Rise of the Net-Native Class

Welcome back to a new school year. We are now resuming regular meetings and corresponding blog reports on each conversation.

The “Net Native”

Bob presented preliminary work on the rise of the “Digital Native” or “Net Native” and their impact on the workplace. There is a new class of employees on the rise. They have particular characteristics that are different from employees before and are conflicting with existing work practices and other structures. These people are the “Digital Natives” or “Net Natives”.

Bob’s group has begun to investigate the characteristics of these people and to model their impact on knowledge management in the company structure.

During this research conversation, a majority of the audience’s questions challenged Bob on the scope of his generalizations and relevance of his focus on “Net Native”. This summary will briefly summarize Bob’s findings and then summarize the discussion. I encourage you to chime in via comments.

Characterizing a Net Native

Net natives are a generation of people who have been born with a keyboard in their hands. It is argued that this digital environment has fostered a new kind of person whose behaviors are different than the old. Furthermore, some argue that this difference is dramatic enough that the way that their brains are wired is different than the prior generation.

Born: 1980-2000
Size of population: 70 million strong
In comparison with Baby Boomers:

Work Style: Multitasking (instead of Time Management)
Learning Style: From Experience (instead of From Instruction)
Collaboration: Collaborative (instead of Individual)
Motivations: Positive Reinforcement (instead of Competition)
View on Authority: Respect is earned (instead of Respect for authority)
Structure: Decentralized, non-hierarchical, inclusive (instead of Centralized, hierarchical, exclusive)
Information Access: Access for all (instead of Access for those in power)

Given these differences, there is a growing tension in the workplace as the prior generation of workers are being joined by an increasing number of “Net Natives” who have different work practices. Bob (et al.) have conducted literature reviews, thought experiments, and interviews with CIOs concerning this tension. They composed a problem scenario that surfaced a number of tensions that a company might encounter. The company might be afraid that the collaborative nature of the new hirees would lead to more knowledge lost to the outside world rather than knowledge gained by having a new employee. An example of this is where the employee’s participation in open source software or online communities will lead to knowledge leaks. Another fear is that employees might inadverdently infringe on copyright laws or other IP laws, putting the company at risk. (Side note: consider the lawsuit leveled against Virgin Mobile and Creative Commons for the unauthorized used of a person’s photo in an advertising campaign [link]).

The research group are refining a model to represent the cycle of new, dominating, and existing technologies in an organization and how users adopt, encounter, and acclimate towards it. This model draws primarily from Orlikowski’s work on structuration. Bob et al.’s contribution is to focus on the Net Native’s influence. Also, another modification to the model that they are contemplating is the larger role that users have as designers of the technology in the organization.
Summary of the discussion

The audience largely reacted to the initial premise that Net Natives themselves are worth studying.

They challenged the relevance of this categorization. The new wave of organizational concerns might just as well be attributed to the divide between young and old, that when these young workers advance in age, they will behave differently once they are in a position of power. This response rejects the argument that Net Natives are in essence wired differently than others. Similar comments proposed perspective that were potentially more relevant than Net Native vs. Non-Net Native: Low risk vs. High risk was one. A newer generation has less to risk and will behave in a more collaborative way than a later generation with something to lose.

They also challenged the scope of the characterization. Does this definition of Net Natives account for 20-year olds in another country? The progress of technology in many countries does not mirror its development in the US. For example, countries exhibit a leap-frogging approach to technology, skipping land lines to adopt mobile phones. With such a different technological environment, is it safe to argue that US Net Natives are the same as their international counterparts? Aren’t Second Life users primarily Baby Boomers? Where does the 45-year old twitter user fit? If age isn’t the best determination, does that open the possibility that Net Natives is just a sub-culture among a number of others?

Then, time ran out

It seems pretty clear that the audience needed greater justification for the initial premise for studying Net Natives. I spoke with Bob very briefly later. It sounds like there is a community of research that takes the relevance of the Net Native seriously. I guess the audience wasn’t part of that community. I suppose that the discussion from here on out will have to start with that justification.

Tags: KM, Net Natives