Crowdsourcing: One Step Beyond

Conclusion

A final reflection

Now that we have arrived at the end of our journey through the land of crowdsourcing, we would like to reflect on three final points linking an organization to a crowd.

– Is crowdsourcing not really just another way of insourcing?¹ With crowdsourcing, the crowd becomes an integral part of the company – an essential connected resource, virtual to be sure, but fundamentally linked to the company all the same.

– Are we on the path to a change in paradigm, the atomization of work, the calling into question of the idea of an employee as we know it, and a return to task – or mission-based work? Indeed, in these times of crisis, why work for one company when we can work for several at once? And, from the company’s point of view, why work with only a small number of people when a whole crowd of employees is available?

– According to Actor-Network theory [CAL 06; LAT 92], all types of actors in a network must be taken into account. Humans, machines and documents all create a network that exists, evolves, increases in strength and, sometimes, disappears. Most connected devices are able to be programmed so that they work together; the concept of the crowd requires the enrichment as the above-mentioned concept of the actor. This new form of crowdsourcing / crowdmanufacturing will be a prolific source of opportunity in years to come. Future debates, both managerial and academic, should be rich indeed.

1 http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/01/st_essay-insourcing/ ...