A social organization is the one where the creation of value derives from the ability to generate  mass collaboration, by taking advantage of the great potential of social media. Social software, which has quickly gained in popularity, enables things that were unthinkable in the past—i.e. to gather a large number of people from around the world in one single place and make them collaborate to ensure a significant process improvement in terms of efficacy and efficiency, as compared to traditional working patterns.

What do we mean by mass collaboration? Mass collaboration is the result of the interaction between three factors: communities, social media and a purpose—the value proposition. Let us give a closer look at these three aspects: 

• Communities. Communities are groups of people who gather to achieve a common goal. Based on a common objective, a community can gather people inside and outside the company, all driven by the common vision of working collectively and efficiently. Without communities there is no mass collaboration. 

• Social media. A social media is an online environment created with the objective of developing mass collaboration. The difference brought about by social media technologies compared to traditional modes of collaboration is the scale at which they operate that enables hundreds, thousands, even millions of people to concurrently create content, share experiences and build relationships.

• Value proposition. “It is what determines the inner drive, the motivation, the desire to work together with others by providing one’s own knowledge, experiences and ideas. It is the value proposition, the common goal, the touchstone by which we measure the efficacy of a community, the adequacy of social technology, the consistency with business goals and the efficiency of the leadership”.

In summary: 

• The community defines who collaborates;

• Social media define where people collaborate;

• The value proposition defines why people collaborate.

The proposed advisory conveyed through Humanistic Management 2.0, the Company established in April 2011, is aimed to provide companies with a global service consulting that supports their transformation in social organization and enhance their “hidden treasure”: the collaborative intelligence of their employees. Methods and reference tools are described in the book of Marco Minghetti Collaborative Intelligence. Towards the social organization, EGEA, 2013 (new international edition revised and updated: Collaborative Intelligence, Cambridge Scholars, 2014).