizational structure Ahold
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Appendix 2: Social Media Landscape
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Appendix 3: Examples Social Media Guidelines
Online Social Media Principles
INTRODUCTION
Every day, people discuss, debate and embrace The Coca‐Cola Company and our brands in thousands
of online conversations. We recognize the vital importance of participating in these online
conversations and are committed to ensuring that we participate in online social media the right
way. These Online Social Media Principles have been developed to help empower our associates to
participate in this new frontier of marketing and communications, represent our Company, and
share the optimistic and positive spirits of our brands.
The vision of the Company to achieve sustainable growth online and offline is guided by certain
shared values that we live by as an organization and as individuals:
LEADERSHIP: The courage to shape a better future;
COLLABORATION: Leveraging our collective genius;
INTEGRITY: Being real;
ACCOUNTABILITY: Recognizing that if it is to be, it’s up to me;
PASSION: Showing commitment in heart and mind;
DIVERSITY: Being as inclusive as our brands; and
QUALITY: Ensuring what we do, we do well.
These Online Social Media Principles are intended to outline how these values should be
demonstrated in the online social media space and to guide your participation in this area, both
when you are participating personally, as well as when you are acting on behalf of the Company. It is
critical that we always remember who we are (a marketing company) and what our role is in the
social media community (to build our brands). The same rules that apply to our messaging and
communications in traditional media still apply in the online social media space; simply because the
development and implementation of an online social media program can be fast, easy, and
inexpensive doesn’t mean that different rules apply.
The Company encourages all of its associates to explore and engage in social media communities at a
level at which they feel comfortable. Have fun, but be smart. The best advice is to approach online
worlds in the same way we do the physical one – by using sound judgment and common sense, by
adhering to the Company’s values, and by following the Code of Business Conduct and all other
applicable policies.
COMPANY COMMITMENTS
The Company adheres strongly to its core values in the online social media community, and we
expect the same commitment from all Company representatives – including Company associates,
and associates of our agencies, vendors and suppliers. Any deviation from these commitments may
be subject to disciplinary review or other appropriate action.
The Five Core Values of the Company in the Online Social Media Community
1. Transparency in every social media engagement. The Company does not condone manipulating
the social media flow by creating “fake” destinations and posts designed to mislead followers
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2.
3.
4.
5.
and control a conversation. Every Web site, “fan page”, or other online destination that is
ultimately controlled by the Company must make that fact known to users and must be
authorized according to applicable internal protocols in order to track and monitor the
Company’s online presence. We also require bloggers and social media influencers to disclose to
their readers when we’re associating with them, whether by providing them with product
samples or hosting them at Company events, and we need to monitor whether they are
complying with this requirement.
Protection of our consumers’ privacy. This means that we should be conscientious regarding any
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that we collect, including how we collect, store, use, or
share that PII, all of which should be done pursuant to applicable Privacy Policies, laws and IT
policies.
Respect of copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity, and other third‐party rights in the online
social media space, including with regard to user‐generated content (UGC). How exactly you do
this may depend on your particular situation, so work with your cross‐functional teams to make
informed, appropriate decisions.
Responsibility in our use of technology. We will not use or align the Company with any
organizations or Web sites that deploy the use of excessive tracking software, adware, malware
or spyware.
Utilization of best practices, listening to the online community, and compliance with applicable
regulations to ensure that these Online Social Media Principles remain current and reflect the
most up‐to‐date and appropriate standards of behavior.
COMPANY AND AGENCY ASSOCIATES’ ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES
The Company respects the rights of its associates and its authorized agencies’ associates to use blogs
and other social media tools not only as a form of self‐expression, but also as a means to further the
Company’s business. It is important that all associates are aware of the implications of engaging in
forms of social media and online conversations that reference the Company and/or the associate’s
relationship with the Company and its brands, and that associates recognize when the Company
might be held responsible for their behavior.
Our Expectations for Associates’ Personal Behavior in Online Social Media
There’s a big difference in speaking “on behalf of the Company” and speaking “about” the Company.
This set of 5 principles refers to those personal or unofficial online activities where you might refer
to Coca‐Cola.
1. Adhere to the Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies. All Company associates,
from the Chairman to every intern, are subject to the Company’s Code of Business Conduct in
every public setting. In addition, other policies, including the Information Protection Policy and
the Insider Trading Policy, govern associates’ behavior with respect to the disclosure of
information; these policies are applicable to your personal activities online.
2. You are responsible for your actions. Anything you post that can potentially tarnish the
Company’s image will ultimately be your responsibility. We do encourage you to participate in
the online social media space, but urge you to do so properly, exercising sound judgment and
common sense.
3. Be a “scout” for compliments and criticism. Even if you are not an official online spokesperson
for the Company, you are one of our most vital assets for monitoring the social media landscape.
If you come across positive or negative remarks about the Company or its brands online that you
believe are important, consider sharing them by forwarding them to
[email protected].
4. Let the subject matter experts respond to negative posts. You may come across negative or
disparaging posts about the Company or its brands, or see third parties trying to spark negative
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conversations. Unless you are a certified online spokesperson, avoid the temptation to react
yourself. Pass the post(s) along to our official in‐market spokespersons who are trained to
address such comments, at [email protected].
5. Be conscious when mixing your business and personal lives. Online, your personal and business
personas are likely to intersect. The Company respects the free speech rights of all of its
associates, but you must remember that customers, colleagues and supervisors often have
access to the online content you post. Keep this in mind when publishing information online that
can be seen by more than friends and family, and know that information originally intended just
for friends and family can be forwarded on. Remember NEVER to disclose non‐public information
of the Company (including confidential information), and be aware that taking public positions
online that are counter to the Company’s interests might cause conflict.
Our Expectations for Online Spokespeople
Just as with traditional media, we have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to effectively manage
the Company’s reputation online and to selectively engage and participate in the thousands of online
conversations that mention us every day. The following 10 principles guide how our Certified Online
Spokespeople should represent the Company in an online, official capacity when they are speaking
“on behalf of the Company:” Online Social Media Principles (12/15/09) 3
1. Be Certified in the Social Media Certification Program. All associates who wish to officially
represent the Company online must complete the Social Media Certification Program prior to
beginning or continuing these activities.
2. Follow our Code of Business Conduct and all other Company policies. Our Code of Business
Conduct provides the foundation for these Online Social Media Principles: “As a representative of
[the Company], you must act with honesty and integrity in all matters.” This commitment is true
for all forms of social media. In addition, several other policies govern your behavior as a
Company spokesperson in the online social media space, including the Information Protection
Policy and the Insider Trading Policy.
3. Be mindful that you are representing the Company. As a Company representative, it is
important that your posts convey the same positive, optimistic spirit that the Company instills in
all of its communications. Be respectful of all individuals, races, religions and cultures; how you
conduct yourself in the online social media space not only reflects on you – it is a direct reflection
on the Company.
4. Fully disclose your affiliation with the Company. The Company requires all associates who are
communicating on behalf of the Company to always disclose their name and their affiliation. It is
never acceptable to use aliases or otherwise deceive people. State your relationship with the
Company from the outset, e.g., “Hi, I’m John and I work for The Coca‐Cola Company….” This
disclosure is equally important for any agency/vendor/partner/third party who is representing
the Company online. They must disclose that they work “with The Coca‐Cola Company.”
5. Keep records. It is critical that we keep records of our interactions in the online social media
space and monitor the activities of those with whom we engage. Because online conversations
are often fleeting and immediate, it is important for you to keep track of them when you’re
officially representing the Company. Remember that online Company statements can be held to
the same legal standards as traditional media communications. Keep records of any online
dialogue pertaining to the Company and send a copy to [email protected].
6.
When in doubt, do not post. Associates are personally responsible for their words and actions,
wherever they are. As online spokespeople, you must ensure that your posts are completely
accurate and not misleading, and that they do not reveal non‐public information of the
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Company. Exercise sound judgment and common sense, and if there is any doubt, DO NOT POST
IT. In any circumstance in which you are uncertain about how to respond to a post, send the link
to [email protected].
7. Give credit where credit is due and don’t violate others’ rights. DO NOT claim authorship of
something that is not yours. If you are using another party’s content, make certain that they are
credited for it in your post and that they approve of you utilizing their content. Do not use the
copyrights, trademarks, publicity rights, or other rights of others without the necessary
permissions of the rightsholder(s).
8. Be responsible to your work. The Company understands that associates engage in online social
media activities at work for legitimate purposes and that these activities may be helpful for
Company affairs. However, the Company encourages all associates to exercise sound judgment
and common sense to prevent online social media sites from becoming a distraction at work.
9. Remember that your local posts can have global significance. The way that you answer an
online question might be accurate in some parts of the world, but inaccurate (or even illegal) in
others. Keep that “world view” in mind when you are participating in online conversations.
10. Know that the Internet is permanent. Once information is published online, it is essentially part
of a permanent record, even if you “remove/delete” it later or attempt to make it anonymous. If
your complete thought, along with its context, cannot be squeezed into a character‐restricted
space (such as Twitter), provide a link to an online space where the message can be expressed
completely and accurately.
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Appendix 4: Levels to share knowledge
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Appendix 5: Questions interviews
1. How do you use Social Media for internal communication in your company?
2. What is your goal/ business driver of using Social Media?
3. Which social networking applications are available?
4. How do the users react on it/ What is the most used application?
5. Which limits does your company give in using social networks?/ What is the policy?
6. Which considerations were made during the implementation?
7. How are the tools implemented?
8. How successful is it?/ Does everyone use it?
9. Which departments were involved in the implementation and design stage?
10. How do you keep the system up to date?
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Appendix 6: Questions survey
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Appendix 7: General results survey
Results survey
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Appendix 8: Results survey in context of generation
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