Crowd-deliberation as an organizational problem solving tool

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to portray an example of how organizations can harness their employees’ insight. The procedure described here can complement traditional methods such as interviews, open forums, round tables and employee surveys, and can assist HR managers to acquire a unique look inside the company. Design/methodology/approach – The described procedure was facilitated at Intel Corporation and was about The Future of Work. 145 Intel employees took part in an online crowd-deliberation with a methodology called Real-Time Imen-Delphi (RTID). The methodology guided them to initiate 689 questions that were then organized into 258 mission statements, which were rated by importance, priority and feasibility. Findings – A main theme was identified to represent the collective notion with regards to The Future of Work. The participants leaned toward the fractal model for a preferred work environment. This model includes employees who will no longer have a single job description, but rather repeatedly sign up for tasks and projects based on their interests, capabilities, availability, aspirations and future beliefs regarding the path their organization needs to take in manufacturing, research and development. Practical implications – The result provides an example of how organizations can harness their employees’ wisdom to bring to the table cutting-edge ideas, debate their relevancy to the organization, agree collectively on their vision and generate applicable ideas toward realizing their preferred future. Originality/value – As social media tools evolve and become a central part in organizations, they will seek to involve employees in effective conversations and in decision-making processes. RTID is a solid way with which they can do this.