Transparency is scary. It was scary when business leaders began to offer Q&A at company meetings. You mean, you're going to let employees TALK and with microphones?? Perhaps we can draw some parallels here ... how were policies constructed, how did attitudes change over time? Giving an employee a microphone in a public forum is standard practice now. Giving employees web platforms to express viewpoints will be as well and many of the same rules are likely to apply.
Excellent post on a topic that I think will gain lots of momentum throughout 2008. I would encourage our friends in HR to open a dialogue with the Legal and Compliance departments early and often to start to advance new thinking on collaborative technology. As there are many "watch dogs" in the American corporation today, it will take a collective effort to advance forward in the use of such enabling technology.