On Channeling the Surplus!

Ever since the days of the Internet boom, when the 'e' prefix became ubiquitous, people have been talking about latent surpluses and the coming liquidity which would release new value. A lot of that promise has indeed come true, as value chains within and between organizations, became transparent and inter-connected. The world continued to become 'flat' in the intervening years, and just when it seemed like we had reached a point where practicing this elimination of waste and release of value was a given, something that everybody understood as good practice, we discovered a new latent surplus - in people.

Clay Shirky, called this surplus a "Cognitive Surplus" in one of this speeches. I am not sure if it is only 'cognitive', since the phenomenon we are seeing develop at such an accelerated pace, seems to release a lot of latent potential and energies other than just cognitive. I do understand his intent though, to capture an idea which expresses the ability of people to participate actively, using their cognitive powers and forms a critical part of the emergence of new social and economic possibilities.

There are several examples in the literature of how this phenomenon has manifested. We have examples such as the Wikipedia, collective software development and Linux, The Gutenberg Project, and forms of social involvement and participation which have been enabled by the new social technologies. Clearly, new avenues and opportunities for participation and creating value are opening up every day. A tremendous amount of a formerly latent surplus is being channeled to creative and productive expression, when open, free-form interaction is enabled outside the enterprise.

So, when we deploy these technologies within the enterprise, how do we deal with the release of latent surpluses. After all, we are supposed to have no latent surpluses inside organizations - it would imply an ineffective use of resources and a need for optimization and reallocation.

Social technologies at a very basic level contribute to improved productivity. Individuals can find resources easily, people can work with each other more effectively, and reach out to other people in an ad-hoc manner when necessary and it all leads to a better utilization of our human resources.

But, does the concept of releasing latent surpluses apply within an organization? And, if there is such a surplus, and we release it, how do we consciously and deliberately, harness this new energy, in a form that parallels what we see outside the organization. Or, are there just different forms for ad-hoc collaboration and peer-production within the enterprise than there are outside?

Here is what I believe. The fact that there is a latent surplus within all organizations is indeed true. Improvements in productivity, create an opportunity for tapping this new surplus. Innovation is one of the biggest opportunities, as we create these new and expanded spaces. However, this surplus begs to be free of the older forms of creating value within narrowly defined spaces. It's promise lies in the ability of people to make ad-hoc connections outside conventional boundaries.

So, as we help with improving productivity and creating collaborative environments, we might need to also guide people to consider new forms of governance in order to fully reap the unused potential that will inevitably be released, forms of governance which are in alignment with the porous boundaries these technologies create, both within and outside their organizations.

If however, those expanding spaces are constrained or not opened enough, my guess is that the potential will go latent again.