(January 27,  2005) - From the beginning, we've known that work in the 21st Century would involve flatter organizations. The earliest experiences with this principle came from two dis-similar sources: downsizing and the web. Smaller, more focused organizations are inherently flatter. Web based communications are inherently anti-hierarchical.

We particularly enjoyed this post from The Dev Theologian:

My good friend and Co-worker -- D.code -- has just recently set up a spaces blog (I won't bore you with the location).  D. told me that he did this because if he ever goes on the job search (something I personally think may never happen) he wants to point to his pristine non-ranting blog.

Personally I think his idea is crap.  I'd rather a future employer know that "yes, he gets angry about stuff at times, but he doesn't appear to be violent... in fact his rants are funny."  I guess, too, I try to make my blog interesting.  If I have nothing to say I try not to say it (except when I feel like I've been to silent which is the case for me lately).
see: http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/jkimble/archive/2004/12/10/35945.aspx

At the same time that the organization is changing character, the relationship with current, past and future employees is also evolving quickly. On the one hand, many web organizations (Monster and Yahoo, for example), know more about a company's employees than the company itself. On the other hand, savvy users of new technology are faced with worries about which face to show the employer.

Like the adaptation to web pages and increased internet scrutiny of a decade ago, blogs, RSS and other new interactive forms are testing the limits of both sides of the transparency equation. A recent Fortune article, Why There's No Escaping the Blog, points out that:

The blog—short for weblog—can indeed be, as Scoble and Gates say, fabulous for relationships. But it can also be much more: a company's worst PR nightmare, its best chance to talk with new and old customers, an ideal way to send out information, and the hardest way to control it. Blogs are challenging the media and changing how people in advertising, marketing, and public relations do their jobs. A few companies like Microsoft are finding ways to work with the blogging world—even as they're getting hammered by it. So far, most others are simply ignoring it.

That will get harder: According to blog search-engine and measurement firm Technorati, 23,000 new weblogs are created every day—or about one every three seconds. Each blog adds to an inescapable trend fueled by the Internet: the democratization of power and opinion. Blogs are just the latest tool that makes it harder for corporations and other institutions to control and dictate their message. An amateur media is springing up, and the smart are adapting. Says Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Public Relations: "Now you've got to pitch the bloggers too. You can't just pitch to conventional media."
Fortune: Jan. 10, 2005

Over the long haul, mutual transparency benefits both employers and other stakeholders in the organization. Simultaneously, it makes recruiting harder (with an increased emphasis on honesty, clarity and competence) and easier (with increased clarity about who is and isn't in the pool). It's all about communications between just the right people, no more and no less.

John Sumser

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