Interview guide for TBC
Open, unstructured questions for everyone:
Create a background picture
• Inform about what we will be doing (the process) – consent
• Ensure that the interviewee feels safe about his/her anonymity
• I am not that familiar with TBC so I may ask some stupid questions!
Information about the interviewee’s work
• What do you work with? What is your position? (Map the position, education and consulting model in the new system)
• How long have you worked here?
• Why did you start working at TBC? (What was their motivation? Did they apply for the job or where they head hunted?
o What did you do prior to this? (Where did they work before, and in what area?) o Did you know anyone who worked at TBC before you joined? To what extent
did this influence your wish to work for TBC?
• What are your job tasks?
o Do you enjoy working there?
o What do you affiliate yourself with? (Your TBC office, clients, another location)
• Describe your typical work day. (Context: what is the environment in which the person works?)
o What is the first thing you do when you come in to work in the morning?
(Everything from getting coffee, checking your mailbox, saying “hi” to colleagues; try to find out about the physical surroundings and social interaction; in other words, work routines)
o Are there variations between the different weekdays? (For example, do you visit the head office regularly?)
Does he/she work overtime? (Checks emails during the weekend, etc.)
How important is your mobile for you as a work tool? How and why?
Have you synchronized your emails and your mobile?
o How does he/she view the work day? A lot to do? Average? Too little to do?
o Do they have a manager they are happy with?
o Is it important for you to keep yourself professionally up-to-date?
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Problem solving and knowledge sharing
• What do you do if you are unable to solve a job-related task? (See how the problem is solved – is it dependent on a personal network? something that is said? an email? internal or external? the social platform or other sources?)
o Has he/she ever gotten in touch with anyone outside of TBC to ask for help related to a job-related problem? If so, who and how?
• Who do you collaborate the most with?
Why them? (How did he/she get to know these people?)
• How do you communicate with your colleagues?
• How much do you collaborate with other people? How do you find the right people if you need X competence and advice? (Insights from beforehand or search?)
o Do you communicate with employees in any of the other
offices/countries? Do some countries work more with the same type of tasks that he/she does? If so, how? (professional gatherings, events, events, discussion forums, etc.)
• Do you know people at the other offices or who work in the other countries?
o If so, how did you get to know each other?
The interviewee’s technology habits
• Which computer tools do you use for work? How long have you used these tools?
o Which tools do you use when?
o Are they useful?
Why/why not? How?
o Think back to when you first began your career and the first years you started working: how has the working environment changed because of these new tools?
o Would you characterize yourself as an early user or new technology?
Or part of the majority or a latecomer? Why? How?
• Do you use any social media? Which ones? Why?
• About how much time do you use daily/weekly on social media?
o Who are your friends on FB? (e.g. both colleagues and friends?) What about other places, like LinkedIn, or others? (Ask them to show you.)
If so, what do they do there? (professional? social?) Ask to see the interviewee’s network and comment on:
• Who is in your network? Where do you know them from?
• Has he/she had any new contacts since the social enterprise platform came out?
• Are you on Facebook or LinkedIn or any other social media? Can I see your FB profile? Map the person’s network – get screen shots from network/friends
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on FB. If it becomes awkward just ask about who she has as friends on FB versus LinkedIn.
Use of the social enterprise platform
(ask the interviewee to log in to the social enterprise platform)
• Did you use Yammer before? (If so, what did you think about Yammer?)
• What do you think is the purpose of TBC’s social enterprise platform? (mapping attitudes). In other words, what do you think TBC hopes to accomplish by introducing the social enterprise platform to their organization?
• Is the social enterprise platform useful for you? Why/why not?
• Do you use the social enterprise platform now? How do you use the social enterprise platform?
o If so, for what? When? Explain
o Ask how frequently they post, , in what places, how many followers they have, and what products and services they post about
o If not, why not? (What are the limitations – attitudes, time, etc.) o How was it when you started learning how to use the social enterprise
platform?
o Were they/the employee involved in the planning process for how to use the tool?
o What would it take for him or her to have contributed with, for example, a blog?
What is needed for him/her to participate more?
• Comment on the interviewee’s network in the social enterprise platform – ask who they are and why they follow them (reciprocity?)
• Do you find that the social enterprise platform alters your relationship to your colleagues? How? Do you use “likes”? Do you get any? Do you give any?
(Experience)
• What were you thinking when you set up your profile? Profile photo, content, etc.
• Is the social enterprise platform useful? Is the social enterprise platform helpful?
Why/why not?
Final exercise:
• Give the interviewee a copy of the colleague map and ask them to put blue dots next to their closest colleagues (both those they work closest with and those they feel closet to socially) and red dots next to colleagues they communicate with regularly about job-related matters. If relevant, it is important that the interviewee includes employees at other offices.
If you think of anything else, please send me an email at lene.pettersen@bi.no or call me on 0047 4641 0232.
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