Supporting Collaboration Chapter 13 Information Systems Management in

Chapter 13 l Introduction l l Teams: The Basis of Organization Understanding Groups l l Groups in Organizations Types of Groups Communities of Practice Network Armies © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -2

Chapter 13 cont’d l Systems to Support Colloboration l l l Supporting “Same Time/Same Place” Collaboration Supporting “Same Time/Same Place” Presentations and Discussions Supporting “Different Place” Collaboration Managing IT-Enabled Workflows Supporting Negotiation l l The Wisdom of Difference Negotiation Support Systems © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -3

Chapter 13 cont’d l Managing Crises and Emergency Response l l l Supporting Collaboration in Virtual Organizations l l l Crises: Perception and Cognition Technology and Infrastructure for Organization Readiness Motivating a Virtual Workforce Governing Virtual Organizations Conclusion © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -4

Introduction l Company of the future could be a collection of online communities l l l Some are internal and others reach outside organizational boundaries Main job of managers is to foster these communities and the collaboration they engender CIO’s job is to provide the technology to support online communities and collaboration © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -5

Teams: The Basis of Organizations l Organizations becoming information-based and thus flatter l l l Knowledge (information) specialists Task-focused teams Akin to hospital organizational structure l l Ad hoc team of different area specialists to address patient condition and diagnosis Salience of groupware in organizations l Paradox: people spend 60 to 80 percent of time working with others but are most productive alone © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -6

Understanding Groups © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -7

Characteristics of Groups in Organizations l Membership l l Interactions l l Part of chain of command Location l l Loosely coupled versus tightly knit Hierarchy l l Open versus closed Co-located versus dispersed Time l Ephemeral versus ongoing © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -8

Types of Groups l IT-enabled collaboration support for different types of groups l Authority groups l l l Intradepartmental groups l l Formal authority Hierarchy Members participate in same work activity Closed membership Tight to loose coupling and hierarchy Project teams l l l Accomplish goal within a specific time frame Closed membership Tight coupling and hierarchy © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -9

Types of Groups cont’d l l l Interdepartmental work groups l Workflow across departments l Closed membership l Tight coupling and no hierarchy Committees and task forces l Ad hoc formation to address issue l Membership not too closed l Interaction not as tightly coupled Business relationship groups l Establish relationships with customers, suppliers, partners l Open membership l Loosely coupled and no hierarchy © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -10

Types of Groups cont’d l Peer groups l l l Networks l l Members meet to exchange ideas Independent member activities Membership can range Loosely coupled and no hierarchy Socialization and information exchange Electronic groups l All forms of Internet-based social networks § Chat rooms, virtual communities, forums, listserv © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -11

Types of Groups cont’d l Communities of practice (Etienne Wenger) l Groups of people who come together based on common identities or shared ways of doing things § § l Silicon Valley technical networks Can arise within enterprise Network armies (Massive Voluntary Collaboration) l Widely dispersed groups of people form to further a cause § § § Open source software Wiki Political parties © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -12

Daimler Chrysler Case Example: Communities of Practice l Reorganized into M-form “car platform” structure (minivan, truck, small car, Jeep) to compete l l l Reduced product development cycle and encouraged employees to communicate across platforms Cross-platform groups evolved into informal Tech Co. Ps known as Tech Clubs l Supported and sanctioned by top management Tech Clubs developed area expertise l Revived “Engineering Books of Knowledge” l Technical debates and discussions, which inadvertently built sense of community © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -13

Supporting Collaboration l Three nurturing acts to garner benefits from Co. Ps in organizations l Identifying potential Co. Ps l l Hiring Co. P consultants to help develop possibilities Providing a Co. P infrastructure l Establishing legitimacy ad providing resources § l Budget, incentives (for participation), executive sponsorship Measuring Co. Ps l Collecting anecdotes (success stories) systematically to paint a picture of kinds of specific contributions © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -14

The Open Source Movement Case Example: Network armies l Members of open source software (OSS) movement are volunteers l l Linux example l l Shared culture (“religion”) of developers who love to code and push the envelope of what is possible (software development, enhancement and management) Massive flat structure l 4 “influencers” (including Linus Torvalds) l 6 -8 distributors, 200 project leaders, 750, 000 volunteer developers OSS movement is a force to be reckoned with © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -15

Systems to support collaboration l l Group activities categorically a dichotomy of communication and interaction and decision making and problem solving Group decision support systems l l Increases efficiency and effectiveness of people working together to reach conclusion, decision or consensus A “time-place” framework for categorizing the work of groups © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -16

Group Decision Support © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -17

“Same Time / Same Place” IT Support l Collaboration l Supporting meetings using IT l Eliminating some meetings § l Permitting better preparation § l Asynchronous communication (e. g. email) Exchanging online documents beforehand Presentations and discussions l Enrich participation and learning © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -18

Texas Instruments Case Example: Same time/same place collaboration l “Decision room” with 24 networked workstations l l l Annual three-day strategic planning meeting led by a facilitator Executives participate by typing comments on workstations “Electronic brainstorming” sessions § § l Issue analyzer to organize ideas Voting tool to rank ideas Topic commenter to attach comments to existing ideas Policy formation software to study alternatives Participants reported that Group DSS increased involvement (efficiency) and made planning more effective l l Anonymity (more questions and suggestions put forth) Education (broader perception of company than before) © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -19

HICSS Case Example: Same time/same place presentations and discussions l Over a two-year experiential study at this conference, the researchers found that GSSsupported sessions elicited more participation in discussions (online) and to a higher degree than regular sessions did l Participants reported that l The typing did not distract them l There was no online “flaming” l Online transcripts were useful l Positive value was received from the sessions © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -20

Supporting Different Place Collaboration l l Supporting dispersed groups Development of virtual teams (teleological and ephemeral) l l l Same time/same place l Team meets face-to-face initially to develop basic plan and objectives Different time/different place l Team members do data gathering and analysis separately and communicate by email (asynchronous) Same time/different place l Audio or video conferencing to discuss developments and progress towards goals © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -21

Boeing-Rocketdyne Case Example: Supporting different place collaboration l Virtual team of engineers formed to build “impossible” rocket engine l Engineers from three locations conducted project online over 10 months l IP sharing, “rules of engagement”, evolving project focus § l Online meetings (89); Internet Notebook (650 design critiques) Project a success l Close cooperation maintained throughout; core creative requirements met; focus of efforts evolved over project lifetime l Group support technology played an important role in suiting needs of virtual team § Anywhere access to entries on Notebook whiteboard (think blogs) © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -22

Boeing-Rocketdyne cont’d © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -23

Boeing-Rocketdyne cont’d © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -24

Boeing-Rocketdyne cont’d © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -25

Managing IT-Enabled Workflow l Workflow deals with automation of business processes l Enhance efficiency of transaction-oriented and mission critical tasks l l procedural route optimization, load balancing Different workflow modeling techniques l Coordination and communication (Winograd and Flores) § l Workflow loop (“customer” and “performer”) Workflow management systems (Wf. MS) provide a mechanism for planning and controlling how teams work © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -26

Supporting Negotiation l Negotiation—both a cooperative and dialectic process l l Rounds of discussion and fine-tuning to arrive at negotiated outcome (“non-zero-sum game”) Negotiation support systems help reduce discord and increase chance of consensus l l Interactive information elicitation, process transparency and structured l User-friendly interfaces, structured modeling representation Software agents l Useful in intense data processing and time pressure situations © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -27

Managing Crises and Emergency Response l l A crisis (natural or man-made) is an event that has either occurred or is impending Crisis management has high human demands l Perception l l Value of possible loss (high importance) Probability of loss (high uncertainty) Time pressure (immediacy) Cognition (effects on) l l l Reduced attention span across time and space Loss of memory and abstract ability Diminished tolerance for ambiguity Deterioration of verbal performance and visual motor coordination Regression to simpler and more primitive mode of response Increased stress leading to random behavior and rate of error © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -28

Managing Crises and Emergency Response cont’d l Technology and infrastructure for organization readiness l Emergency response management systems (ERS) can help all stakeholders prepare, analyze and resolve conflict to maximize efforts l Information flow and exchange § l Coordination § l Considerations for technical, cultural, and structural (organization) incompatibilities Examination of process dependencies to ensure seamless operations (planning, recognition, mobilization and response) ERS should be designed to enhance information, cognition, collaboration and decision making © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -29

Technology and Infrastructure for Organization Readiness © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice

Supporting Collaboration in Virtual Organizations l l How to manage non-traditional collaborative structures such as Co. Ps, MVCs and global virtual teams? Leadership (influence) and empowerment over command control in increasingly knowledge-based organization today l “Semi-visible hand” © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -31

Motivating A Virtual Workforce l Study of Open Source movement suggests that managers of increasingly virtual organizations should consider expanding the types of motivators they use beyond money l l Reputation among peers Performance recognition Taking pride in contributions Technology efficacy © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -32

Governing Virtual Organizations l Governance structure that fosters self-governance (ownership) by employees l l Open source movement may have all the trappings of a chaotic implosion but is actually a self-regulating system (homeostasis) Four important self-governance principles l l Managed membership Rules and institutions Monitoring Sanctions l Social pressures (reputation) © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -33

Conclusion l l Collaboration is at the heart of business today Technology (IT) advancements parallel organization structures l l l Flatter, greater emphasis on teams, collaboration across disciplines, time and space Technological tools for communication and interaction, problem solving, and knowledge management IT-based collaboration takes work to the next level l Changes the process by altering who can participate, how they participate and even the nature of the work itself © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 13 -34

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