David Tebbutt writes on the register

“The fact is that ’social computing’ cannot be implemented without trust between employers and employed, between colleagues and between departments. It holds the potential to destroy hierarchies and demolish departmental silos. Paradoxically, it can also protect and strengthen these things, if this is what the company really wants.”

It’s interesting to consider how the introduction of knowledge sharing tools in an enterprise may start to challenge existing hierarchies and relationships. Especially those with highly ordered structures and staff ranks such as governments and international organisations.

What happens when a “lowly” administrative staff member begins to question and correct the work posted by the PhD domain expert on the enterprise wiki? What about when a particular staff member develops a reputation as a domain expert of a particular topic or set of topics within the enterprise social network and becomes a trusted authority on it… despite the fact that it is outside their job description and they are not compensated in the same way as the “official” experts?

Is it possible that the enterprise knowledge sharing / knowledge management platform may start to take some of the power away from predetermined command and control structures and introduce elements of a “self organising system” into the enterprise?

This would of course be a great opportunity for some, but for others quite a threat.