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JANUARY 05, 2016

ARTICLE
ANALYTICS
Sentiment Analysis
Can Do More than
Prevent Fraud and
Turnover
by Michael Schrage

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 ANALYTICS

Sentiment Analysis Can

Do More than Prevent
Fraud and Turnover
by Michael Schrage
JANUARY 05, 2016

The same algorithms serious social media marketers use to determine and sway consumer sentiment
can easily be turned inward.

Stressful projects? Jerk boss? Unresponsive colleagues?

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 “Sentiment analysis” promises not just to identify workplace pain-points, but anticipate them. How
employees use tools like Slack, Sharepoint, Yammer, email, blogs, or LinkedIn to share thoughts and
coordinate actions invariably yields treasure troves of data worth mining.

Algorithmically examining the language people use (or don’t use) when they communicate (or don’t
communicate) about the work they are doing (or not doing) can be extraordinarily revealing. In some
cases, sentiment analytics prove predictive: they point to people, programs, and projects requiring
immediate intervention and oversight.

When combined with social network analytics sentiment analysis becomes even more powerful and
predictive. Organizations can better anticipate the sources and circumstances of serious problems.

The most common predictive sentiment-driven application by far is identifying which employees are
likely to leave. The organization gets “early warning” on individuals and, sometimes, teams of people
who might be actively looking to leave. The firm then has more time to decide what – if anything – it
will do to retain them.

At one Fortune 1000 company, for example, semantic analysis identified a small team of salespeople
in the middle of negotiating their defection to a competitor. The sentiment analytics software had
identified both atypical frequency and vocabulary between the sales people and – more
provocatively – radically different exchanges between the sales people and key accounts. The
story doesn’t have a happy ending.

Another, and perhaps more ominous, application is for internal auditors and external accounting
firms to use sentiment analytics as part of their ongoing efforts to anticipate fraud, theft, or
misappropriation of enterprise funds. This has become a new normal for prevention and deterrence.
Comments about “unfairness” or “waste” or even “let’s talk about this” might trigger more intrusive
or invasive monitoring. For some auditors, simply being in a suspicious social graph may be enough
raise red flags.

If your team appears less engaged relative to other high-performing teams, sentiment analytics
software will say something. If your business unit emotionally overreacts – or underreacts – to bad
news, data-driven sentiment analytics may trigger an audit.

On one hand, sentiment analysis undeniably represents a new genre of enterprise transparency: the
organization and its people can go well beyond surveys to get a sense of how people truly feel about
where they work. On the other, real-time computation of sentiment teeters perilously close to
Bentham’s Panopticon, except people’s private conversations – not just their public expressions –
become fodder for performance review.

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 Ironically, enterprise sentiment analysis and its algorithmic allies recreate more sophisticated
versions of the Facebook/Twitter social media stigma parents warn their teenagers of: be careful of
what you post because it may come back to haunt you.

Bluntly put, if you’re typically irritated when collaborating with particular customers and colleagues,
your boss’s boss will know.

But why not think more in terms of carrots than sticks? Sentiment analytics could also signal and
suggest interventions to boost morale and enhance moods. When the data suggest a team is feeling
low, the right words could preempt downward spirals. Deadlines could be shifted. A new,
psychologically compatible colleague could be added – or troublemakers rotated out.

Affirmative actions could prevent negative outcomes. Over time, of course, employees will rationally
expect their organizations monitor their moods. Morale measurement becomes the new normal.

That creates a new meta-irony, as well: organizations that take sentiment analysis seriously must be
willing to measure their impact on morale. Savvy leaders will treat sentiment as an opportunity to
enhance engagement, not just prevent dysfunction.

Michael Schrage, a research fellow at MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business, is the author of the books Serious
Play (HBR Press), Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become? (HBR Press) and The Innovator’s Hypothesis (MIT Press).

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This document is authorized for educator review use only by S. S, Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM) until Mar 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright.
Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860