Bad news for high-rent consultants [Anonymized-proxy1]

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There are a hundred thousand consultants who'll cheerfully play change agent for a not-so-tiny fee.Of course, the organizational coefficient of friction might be high and the managerial interactions technically traumatic -- but hey, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, right? <p> <p>But those consultant-bites-organization (and organization-bites-back) stories are a dime a dozen in the lengthy literature of IS management. By sheer accident, I stumbled across a refreshingly provocative new-and-improved version of how computational cultures can change and change fast. And no, it doesn't require a multimillion-dollar retainer. <p> <p>I was talking with the vice president of advertising at Procter & Gamble -- nothing less than the world's largest advertiser -- about the current and future impact of the 'net on how P&G; will market itself and its formidable array of consumer brands, such as Tide, Crest and Pampers. We talked banners and click-throughs and digital coupons. But when I asked the executive how a Cincinnati-based global company had to change to integrate those new media into its thought and managerial processes, he gave credit to -- believe it or not -- P&G;'s summer interns. <p> <p>P&G; puts its business school summer interns (who are no slouches --they come from tony places like Harvard and the University of Chicago) on internal task forces to evaluate aspects of the company that might stand improvement. At the end of their tours, the interns present their findings and recommendations to the company chairman. Apparently, the most recent intern task force recommended that P&G; dramatically revamp its infostructure and make Internet access available to everybody in the organization. Everybody. <p> <p>To its credit, P&G; top management didn't opt for the thanks-so-much-and-have-a-nice-life response, but rather recognized (as smart marketing companies so often do) that demographics matter. This generation of future managers had grown up in a world where instant access to information via E-mail and Web sites is the rule, not the exception. Indeed, the advertising executive told me, if P&G; had any hope of attracting and retaining the best graduates of the nation's top business schools, the company had to rethink its investment in and management of digital technology. P&G; treated the children's-brigade task force as a window to the future -- and an opportunity for cost-effective introspection. <p> <p>To be sure, other organizations such as Johnson & Johnson and McKinsey & Co. have discovered that the emergence of these new "digital demographics" requires them to invest more and smarter in their infostructures. That has little to do with issues of the Gen X work ethic (a topic for another column) and more to do with the reality that, for the typical 25-year-old college graduate, an organization without Internet access is precisely like an organization without telephone access. While 45-year-old general managers intellectually understand that, many don't viscerally appreciate it. <p> <p>In fact, too many of them don't appreciate it until competition and a blue-chip consulting firm aggressively insist that they can't influence tomorrow unless and until they start to live in it. <p> <p>The fact that technical transformation of that sort can be intern-driven rather than purchased at a premium from the madding crowd of consultants reflects a powerful and important truth: The creative management of digital capital depends on the creative appreciation of human capital. <p> <p>Schrage is a research associate at the MIT Media Lab and author of No More Teams! His Internet address is schrage@media.mit.edu. <p> <p> <p> <p></font>   <p><img src="../../../../../../invis.free-sub/images/bluedash468.gif" width="468" height="5" align="BOTTOM" border="0"><br>  <br><br>   </td> </tr> </table> <p><br> </tr><tr><td width="130" valign="bottom"><center> <a href="../../../../../../anon.free-sub/http-198.112.59.30/home/print.nsf/all/9807275C3E/#TOP"><img src="../../../../../../invis.free-sub/images/top.gif" border="0" align="bottom"></a></center></td> <td> <p align="CENTER"> <font size="1" face="helvetica, arial, verdana"> <a href="/">NEWS & FEATURES</a>  |  <a href="/">RESOURCE CENTER</a>  |  <a href="/">IT CAREERS</a>  |  <a href="/">COMPUTERWORLD, INC.</a><br> <img src="../../../../../../invis.free-sub/images/1pixclear.gif" width="1" height="14" align="BOTTOM" border="0"> <a href="/">Contact Us</a> |  <a href="/">Search</a> |  <a href="/">Site Map</a> |  <a href="/">Subscribe</a><br><br> <br> <img src="../../../../../../invis.free-sub/images/1pixclear.gif" width="10" height="14" align="BOTTOM" border="0"><br> <a href="/"></a></font><br> <img src="../../../../../../invis.free-sub/images/1pixclear.gif" width="10" height="14" align="BOTTOM" border="0"> <br> <font size="1" face="helvetica,arial,verdana">Copyright © 2000 Computerworld, Inc. 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