As you look over the range of relationships individuals have with institutions these days, it is clear from the dependence that people have on their employer for benefits that were once a social obligation (even Machiavelli's prince was urged to provide full stomachs and what passed for healthcare to keep the populace happy) that the scope of social relationships is transforming. Companies are like governments and governments are like companies, both investing in outcomes; both require participants in a successful effort to be invested themselves, so citizenship and employment begin to look more alike, and partnering starts to resemble the way NGOs and affected populations deal with local industries that pollute or extract raw materials. As the world is networked, we see more clearly that we are all in this together, public and private distinctions blurring, because the impact of private investment can be as powerful as a social program announced by a Lyndon Johnson (who, by the way, shoveled vast funding to private enterprise to provide rural electrification during the Roosevelt years).
The distinctions between citizen, who has rights, and the employee, who has obligations, were probably a passing phenomenon. We seem to be returning to a life-view that sees one's labors in the world as of a piece rather than sometimes public and sometimes private.
Network-Advocacy points to a list of ideas that are appearing in Deanspace, all pointing at a different approach to organizing and motivating action. These ideas are clueful and applicable for any company that wants to marshall support in a community, too.
Some of the most significant ideas on the list are:
3. "Bugzilla" for issue identification, policy drafting and ranking [why? because people should tell you whether your policy or product is any good or if it is built on dumb assumptions]
7. Reminder system to step-by-step participation focus on little things to help ("write your grandma") [why? because the Web needs to be a repository for things that need to be remembered, even trivial-seeming things, because communities can work together to fill in the chinks in the organizational effort]
17. Use of guest host, speakers and bloggers [why? because you need to have your customers or your constituents talking among themselves, not just to you or just listening to you]
21. The continued random acts of associated kindness [why? make your organization a framework for many actions, while remaining focused on your core concerns, and you will find many people contributing to build your infrastructure]