Web 2.0 and HR

Following on a nice article by one of my favorite blogger, I would like to share my views on this very interesting phenomenon of Web 2.0 and how it promises to change the way HR uses technology.
First some basics, Web 2.0 is a combination of a lot of collaborative tools and technologies ( some of which have been there for sometime) and some which are new, to name a few - chats, wikis,blogs,rss,mash ups and many others.

For a layman, these are all tools to connect, express and share. How does this impact HR ?

Some ground realities :

1. Awareness and Knowledge are at a different level today, thanks to the world wide web and the wide access to information and with this collaborative Web (Web 2.0), we would see this grow further as it would also provide a larger access to experts.

2. This would impact the thinking and behaviour of individuals,which in turn would certainly impact the productivity (positively).

3. The tools would also mean faster exchange of information, referrals and jobs amongst these networked individuals. Thus making Organization Climate and Culture sound like Jurrasic Era terms.

How can organization leverage upon these capabilities

1. Knowledge Management - Imagine drawing upon the talent pool of not a few people in your organization, but entirely huge population of networked experts. Knowledge would grow by leaps and bounds. Imagine an employee today who can discuss his work problems in a local context with his peers, and then imagine a scenario where is able to do the same in a global context with a large number of people. Definitely the broadening of perspective would mean better information. How do you manage Knowledge then ? A new challenge which HR would have to seek answers to.

2. Recruitment - This is one function that can really benefit. Imagine you put a vacancy and give a link to share it on Facebook, Digg and many other such networking mediums. What happens ? Your reach increases multiple times and all this at really no cost of advertising. This is tremendous, then you have sites like LinkedIn and Blue Chip Expert which allow you to network with a number of professionals known to you or your friends. This is the power of Collaborative Web, something never seen before. So finding a Job through a jobsite or referrals may well have its own benefits but it does not offer the reach of the collaborative network. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as we go ahead,

Networking would become an important skill in the organization, so would be the individuals who are able to leverage the power of collaborative networks and contribute.

A lot more would be talked about this by me and other bloggers in coming days. The potential is huge and so is the promise.