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People Analytics: How Social Sensing Technology Will Transform Business and What It Tells Us about the Future of Work
- By Ben Waber
- Published Apr 22, 2013 by FT Press. Part of the FT Press Analytics series.
Book
- Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
About
Features
How analytics can dramatically improve the performance and personal fulfillment of your workforce, and prepare them for future challenges!
- Use sensors, big data, analytics, and the lessons of evolutionary and cultural history to drive powerful benefits in organizational development
- By MIT Media Lab's Ben Waber, the high-profile author whose work has been covered in media ranging from Wired to NPR to The Economist
- Forward looking, yet actionable: what's coming, and what you can do right now
- Brand-new case studies from Bank of America, eBay, Skype, and other innovators
Description
- Copyright 2013
- Dimensions: 6" x 9"
- Pages: 240
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-13-315831-4
- ISBN-13: 978-0-13-315831-1
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.
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Table of Contents
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