@Jon I think you're right when you say smart organisations will see that employees learning from eachother is in it's best interest and will strengthen its competitive advantage. I truly hope so!

My previous comment was poorly phrased, maybe. I am not one of those that share the fear of "loss" of control, I'm merely stating that this is my impression from talking to HR managers and Training departments in various businesses.

Also, in my experience, a difference between various industry. I work with/for heavy industry like paper mills, metal industry(extractive metallurgy) etc, it might be expected that these industries are more traditional in their way of thinking (not always, mind you), than say a tech company like IBM. 'Top down' is a common practice, I'm sad to say.

@Jay Thanks for the example of an american business that stated they save large expenses in implementing Yammer as a communication tool on a global scale. That example seem to go down well with companies I talk to. It's learning "hidden" behind communication and it makes my picth easier to some extent.

@Virginia Being Norwegian, we truly have some of the best potential in the world of making wirearchy a central part of any model. Our management model is as flat as they come :)
A challenge for many organisations is documenting/identifying skills and competency of employees. I couldn't agree more, we need a new way of analyzing the core competencies.

Also, being Norwegian, my apologies for any wrongdoing to the english language through my posts :)

Great debate here and some brilliant replies to a great post. Hope it doesn't end here.

Frank