Microsoft and Accenture have released results of their global “Oil & Gas Collaboration Survey” conducted late in 2009.  It’s an interesting peek into this industry, to glean how employers and employees feel about social media in the workplace.

You will have to consume summaries from both Microsoft and Accenture to get the complete picture, since for some reason; they have each decided to report slightly different levels of detail, while reaching the same conclusion:  workers want, and use social media, while executives don’t want it and implement policies against using social tools:

• 73% of workers see business value in using these tools, yet only 11% of executives drive their use
• Over 1/3 of workers save 1-2 hours per day using social tools, and 64% cite productivity gains by up to 50%
• 39% of execs cite ‘security’ as their major concern, and 74% have security policies in place
• 74% of workers say social tools helped complete their projects on time or ahead of time
• Only 18% report social tools are aligned with corporate culture
• About 2/3 of employees use social tools daily to collaborate with other employees
• Most cite scarcity of skills/talent, increasing number of international partners, and complex and changing regulatory environment as top drivers for social media requirement in oil & gas

Using the age-old Capability and Willingness Magic Quadrant, here’s how I see the distance between workers and executives in the industry:

To raise willingness, you provide motivation.  And the gap you see here is a big world problem.

So, what will motivate employers in Oil & Gas, or all employers for that matter, to increase their willingness to use social tools for work, when there is obvious benefit to both the corporation and the workforce?

This is a common disconnection, not unique to oil & gas.  Here are some of my recent thoughts on the matter:

But to an industry as crucial to the region as this, why do executives still maintain a non-productive, old school stance?  These businesses will operate long beyond the current executive and workforce base has retired.

Perhaps a cultural “blowout” will need to happen for Oil & Gas to begin preparing for the extinction of their thinking and the transition to control by Generation Y and beyond.