What is Collaboration? - University of Arizona

What is Collaboration? Jay F. Nunamaker Jr. Director Center for the Management of Information Soldwedel & Regents Professor University of Arizona MIS 1

Collaboration is defined as making joint cognitive effort toward achieving an agreed upon goal 2

Why Collaborate? Exercise: List some of the reasons why people in your organization Collaborate

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Why Collaborate? Make Decisions Surface Perspectives

Build Trust Review

Share the Vision Synergy Share Work Build Consensus

Share Information Avoid Decisions

Solve Problems

Socialize

4

Modes of Collaboration Place Same

Different

Same

Time Different

5

Systems to Support different Collaboration Modes Place Same

Same

Different

Sessions Audio/Video Group Support Group Support

Time Different Team Rooms Team Database Project Rooms Virtual Sessions

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Collaboration Behavioral Difficulties

Exercise: List some of the behavioral Difficulties with Collaboration

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Collaboration Behavioral Difficulties Waiting to speak Domination Fear of Speaking Misunderstanding Inattention Lack of Focus Inadequate Criteria Premature Decisions Missing Information Distractions Digressions

Wrong People Groupthink

Ineffective Collaboration

Poor Grasp of Problem Ignored Alternatives Lack of Consensus Poor Planning Hidden Agendas Conflict Inadequate Resources Poorly Defined Goals 8

Collaboration Is Expensive • 15 Million formal Sessions / day

• ? Million Informal Sessions / day • 4 Billion Sessions / year • 30-80% Manager’s time Fortune 500 Companies 3M Corporation Study

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Collaboration is Essential

No one has all the – Resources – Experience – Knowledge

To do the job alone 10

Collaboration is: • Difficult • Expensive • Essential 11

How do people in organizations Collaborate?

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3 Levels of Collaboration Capability Low Level 1 Collected Work : Sprinters

Degree of Collaborative Effort

Uncoordinated Individual Efforts

Level 2 Coordinated Work: Relay

Coordinated Individual Efforts

Level Concerted Work:

High

Crew

Concerted Team Effort 13

Level 1 Collected Work

Sprinters

• Individual, uncoordinated effort toward team goal • Team productivity is simple sum of individual performances • Individualized Processes - Start to Finish • Office Applications – MSWord Group Editing – Multiple Spreadsheet Sections – Powerpoint Presentation Passing 14

Level 2 Coordinated Work

Relay

• Coordinated Efforts and Processes • Coordination, sharing, and hand-offs • Coordination Applications – Workflow Applications • Adding structure to NOTES • Coordinator

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Level 3 Concerted Work

Crew

• All team members work a process simultaneously to achieve the team goal • Repeatable Customized Process • Attention Dynamics • Collaborative Applications – GroupSystems Online – Facilitate.COM – Meetingworks

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Interactivity of Communication

Hierarchy of Collaboration

Crew

Concerted Work

Relay

Sprinters

Individual Work

Coordinated Work

Collected Work

Process Structure and Task Structure 17

The Yellow Sticky Approach Manual Support for Level 3 Collaboration

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Dream Level 3 Concerted Collaboration • Two to Hundreds of people • Complex issues Addressed • Everyone • • • •

Contributes Equally Perceives everything Multiple Perspectives Focuses Attention on Critical Issues Takes ownership of the solution

• All Knowledge at everyone’s fingertips • Design Customized Repeatable Processes • Accomplish Goals and Produce Products 21

GroupSystems Support for Concerted Collaboration Integration of – Collaborative Technology – Attention Dynamics – Knowledge Management – Customized Repeatable Processes

To Dramatically Improve Productivity 22

The GroupSystems Concept • • • • • •

Computer for each participant Software for each task Public screen to focus attention Network to share information Access to external data Any Time, Any Place, Any Technology

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Collaboration

GroupSystems

Share Information

Generate Ideas Session Planning

Organize Ideas Poll Consensus Explore Issues

Knowledge Management

Organizational Memory

Enterprise Model

Corporate Database

Intranet

World Wide Web

FTP/Gopher WAIS

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GroupSystems Virtual Collaboration

Collaboration Share Information

NY DC

Generate Ideas

Boston Session Planning

Organize Ideas

LA

SF

Poll Consensus

PIT

HK

SYD

DC

NY

ATL

Explore Issues

Knowledge Management

LA

Paris LON

DC SF Organizational Memory

Enterprise Model

Corporate Database

Intranet

World Wide Web

FTP/Gopher WAIS

CHI

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GroupSystems Collaborative Support • Support for Small or Large Groups

on the Internet and Intranets • Create Shared Agendas • Generate Ideas • Share, Evaluate and Organize Information • Create Knowledge • Poll, Rank, and Prioritize ideas for consensus • Jointly Create Documents • Complete Records / Reports • Draw and Annotate on Shared Whiteboards • Import/Export to Lotus Notes and other Software • Administer Surveys • Obtain Commitment and Take Action

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GroupSystems is a suite of tools to support joint cognitive effort for Deliberation, Reasoning and Decision Making 27

Each Tool Focuses Thinking in Some Unique Way

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Team Processes Idea Generation Idea Organization Idea Evaluation and Prioritization Idea Exploration Idea Development and Exposition

GSS Tools Brainstorming Topic Commenter Idea Organizer Categorizer Group Outliner Group Matrix Alternative Evaluator Vote Stake Holder analysis Assumption surfacing Group Writer Team Graphics Screen Prototyper 29

• • • • • • •

Why GroupSystems Can Improve Collaboration Parallel communication Anonymity Structured processes Improved information access Organizational memory Enables larger groups Improved goal congruence 30

Why GroupSystems Improves Collaboration

• Parallel Input – – – –

No air time competition No waiting for a turn No forgetting your ideas No domination

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Why GroupSystems Improves Collaboration

• Anonymity – No Intimidation – – – –

No Domination No Evaluation Apprehension Focus on Ideas not personalities Free to float unpopular ideas 32

Why GroupSystems Improves Collaboration

• Structured Process – – – – –

Path to get from A to B Minimal off-task discussion Milestones for progress assessment Efficient path toward convergence Focused effort and deliberation 33

Why GroupSystems Improves Collaboration • Knowledge Management – Improved Information Access – Organizational Memory – Artificial Intelligence Categorization – Advanced Searching – Explicit Knowledge – Tacit Knowledge – Automated Sense-Making 34

Why GroupSystems Improves Collaboration

• Improved Goal Congruence – – – –

Shared Understandings Consensus Assessment Focus on Differences Concerted Effort

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Intellectual Bandwidth

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Intellectual Bandwidth Represents All the relevant Knowledge for a given set of Stakeholders on a particular Issue

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Knowledge Domain

All Knowledge Of A Domain

Task Team

Intellectual Capital

Intellectual Bandwidth

Explicit Captured Available Knowledge

Intellectual Bandwidth

Applied Knowledge

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Collaboration & Knowledge Management Increase and Leverage Intellectual Bandwidth

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Intellectual Capital Organizational Members

Understanding Wisdom (Principles) Knowledge (Patterns) Information (Relationships) Data (Symbols)

Collaborative Capability

Concerted

Coordinated

Collected

Access U S E & D E P L O Y M E N T

Intellectual Bandwidth

41

Increasing and Leveraging Intellectual Bandwidth With Collaboration & Knowledge Management Level of Understanding Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data

Collaborative Capability Individual

Collective Coordinated

Concerted 42

Level of Understanding Wisdom

Sense Making Manual Journal Search

Knowledge

Group Support Systems Team Database

Email

Information

Application Sharing Web Search Engine

Data

Individual

Collected

Coordinated

Level of Collaborative Capability

Concerted 43

Increasing and Leveraging Intellectual Bandwidth With Collaboration & Knowledge Management Level of Understanding Collaboration Organization X Concerted

Understanding Information

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Organization X

Intellectual Bandwidth

Data

Individual

Collective

Collaborative Capability

Coordinated Concerted

45

Increasing and Leveraging Intellectual Bandwidth With Collaboration & Knowledge Management Level of Understanding Collaboration Organization X Concerted Organization Z Individual

Wisdom

Knowledge

Understanding Information Knowledge

Organization Z

Information

Organization X

Intellectual Bandwidth

Data

Individual

Collective

Collaborative Capability

Coordinated Concerted

46

Increasing and Leveraging Intellectual Bandwidth With Collaboration & Knowledge Management Levels of Understanding Collaboration Organization X Collaborative Organization Z Cumulative Organization Y Coordinative

Wisdom

Knowledge

Organization Z

Information

Data

Understanding Information Knowledge Data

Organization X Organization Y

Individual

Collective

Intellectual Bandwidth

Collaborative Capability

Coordinated Concerted

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Level of Understanding Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data

5 10 15 20 25 Group Size

Individual

Collective

Coordinated Concerted Levels of Collaborative Capability 48

Level of Understanding Collaboration Organization X Concerted

Understanding Information

Size 27

Wisdom

Knowledge

Organization X

Information

Data

Intellectual Bandwidth

5 10 15 20 25 Group Size

Collected

Connected

Coordinated

Concerted

Level of Collaborative Capability 49

Level of Understanding

Wisdom

Knowledge

Collaboration Knowledge Management Organization X Concerted Information Organization Z Individual Knowledge

Size 23 15

Organization Z Organization X

Information

Intellectual Bandwidth

Data

5 10 15

20 25 Group Size

Individual

Collective

Coordinated Concerted Collaborative Capability 50

Level of Understanding

Wisdom

Knowledge

Collaboration Knowledge Management Organization X Concerted Information Organization Z Cumulative Knowledge Organization Y Coordinative Data

Size 23 15 13

Organization Z Organization X

Information

Intellectual

Data

Organization X Bandwidth

5 10 15

20 25 Group Size

Individual

Collective

Coordinative Concerted Collaborative Capability 51