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Leadership 7th Edition by Andrew DuBrin, Ann Fisher, Andrew DuBrin
Edition 7ISBN: 9781285225968Leadership 7th Edition by Andrew DuBrin, Ann Fisher, Andrew DuBrin
Edition 7ISBN: 9781285225968 Exercise 7
EMC Leaders Use Social Business Network to Solicit Employee Input
EMC Corp.'s social business network, called EMC/One, had been in place about a year when the company turned sour. The developer of information infrastructure products was about to learn the value of a Facebook-like platform for use within the company.
As the company spiraled downward in 2008, EMC's chief financial offer began issuing missives about things employees could not do or have in order to reduce annual operating expenses by $450 million. As grumbling in the ranks grew, one contributor to the social business network already used by several thousand of EMC's 40,000 employees started a forum for workers to share and discuss ideas for cutting costs.
According to Polly Pearson, then EMC's vice president for employment brand and strategy engagement, employees offered ideas such as turning down the temperature by two degrees in winter. When the CFO got wind of the forum, he read the postings and decided to adopt many of the ideas. Throughout 2009, the forum was the site of a collaborative exercise among thousands of employees across the globe to understand the reductions and to help meet the $450 million costcutting goal. Without a social business network, such an exercise would have been impossible.
"EMC/One was important in driving faster adoption and more broad-based understanding of the cost-cutting actions among our employees in a short period of time," says Lesley Ogrodnick, a company spokeswoman. It is not possible to quantify the exact contribution of the EMC/ One to this cost-cutting effort, she says, but it was instrumental in EMC's ability to be more aggressive with the company's cost-transformation program.
Pearson, who left the company to form her own venture and continues to consult with EMC, sees the social business network as the latest-and most effective-variant of the networked organization. "It used to be two guys having lunch. Then it was e-mail," she says. "Business gets done through networking, and these internal social networks are the widest and most inclusive way of doing that."
What has this story got to do with leadership?
EMC Corp.'s social business network, called EMC/One, had been in place about a year when the company turned sour. The developer of information infrastructure products was about to learn the value of a Facebook-like platform for use within the company.
As the company spiraled downward in 2008, EMC's chief financial offer began issuing missives about things employees could not do or have in order to reduce annual operating expenses by $450 million. As grumbling in the ranks grew, one contributor to the social business network already used by several thousand of EMC's 40,000 employees started a forum for workers to share and discuss ideas for cutting costs.
According to Polly Pearson, then EMC's vice president for employment brand and strategy engagement, employees offered ideas such as turning down the temperature by two degrees in winter. When the CFO got wind of the forum, he read the postings and decided to adopt many of the ideas. Throughout 2009, the forum was the site of a collaborative exercise among thousands of employees across the globe to understand the reductions and to help meet the $450 million costcutting goal. Without a social business network, such an exercise would have been impossible.
"EMC/One was important in driving faster adoption and more broad-based understanding of the cost-cutting actions among our employees in a short period of time," says Lesley Ogrodnick, a company spokeswoman. It is not possible to quantify the exact contribution of the EMC/ One to this cost-cutting effort, she says, but it was instrumental in EMC's ability to be more aggressive with the company's cost-transformation program.
Pearson, who left the company to form her own venture and continues to consult with EMC, sees the social business network as the latest-and most effective-variant of the networked organization. "It used to be two guys having lunch. Then it was e-mail," she says. "Business gets done through networking, and these internal social networks are the widest and most inclusive way of doing that."
What has this story got to do with leadership?
Explanation
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Leadership 7th Edition by Andrew DuBrin, Ann Fisher, Andrew DuBrin
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