“The beatings will continue until morale improves”

Is your organization run by an autocratic individual impressed with their own genius who adheres to such beliefs that to perform employees need to be directed, controlled, coerced and yes, flogged?  Regardless of the “Company’s Top 100” best managed sign on the office wall its time to take a hasty exit.

Douglas McGregor a MIT Sloan School of Management professor and author of the book “The Human Side of Enterprise” examined theories on the behavior of individuals at work and came up with two assumptions which were called Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X was based on the assumption that people did not like to work so they needed to be controlled and threatened. Theory Y held the view that work was as natural as play and that given the right conditions a human being will actually seek out responsibility and add value to the organization.

Unfortunately Theory X describes too many organizations today.

It has been an interesting time for individual initiative, technology and innovation. We have seen the emergence of a newer more efficient business model where power is non-existent and real value is being created from the bottom up. It is about groups coming together in a desire to cooperate and to create.

Wikipedia sees thousands of people a day contribute information, people are uploading video on YouTube, Digg readers choose the top news stories, and Yelp users review products and services. There is incredible innovation in the area of Open Source Software. People are choosing to participate without necessarily gaining anything; and often anonymously.

So why are not enough companies tapping into peoples’ desires to cooperate and to create value?  Well there are those who have shed the old ways of the ego and are generating serious marketing advantage through crowd sourcing. Proctor and Gamble, Amazon and check out www.ryzwear.com  run by a former Adidas president. He put 4 million into this shoe start-up and people design the shoes. They have over 10,000 designs. Revenues are also approaching 40 million. Not bad.

In his book “Wisdom of Crowds” James Surowiecki explores the idea that large groups of people are actually smarter than an Elite few. They are especially better at decision making and innovation.

So whether you are designing an ad campaign or a new product, improving productivity, or solving a complex management issue, I am happy to introduce you to your new future CEO – global collective intelligence.