WLP340 Public vs Private Online Groups: The Impact on Creativity

In this episode, Wietske van Osch talks about her recent research into enterprise social networks, exploring how a group's choice of private or public channels influences the type of creativity nurtured.

With the rise of online communities and digital platforms, the way we share, innovate, and co-create has evolved. Wietske van Osch, together with Burcu Bulgurcu recently published research, exploring the nuances of collaborative creativity in online spaces. Pilar came across the piece in the MIT Sloan Review, and invited Wietske onto the show.

This episode is a great example of the power of online communities. Pilar read the article “The Profound Influence of Small Choices in Digital Collaboration” in the Fall 2023 edition of the MIT Sloan Review, and shared it in a Slack community hosted by previous guest Rachael Happe. One of its members, Lori, happened to know Wietske and she introduced her to Pilar.

Wietske's journey began with a passion for creativity. As a child, she was always hands-on, building doll furniture and inventing new recipes. This passion for doing and creating eventually morphed into a desire to understand the essence of creativity. Her academic pursuits led her to study collaborative creativity in online communities, from peer-to-peer file sharing to open-source software communities.

Her exploration took a significant turn during her master's program when she ventured into Silicon Valley. Here, she witnessed the world of innovation unfold, observing creative collaborations in real-world organisations. This experience set the stage for her subsequent research into online communities and their dynamics.

The Rise of Enterprise Social Media Platforms

By 2012, when Wietske joined Michigan State University, the world was witnessing the emergence of enterprise social media platforms. Organisations were beginning to experiment with platforms like Jive, Beehive, and Yammer. Recognising an opportunity, Wietske reached out to Steelcase, an organisation based in Michigan, which had just implemented a digital collaboration platform.

Teams, Boundaries, and Dialogues

Wietske's research wasn't just about broad communities. She delved into the microcosm of teams within organisations. Her initial inquiries revolved around understanding individual engagement with these platforms. How did users communicate? How did they contribute value?

In organisations, for project teams to thrive, there's a need to share knowledge, ideas, and expertise across boundaries. These boundaries could be team-based, geographic, cultural, or even departmental. Wietske's focus shifted to understanding how teams exchanged knowledge and ideas across these boundaries within the broader organisational context.

Wietske van Osch

One discovery was the prevalence of "creative dialogues." These written conversations on platforms were not just about mundane tasks. Instead, they often revolved around brainstorming, envisioning new strategies, and conceptualising new products. Wietske's research aimed to categorise these dialogues, understand their drivers, and explore ways to enhance them.

As we move further into the era of AI, there's potential for what Wietske terms as "persuasive AI." These are AI tools designed to guide users towards behaviours that enhance their collaborative creativity. However, the introduction of AI in collaborative platforms raises ethical concerns, from privacy issues to the potential for manipulation.

For Wietske, the key lies in empowerment. Persuasive AI should be about empowering users, respecting their autonomy, and ensuring ethical considerations are at the forefront.

The Dynamics of Creative Dialogues in Online Teams

Wietske's recent research centred around real-world data from an organisational platform, focusing on 215 teams. Interestingly, these teams were almost evenly split between public (109) and private (106) channels. Public channels are open to anyone within the organisation, while private channels are closed-off, typically by invitation only.

This distinction led Wietske to a fundamental question: In the realm of creativity, which is more conducive to innovation – transparency or privacy?

The Transparency Dilemma

The move towards digital platforms and even the redesign of physical office spaces has emphasised transparency. Open spaces, glass walls, and visible communication channels are all designed to foster openness and collaboration. However, this transparency is a double-edged sword. While it can enhance knowledge sharing and learning opportunities, it can also inhibit risk-taking and idea incubation.

Wietske's research identified two primary types of creative dialogues: expansion and reframing. Expansion dialogues involve taking existing ideas and either combining them in new ways of applying them to different contexts. Reframing dialogues, on the other hand, are more disruptive. They involve rethinking the problem entirely, leading to a novel perspective.

The nature of a team's network structure plays a pivotal role in the type of creative dialogue it engages in. Public teams, due to their open nature, tend to form sparse networks that bridge different parts of the organisation. This diversity leads to expansion dialogues. Private teams, on the other hand, form dense, cohesive networks. These networks, built on trust and shared understanding, are more conducive to reframing dialogues.

One might assume that teams would evolve over time, transitioning from private to public or vice versa. However, Wietske's research found that this rarely happens. Instead, teams often create secondary groups to serve evolving purposes. This suggests an intuitive understanding among users about the nature of collaboration within these groups.

Beyond the strictly professional dialogues, these platforms also host a plethora of social conversations. These interactions, while seemingly unrelated to work, can be a breeding ground for creativity. Drawing parallels from unrelated contexts, like the design of the Japanese bullet train inspired by a bird's beak, can lead to groundbreaking innovations.

Recommendations for the Future

When dealing with these platforms, we often ponder how to manage them. However, these private groups aren't always visible, sometimes even to managers, unless they're part of that specific team. We need to accept that we can't manage everything. We must afford some autonomy, allowing individuals to take the lead and let communities evolve organically.

Yet, there's a challenge for organisations. Notably, the most radical idea generation and genuine experimentation often occur within these private groups. So, how can we share these insights with the wider organisation without compromising the group's integrity?

We shouldn't push managers to oversee these groups, as it could disrupt their unique dynamics. Instead, perhaps we can encourage members of these groups to share any insights they deem relevant to the broader organisation. They could share non-sensitive, non-confidential highlights or success stories in public spaces. This approach would preserve these groups as safe spaces for idea incubation while also fostering broader organisational learning.

Connect with Wietske over on LinkedIn.

”The Profound Influence of Small Choices in Digital Collaboration” appeared in the MIT Slow Management Review in the fall issue of 2023.

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