9780133158311

Summary

Discover powerful hidden social "levers" and networks within your company… then, use that knowledge to make slight "tweaks" that dramatically improve both business performance and employee fulfillment! In People Analytics, MIT Media Lab innovator Ben Waber shows how sensors and analytics can give you an unprecedented understanding of how your people work and collaborate, and actionable insights for building a more effective, productive, and positive organization. Through cutting-edge case studies, Waber shows how:

Changing the way call center employees spent their breaks increased performance by 25% while significantly reducing stress
Quantifying the failure of marketing and customer service to communicate led to a more cohesive and profitable organization
Tweaking the balance of in-person and electronic communication can enhance the value of both
Sensor data can help you discover who your internal experts really are
Identifying employees involved in "creative" behaviors can help you promote innovation throughout your business
Sensors and simulations can help you optimize your sick-day policies
Measuring informal interactions can improve the chances that a merger, acquisition, or "mega-project" will succeed

Drawing on his cutting-edge work at MIT and Harvard, Waber addresses crucial issues ranging from technology to privacy, revealing what will be possible in a few years, and what you can achieve right now. In bringing the power of analytics to organizational development, he offers immense new opportunities to everyone with responsibility for workplace performance.

Author Biography

Ben Waber (Boston, MA) is President/CEO of Sociometric Solutions, a management consultancy that uses social sensing technology to understand companies' internal communication patterns and design innovative transformation strategies. He is also a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where he received his PhD, and was previously Senior Researcher at Harvard Business School. His work has been featured in Wired, NPR, and The Economist, and he has given invited talks at Google, EMC, and Samsung. Waber's research won the 2008 Best Paper award at the ICIS conference, and was selected for the Harvard Business Review's List of Breakthrough Ideas for 2009.

Preface     xix
Chapter 1 Sensible Organizations: Sensors, Big Data, and Quantifying the Unquantifiable     1
Telescopes, Microscopes, and “Socioscopes”     4
Unbiased?     6
Digital Breadcrumbs     7
“Socioscope”     8
Enter the Badge     14
Big Data = Big Brother?     17
Trust and Transparency     20

Chapter 2 Evolution, History, and Social Behavior: Our Wandering Road to the Modern Corporation     21
Back to the Future     22
In the Shadow of Man     22
You Say “Groups,” I Say “Organizations”     26
Individual < Tribe < City-State     28
Do as the Romans Do     30
Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution     31
New Information, New Communication     35
The Organization of Today     37
(In)formal Processes     39
Informally Important     48
The Social Network     50
Organizing the Path Ahead     55

Chapter 3 The Water Cooler Effect: Why a Friendly Chat Is the Most Important Part of the Work Day     57
Talk Your Ear Off     58
Cohesion versus Diversity     59
Blue-Collar versus White-Collar Water Coolers     70
Banking on Change     71
Peanut Butter Jelly Time     74
Break Value     77

Chapter 4 The Death of Distance? Measuring the Power of Proximity     89
So, Should I Stay at Home and Work in My Pajamas?     92
Co-Located Offices: The Gold Standard?     96
More Than a Tape Measure     100
Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?     102
Long Table, Short Table     104
So, Where Should I Sit?     106

Chapter 5 I’m the Expert: Why Connections Are More Important Than Test Scores     109
The (Electric) General     114
The IT Firm Study     115
IT Firm Study Results     116
Expert Puzzle     117
Being an Expert Expert     118

Chapter 6 You Look Like the Creative Type: The Importance of a Diverse Network     123
Cartoon Wars     125
Lessons from South Park: The Roots of Creativity     130

Chapter 7 Tough It Out versus Stay at Home: Modeling Disease Spread Through Face-to-Face Conversations     137
Corporate Epidemiology     140

Chapter 8 Why We Waste $1,200,000,000,000 a Year: Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Culture, and Communication     151
I’ll Call, and Raise     152
Fixing the Problem     155

Chapter 9 Attach Bolt “A” to Plank “Q”: Matching Formal Dependencies with Informal Networks     161
Big Projects, Big Problems     164
Congruence, Distance, and Software     169
Don’t Fall into the Gap     171
Keeping in Contact     174

Chapter 10 The Future of Organizations: How People Analytics Will Transform Work     177
Badges, Badges Everywhere?     179
Moving Toward the People Analytics System     181
Augmented Social Reality     188
All Around the World     189
The Next Big Thing     192

Chapter 11 Where We Go from Here: Face-to-Face Interaction, New Collaboration Tools, and Going Back to the Future     193
Back to the Future 2     200

Endnotes     203
Index     207

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

We're the #1 textbook rental company. Let us show you why.

People Analytics How Social Sensing Technology Will Transform Business and What It Tells Us about the Future of Work

0133158314

Supplemental Materials

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Rewards Program