Intranet Journal: IT Advisor

Thursday July 9, 2009

David Weinberger's Intranet Buzz:
THE FIVE STAGES OF WEB GRIEF
It turns out that the five stages of grieving also apply to the reaction of most large companies to the presence of the Web.

By David Weinberger
Editor, Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization

In the 1970s, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross broke the taboo about speaking about death with her book On Death and Dying. That she went on to try to break the taboo about talking about "psychic" experiences involving angel guides and spirits that are able to communicate by rapping on tables but are incapable of learning Morse code does not diminish the service her book provided.
Kübler-Ross pointed to five stages of grieving which have turned out to apply much broadly than simply to mourning someone who's died. For example, I recall ten years ago coming in the morning after a major layoff to find the five stages on the white board of one of the survivors, plus one more:
1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance 6. Gloating
It turns out that the five stages also apply to the reaction of most large companies to the presence of the Web.
First, the companies went into denial. "The Web is for geeks!," they said. "Joe Six-Pack and Suzie Homemaker won't be doing the double-you-double-you- double-you any time soon!"
Then, when it became clear that even the Clampetts had bought a modem and signed up for AOL, the companies got angry. "People are being fooled! The transactions aren't safe. And there's porn everywhere! What sort of place is this?!"
Next came bargaining. Companies approached design houses and said: "If we give you $250,000 to put our brochures up on the Web, then we'll be ok. Ok? Ok!"
Alas, depression set in. "No one ever comes to our site. They don't love us any more. And some punk outfit with a combined employee age of 46 just put a dot-com after their name and now is worth more than General Motors. It's just not worth carrying on." It was at this point that Prozac started showing up on the company first-aid shelf, right next to the aspirin packets and Heimlich Maneuver poster.
Finally, acceptance. Companies recognized that the Web is challenging the fundamentals of the way they do business, exploding the old power relationships and transforming strategies right down to their details.
Just kidding! And the bad news is that acceptance is merely the starting point for a happy Web afterlife. If you can't get your company to that starting point real soon, it will skip directly to the real sixth stage of grieving: being totally ignored.

INTERNETCETERA
Thanks to Derek Willis for pointing out a fascinating survey of 600 CEOs published at http://www.bizreport.com/news/2000/03/20000 306-6.htm. Apparently, 40% are worried about unhappy customers venting on Web sites and 25% are concerned about employees using email to complain about the company internally. ("Omigod, now we can actually hear how unhappy our workers are? Quick, bind me to the mast and pour wax in my ears!") While 80% of CEOs say they spend 6 hours or more per week on line, only 11% "monitor the Internet regularly to keep abreast of what is being said about their organizations." Sounds like we could use some tracking software to find out where those pesky CEOs are spending their online time. You know they can't be trusted!
While many CEOs are concerned about the Net, few are doing much about it. "We expect at some point this level of concern will translate into a higher percentage of companies developing programs to more effectively manage Internet communications," said Tom Hoog, CEO of Hill and Knowlton and sponsor of the survey, thereby exposing the research as self-serving propaganda.
The Author

David Weinberger writes JOHO and is one of the Ringleaders of cluetrain.com, a manifesto of web ethics. He also provides strategic marketing consulting to high-tech companies, writes for several magazines (including Wired) and is a commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered." He was, as VP of Strategic Marketing, one of the shapers of Open Text's intranet strategy. David sits on several conference boards and is a member of AIIM's Emerging Technology Advisory Group. Reach him at self@evident.com.

David Weinberger's Intranet Buzz:THE FIVE STAGES OF WEB GRIEF It turns out that the five stages of grieving also apply to the reaction of most large companies to the presence of the Web.

The Author

David Weinberger's Intranet Buzz:
THE FIVE STAGES OF WEB GRIEF
It turns out that the five stages of grieving also apply to the reaction of most large companies to the presence of the Web.