second life: the business case for hr
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from a panel discussion on the business case for HR in the virtual world at a Human Resources seminar in Boston in January 2009. Panelists were from Duke CE, Duke, IBM, and the Stockholm School of Economics. Please note that part of the panel discussion included a tour to various places in SL.TRANSCRIPT
Second Life: The BusinessCase for HR in the Virtual World
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Should I be worried about it? Should MY organization be there? Why would we??
What IS this?? Is it a game??Who ARE these people that spend their time and MONEY there – and what the heck do they DO there?
How is it different than MySpace or Facebook?Should I let my kids be on it? Should I
let my EMPLOYEES use it?Isn’t it just a big WASTE of time?
I heard someone made $1M in Second Life…say it isn’t so?
Is it SAFE? Is it secure?
4Sources: Business Week April 2006, The Economist. Living a Second Life, Sept. 28, 2006
Second Life is some unholy offspring of the movie The Matrix, the social
networking site MySpace and the online marketplace eBay.
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Tony O’Driscoll, aka
Wada Tripp
Duke University Professor of the Practice,
Fuqua School of Business
6Source: Joe Miller. Linden Lab
All Data: (Industry, Job Level, Company Size, # Learners Impacted)
16 Million Members1.1 Million Active Residents350,000 Hours of Use Per Day87,500 Hours Development Time/Day$1.6 B worth of Free Work per Year163 Virtual Square Miles (5X Boston)520,000 Unique Items traded/Month
Clearly if social activity migrates to synthetic worlds, economic activity will go there as well. Castranova
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81% of the business population age 34 or younger are gamers 56 million are old enough to be employees 7 million are already managers in the current workforce
Sources: Merrill Lynch 1999, Beck and Wade, Got Game., Prensky, Digital Game Based Learning
Digital ImmigrantsDigital Natives
The new generation is huge, 90 million people in the US alone. Already there are more of them around than there
are baby boomers. Beck and Wade
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9Source: e-Learning Guild
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By the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a “second life”, but not necessarily in Second Life,
Steve PrenticeGartner
Source: Gartner Consulting, IBM EBO
3D DigitalDomains
3Di ValueDrivers
Metaverse IntraverseInterverse
Collaboration
Commerce Learning
Web 1.0 Analogue B2B B2EB2C
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Dr. Robin Teigland, aka
Karinda Rhode
Stockholm School of Economics
Associate Professor
Photo: Henry Lundholm , Metro
What companies are striving for…
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. - Steve Jobs, Apple
Our competitive advantage is our ability to attract talented people to collaborate and innovate together. - Aleksander Farstad, eZ Systems
The goal is to always build a diverse group of people – good decisions are a result of diverse people coming together examining every point of view in a deliberate process and then making a decision. - Carly Fiorina
The rate at which individuals and organizations learn may become the only sustainable competitive advantage, especially in knowledge-intensive industries. - Ray Stata, Analog Devices
While we know what to do….
13Network picture from http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/blog/?m=200712
HierarchyHierarchyLinear, static, process-Linear, static, process-
based organizationbased organization
HierarchyHierarchyLinear, static, process-Linear, static, process-
based organizationbased organization
HeterarchyHeterarchyDynamic, integrated Dynamic, integrated
collaboration networks collaboration networks
HeterarchyHeterarchyDynamic, integrated Dynamic, integrated
collaboration networks collaboration networks
…….getting there is hard to do!!.getting there is hard to do!!
Communication still occurs primarily within formal silos
Stockholm
London
Brussels
Helsinki
MadridCopenhagen
Teigland 2003
San Francisco
Creativity and innovation come from Creativity and innovation come from individuals spanning diverse networksindividuals spanning diverse networks
Firm AFirm A
HighHighcreativecreative
Low Low on-timeon-time
HighHighon-timeon-time Low Low
creative creative
Teigland 2003Teigland 2003
HighHighcreativecreative
VirtualVirtualcommunitycommunity
Firm BFirm B
BA
Two employees with the same number of contacts…
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…but with very different access to resources
BA
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The challenge!
When people are more than 50 feet apart, the likelihood of them collaborating more than once a week is less than 10%.
Our networks tend to be homogeneous – we tend to develop relations with people like ourselves.
The higher the diversity of team members, the higher the potential for conflict and poor results.
Our biggest challenge!– Enabling our employees to live up to our motto of “share
your information”– With people at 9 different locations
– From 22 different nationalities– CEO, eZ Software (open source content management )
Allen 1984, Burt 1992, Marsden 1987, Ruuska & Teigland 2003Allen 1984, Burt 1992, Marsden 1987, Ruuska & Teigland 2003
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VWs help overcome these challenges
Unilever uses SL to bring together Unilever uses SL to bring together individuals working with Dove across the individuals working with Dove across the
world world
Finding and connecting with peopleFinding and connecting with peopleBuilding communitiesBuilding communitiesSharing information and knowledgeSharing information and knowledgeSolving problems and finding Solving problems and finding solutionssolutionsLearning informallyLearning informally
Overcoming diversity challenges Overcoming diversity challenges through creating collective through creating collective competencecompetence
Shared understandingShared understandingShared language, normsShared language, norms
External networks are growing in importance!
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Other people around the world
Other employes around the world
Other employees in your country
Co-Workers
Friends
You
AlexEyal
Your managerRami’s manager
Hila
YaronYuval
Eduardo
Ed
Muriel
Peter
Frequent e-mails
Infrequent e-mails
Web 2.0 Collaboration
Large portion of Large portion of new ideasnew ideas and formal and formal collaboration relationships come from collaboration relationships come from external external contactscontacts
Large portion of Large portion of new ideasnew ideas and formal and formal collaboration relationships come from collaboration relationships come from external external contactscontacts
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China is making big efforts in Virtual Worlds!
•A “virtual economy district A “virtual economy district – a world where millions – a world where millions will work, communicate, will work, communicate, and be in love”and be in love”
•Reaching out to the 150 Reaching out to the 150 mln overseas Chinesemln overseas Chinese
•7 million inworld at same 7 million inworld at same timetime
•Five virtual banking Five virtual banking licenses licenses auctioned for $404,000 auctioned for $404,000
www.crd.gov.cn, www.foreignpolicy.com
“The real China is only a piece of land. We believe that there must be a China in the virtual world and the real world.”Robert Lai, Chief Scientist, CRD
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HSB is creating tomorrow’s solution while attracting employees and customers today
Building the house of the futureBuilding the house of the futurein a competition with architecture studentsin a competition with architecture students
HSB: One of Sweden’s largest real HSB: One of Sweden’s largest real estate management companiesestate management companies
So, what does all this mean?
Organizations have to develop their networks globally - both inside and out
Organizations have to leverage social media − To win the war for talent − To innovate for competitive advantage
Organizations have to cultivate an open, knowledge sharing culture
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If you love knowledge, set it free…
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Chuck Hamilton, aka
Longg Weeks
IBM Learning and New Media
Program Manager - IBM 3D Internet Team
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Convergence In Virtual Spaces
mentoring
Green Data Center
SOA Training
Play is how we principally learn and principally create" Ray Kurzweil
many tochoose from
IBMLotus Tools
BMW Training
Media
BrainThinking
Application across IBM’s HCM Lifecycle
• Second Life Recruiting Center – Themed Zones, Education and Meeting Spaces, etc
• 3DI On-boarding and Orientation
• 3DI Learning Experience Spaces in Multiple Environments
• 3DI Business Rehearsal and Testing
• 3DI Virtual Career Portal
• Virtual Workplace for Employees
Collaborationand Portals
WorkforceManagement
Learning andDevelopment
PerformanceManagement
Collaborationand Portals
WorkforceManagement
Learning andDevelopment
PerformanceManagement
Enabling enterprise
innovation and performance
through improved workforce
effectiveness
Enabling enterprise
innovation and performance
through improved workforce
effectiveness
• Virtual Workplace for Employees
• Career – Fast Forward Zone Meeting Space
• Expertise and Event Collaboration
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At your tables…
What potential applications of this technology do you see within your organization? What might it replace? What might it add that you don’t have now?
What obstacles do you see to venturing into this space?
What questions does this raise for you as you think about your job in 5 years’ time? What other questions do you have for our presenters?
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Take 20 minute break
…and come back for the panel
Steve Mahaley, Director of Learning Technology, Duke Corporate Education
Ace Carson in SL
Tony O’Driscoll, Professor of the Practice, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Wada Tripp in SL
Robin Teigland, Associate Professor, Stockholm School of Economics
•Karinda Rhode in SL
Chuck Hamilton, Learning and New Media Program Manager - IBM 3D Internet Team
Longg Weeks in SL