Research Articles Base: Collaboration In The Workplace

Collaboration in the Workplace Outline

Collaboration in the workplace Outline   I.                    Introduction A.     Definition of collaboration B.     Examples of collaboration II.                 Advantages of collaboration in the workplace A.     Leads to creative and innovative solutions B.     Higher standards from group outcomes C.     Helps develop other skills 1.      Project management 2.      Time management 3.      Problem solving 4.      Communication 5.      Negotiation       III.               Disadvantages of collaboration in the workplace A.     Groupthink B.     Unequal work loads C.     Reduced motivation D.     Interpersonal conflict IV.              Conclusion src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”> Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Collaboration in the Workplace Outline

Collaboration in the workplace Outline I. Introduction A. Definition of collaboration B. Examples of ...

Collaboration in the workplace Outline

I.                    Introduction A.     Definition of collaboration B.     Examples of collaboration II.                 Advantages of collaboration in the workplace A.     Leads to creative and innovative solutions B.     Higher standards from group outcomes C.     Helps develop other skills 1.      Project management 2.      Time management 3.      Problem solving 4.      Communication 5.      Negotiation       III.               Disadvantages of collaboration in the workplace A.     Groupthink B.     Unequal work loads C.     Reduced motivation D.     Interpersonal conflict IV.              Conclusion src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”> Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Collaboration in the workplace Outline

I. Introduction A. Definition of collaboration B. Examples of collaboration II. Adv...

Advantage and Disadvantage of Collaboration in the Workplace

Collaboration in the workplace Outline     I. Introduction Collaboration is not at all easy task to achieve especially in the workplace where professionals may at times compete with each other and engages in self-serving activities that promotes only self-interest that inhibits the advancement of the needs of others.  A number of factors such as giving a great deal of effort to synergize all the people and to foster commitment among the people involved must be taken into consideration first before can collaboration occur in the workplace.  In this essay, we come to define what collaboration is and the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration it brings to the workplace. <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Definition of collaboration</li> By collaboration, it refers to the processes wherein people get to work together in the advancement of interest, rather than self-interest, wherein the needs of all the parties involved is meet. <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Examples of collaboration</li> An example of collaboration is the bargaining power between trade unions and management such that both sides will try to figure out means in which to foster conditions on both sides.  Simply stated, formulating a win-win situation.    II. Advantages of collaboration in the workplace <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Leads to creative and innovative solutions</li> According to an interview by  when a project requires brain power, teams are much more efficient.  The collaboration of two diverse teams that is cross-functional and cross-cultural being teamed by Americans, Dutch, British and Indonesians, enables Maxus Energy to came up with an excellent results of avoiding expected 15% reduction but instead, leveled off production and had add oil reserves to the stockpiles brought about by the great collaboration of minds to come up with solutions that is beyond expected through being able to work together towards a common goal which is to maximize oil and gas production.  Therefore, the collaboration of teams especially if the team constitutes diverseness, they are likely to come up with innovative solutions because they think differently, thereby their varying perceptions when taken together results to innovative solutions.  Perhaps, one of the reasons why successful companies, like the IBM and Honda, is embodying and promoting diversity in their company for them to be able to continue in the collaboration of creating more creative and innovative solutions that would serve as their competitive advantage in the marketplace. <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Higher standards from group outcomes</li> In collaboration, wherein groups work together to aim for the common goal is susceptible to deliver high standards for the very reason that not one or two persons work but group as composing of more or less five members.  The task can be subdivided and in a way more efficient as all of the members can contribute and assess the whole outcome, whether or not it needs further improvement or it reached the level of standards being set by the group.  For example in Intel Corporation, the collaboration of teams that are composed of combination of employees coming from different countries is employed by Intel as they are being utilized in the medley of projects: in the formulation and deliverance of sales strategies for specific products; development of new products so as in the manufacturing and production of microprocessor elements. When working in a group, how much more in collaborating with diverse people, an individual in the group is challenged to show what he or she has to offer, thus, imposing a high standard upon himself to be able to meet those standards and in a sense that an individual in the group strive to give the best for the group leading to the achievement of group purpose. <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Helps develop other skills</li> i. Project management             Working in collaboration is indeed a learning process.  In project management, a group member would be able to learn the basic principles and factors that underlies in the success of project management.  Being a good team member, as much as possible necessitates active listening, mutual sharing, co-operating with and encouraging others.  It is by being proactive in the collaboration enables on to accomplishment of tasks in the project. ii. Time management             Given the demands of the responsibilities attached in collaborating, it is a duty bound reliability to be able to be there when one is needed.  A member or even a leader cannot make others wait for hours since that would very much be inconsiderate that may lead to the decrease of trust among the group and may be putting the effectiveness of collaboration at risk.  Through collaboration, it makes one to be at all times being consciously aware so as not to create delays in the working processes. iii. Problem solving Collaboration allows those involved to air their opinions that may be valuable and upon hearing the opinions, they can draw out and reach for solutions that would work and balance all sides, thus, coming up with all the necessary ingredients to decide for the one that works for everybody.  As what have been previously mentioned, it is coming out with a win-win situation. iv. Communication In a study by  the results yielded that for highly interdependent or true teams, enhanced communication and cohesion are the most important processes to improve team performance.  The collaboration of true teams manifested and place great emphasis in alleviating any possible barrier in any means of communication methods so that the team can readily act on and work progressively. v. Negotiation From the start of collaboration, it entails negotiation.  Negotiation plays a role in collaboration because it enables to meet both ends and the solutions that will be drawn would be fair enough on every side.   III. Disadvantages of collaboration in the workplace <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Groupthink</li> When group people is not mixed or comprises of diverse people, group think would likely be the outcome of the collaboration.  It works disadvantageously in a way that the thinking of ideas would not be diverse enough and the resulting solutions may not go under scrutiny and further examination and resists to the ideas by rejection if the idea or the solution seems to be foreign to them. <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Unequal work loads</li> The problem may arise in the inequality of the work loads between the collaborators.  Perhaps, the other collaborator would feel that the distribution of the work load does not coincides with what is considered fair causing the other collaborator not to perform well since his or her work performance has been affected by the fact that he or she feels unfairness. <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Reduced motivation</li> Logistically, says , if the technology isn’t there–if team members don’t have groupware, or E-mail and videoconferencing capabilities so they can communicate rapid-fire–people will find it a physical bar-tier. The unavailability of technology resources reduces the motivation of collaborators such that it causes delay and inhibits the necessary means to make collaboration works in terms of meeting the standards of both sides. <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> Interpersonal conflict</li> Collaborators are individuals that may have conflicting point of views and beliefs, interpersonal conflict is evident in any collaboration but it can be minimized but not totally be eradicated of the fact that any collaborator is unique in his or her own special way. <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">Conclusion</li> Collaboration in the workplace can work advantageously.  However, attached to it, it can also works advantageously if not being settled and by not giving precise terms and clear specific common goal to meet.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Advantage and Disadvantage of Collaboration in the Workplace

Collaboration in the workplace Outline I. Introduction Collaboration is not at all easy task to achieve especially in the workpl...

Definition, Purpose and Background

Definition, Purpose and Background             Collaboration refers to a condition or abstract processes wherein people work together to achieve collective results that cannot be obtained by working alone.  It requires shared objective, commitment, open communication and diversity of skills among collaborators including right mix of people and group facilitator to realize its purpose.  By successful implementation, innovative ideas and platform to understand and realize shared visions in complex environments are established within the group.  Whereas coordination and cooperation promote efficient management of hierarchies in vertical organizations through imposition of determined system, collaboration exemplifies dynamism in horizontal organizations.                Competition, on the other hand, refers to an act wherein people strive against another to achieve individual results like dominance, reward, goal and survival.  To see this as a process, not merely self-vested act, it requires two extremes; namely: winner and looser to arrive at competition results, although drawing a tie situation could also occur.  When one is competitive, he usually has the intent (self-gratification) and capability (physical/ intellectual) that personally initiating competition with others likely to occur.  Whereas fighting involves violence while rivalry involves recurrence of competition to meet individual- or group-interests, competition itself can oftentimes carried non-opportunistically or with fairness (either mutual or singular terms) while participants could cease the act instantly due to physical results or emotional developments (being friends).    Importance of Collaboration in Organizations             It enforces optimal use of organizational resources particularly the intellectual capital.  When members are encourage to impart their knowledge and skill no matter how relatively little they are, the management and the organization is assure that it maximizes the potential of group power to achieve group goals.  Inferiority complex is an obstacle confronting members when they are in front of a relatively knowledgeable manager.  As a result, bits of pieces of important values, simple situational awareness and innovative ideas become stagnant and isolated.  The absence of collaboration aggravates the relationship because individual contribution is introduced and improved that could ease the stance of member, and ultimately, support organizational objectives.  Transforming managers into facilitators, members could surpass the stigma by simply collaborating with others making the organization more cohesive.               It minimizes monitoring and motivation costs.  Through collaboration, the organization promotes informal communication while organizational units tend to be independent from managers and strict policies.  Their personalities and personal aspirations are not bent by group goals; instead, the latter utilizes former personal experiences and values to naturally arrive at their subconsciously chosen environment.  They become responsible to their own actions and contemplate its impact to group goals.  They also learn to weigh trade-offs between personal and organizational conflicts and individually testing personal theories into practical situations.  As a result, managers are less stressed and more time to plan strategically and non-monetary rewards to performance outweigh monetary ones diverting group resources to further support collective aims.                          It supports organizational changes and is an effective tool to make good use of resistance.  When managers announce change crucial to its survival, it suggests adaptation to members that can easily be accepted when change is generally beneficial and incremental.  In the flip side, when change is abrupt and involves divesting, resistance is the common means to protect individual or group interests.  Through collaboration, change will not greatly affect the informal relationship of group members while their resistant assertion could mean learned suggestions of a better way to approach problems or exploit opportunities.  Managers do not hold them on the neck and the organization does not aim for individual submission.  As a result, there is no loyalty fee payable to members.  Their innovative thinking protected by the group is an enough payment making them adaptable to different conditions even transferable to new organizations.   Importance of Competition in Organizations             It is the best platform to discover managerial aspirants and to acquire self-worth.  A sub-standard or tarnished member can be easily segregated from the cream-of-the-crop as inferiority complex and post-competition results are internalized by participants.  Every organizational effort is intended to reflect group goals at the fore but individual interest is eminent in the core.  As a result, winners are easily identified as intelligent, sociable and charismatic who are very few in the group while acceptance from other members are enforceable because of the former distinction.  With this, the winner is also able to incorporate and intensify the road to excellence because personal and organizational gains are both at stake.  Not only can the group saves from training costs, but also maximizes group effectiveness, although with questionable individual intention, as members are naturally motivated to be managers and obtain self-fulfillment in the process.               It installs organizational order.  In traditional society and partly up-to-now, social order is considered a trade-off against social justice like government forces varying cultures within its borders to adhere to civilized laws to the detriment of the latter ancient history.  However, declaration of war (a form of competition) and determining the winner at the end would finally conclude who is right or wrong resolving order in place.  Competitive members, on the other hand, would settle their differences through result-based measurement and individual contribution.  The identified dominant will gain access to lead the group either in formal manner or otherwise.  As a result, authority becomes centered while group goals are protected by the managerial control.              Reconciliation between Collaboration and Competition             It is a general rule that no one strategy or structure is effective to different organizational conditions and objectives.  Perhaps the four basic functions of managers (planning, organizing, controlling and evaluation) can resolve trade-offs between these two extreme individual characteristics.  Planning will provide the facts about member mind-set and behavior, organizing will allow managers to leverage non-human resources according to member capabilities and motivational level, controlling will maintain the focus of the group and its plans, and evaluation will enhance or detach ineffective activities that diminish member motivation that will also foretell the need to re-plan.  Doing this continuously with optimal participation between managers and members will result to a more objective resolution of collaboration-competitive trade-offs.                Although this process is generally attributed with theoretical and empirical success, visionary and ethical leadership is of utmost significance when organizational members and their values are in question.  With this leader, it is of little importance whether to support collaborative or competitive acts from members.  A more important issue is that what does the member is accomplishing on top of what he feels about them.  He will serve as the guide on how to resolve issues such as maintaining members focus on results but remain emotional people as emotions are the source of motivation and commitment.  This leader is hard to define in unidirectional manner since he is able to think is short-, medium- and long-run terms at the same time. Suffice to know that he is neither collaborative nor competitive thinker rather a flexible one.                                                           Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Definition, Purpose and Background

Definition, Purpose and Background Collaboration refers to a condition or abstract processes wherein people work together to ...

COLLABORATIVE VS COMPETITIVE

Definition, Purpose and Background             Collaboration refers to a condition or abstract processes wherein people work together to achieve collective results that cannot be obtained by working alone.  It requires shared objective, commitment, open communication and diversity of skills among collaborators including right mix of people and group facilitator to realize its purpose.  By successful implementation, innovative ideas and platform to understand and realize shared visions in complex environments are established within the group.  Whereas coordination and cooperation promote efficient management of hierarchies in vertical organizations through imposition of determined system, collaboration exemplifies dynamism in horizontal organizations.                Competition, on the other hand, refers to an act wherein people strive against another to achieve individual results like dominance, reward, goal and survival.  To see this as a process, not merely self-vested act, it requires two extremes; namely: winner and looser to arrive at competition results, although drawing a tie situation could also occur.  When one is competitive, he usually has the intent (self-gratification) and capability (physical/ intellectual) that personally initiating competition with others likely to occur.  Whereas fighting involves violence while rivalry involves recurrence of competition to meet individual- or group-interests, competition itself can oftentimes carried non-opportunistically or with fairness (either mutual or singular terms) while participants could cease the act instantly due to physical results or emotional developments (being friends).    Importance of Collaboration in Organizations             It enforces optimal use of organizational resources particularly the intellectual capital.  When members are encourage to impart their knowledge and skill no matter how relatively little they are, the management and the organization is assure that it maximizes the potential of group power to achieve group goals.  Inferiority complex is an obstacle confronting members when they are in front of a relatively knowledgeable manager.  As a result, bits of pieces of important values, simple situational awareness and innovative ideas become stagnant and isolated.  The absence of collaboration aggravates the relationship because individual contribution is introduced and improved that could ease the stance of member, and ultimately, support organizational objectives.  Transforming managers into facilitators, members could surpass the stigma by simply collaborating with others making the organization more cohesive.               It minimizes monitoring and motivation costs.  Through collaboration, the organization promotes informal communication while organizational units tend to be independent from managers and strict policies.  Their personalities and personal aspirations are not bent by group goals; instead, the latter utilizes former personal experiences and values to naturally arrive at their subconsciously chosen environment.  They become responsible to their own actions and contemplate its impact to group goals.  They also learn to weigh trade-offs between personal and organizational conflicts and individually testing personal theories into practical situations.  As a result, managers are less stressed and more time to plan strategically and non-monetary rewards to performance outweigh monetary ones diverting group resources to further support collective aims.                          It supports organizational changes and is an effective tool to make good use of resistance.  When managers announce change crucial to its survival, it suggests adaptation to members that can easily be accepted when change is generally beneficial and incremental.  In the flip side, when change is abrupt and involves divesting, resistance is the common means to protect individual or group interests.  Through collaboration, change will not greatly affect the informal relationship of group members while their resistant assertion could mean learned suggestions of a better way to approach problems or exploit opportunities.  Managers do not hold them on the neck and the organization does not aim for individual submission.  As a result, there is no loyalty fee payable to members.  Their innovative thinking protected by the group is an enough payment making them adaptable to different conditions even transferable to new organizations.   Importance of Competition in Organizations             It is the best platform to discover managerial aspirants and to acquire self-worth.  A sub-standard or tarnished member can be easily segregated from the cream-of-the-crop as inferiority complex and post-competition results are internalized by participants.  Every organizational effort is intended to reflect group goals at the fore but individual interest is eminent in the core.  As a result, winners are easily identified as intelligent, sociable and charismatic who are very few in the group while acceptance from other members are enforceable because of the former distinction.  With this, the winner is also able to incorporate and intensify the road to excellence because personal and organizational gains are both at stake.  Not only can the group saves from training costs, but also maximizes group effectiveness, although with questionable individual intention, as members are naturally motivated to be managers and obtain self-fulfillment in the process.               It installs organizational order.  In traditional society and partly up-to-now, social order is considered a trade-off against social justice like government forces varying cultures within its borders to adhere to civilized laws to the detriment of the latter ancient history.  However, declaration of war (a form of competition) and determining the winner at the end would finally conclude who is right or wrong resolving order in place.  Competitive members, on the other hand, would settle their differences through result-based measurement and individual contribution.  The identified dominant will gain access to lead the group either in formal manner or otherwise.  As a result, authority becomes centered while group goals are protected by the managerial control.              Reconciliation between Collaboration and Competition             It is a general rule that no one strategy or structure is effective to different organizational conditions and objectives.  Perhaps the four basic functions of managers (planning, organizing, controlling and evaluation) can resolve trade-offs between these two extreme individual characteristics.  Planning will provide the facts about member mind-set and behavior, organizing will allow managers to leverage non-human resources according to member capabilities and motivational level, controlling will maintain the focus of the group and its plans, and evaluation will enhance or detach ineffective activities that diminish member motivation that will also foretell the need to re-plan.  Doing this continuously with optimal participation between managers and members will result to a more objective resolution of collaboration-competitive trade-offs.                Although this process is generally attributed with theoretical and empirical success, visionary and ethical leadership is of utmost significance when organizational members and their values are in question.  With this leader, it is of little importance whether to support collaborative or competitive acts from members.  A more important issue is that what does the member is accomplishing on top of what he feels about them.  He will serve as the guide on how to resolve issues such as maintaining members focus on results but remain emotional people as emotions are the source of motivation and commitment.  This leader is hard to define in unidirectional manner since he is able to think is short-, medium- and long-run terms at the same time. Suffice to know that he is neither collaborative nor competitive thinker rather a flexible one.   Reference: Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

COLLABORATIVE VS COMPETITIVE

Definition, Purpose and Background Collaboration refers to a condition or abstract processes wherein people work together to...

Challenges of Groups and Team Members

Challenges of Groups and team members   Introduction Perhaps most of the people have become part of specific groups during the school days until they become a part of an organization. However, being a part of the group is very challenging as there are other factors to be considered like the aspect of communication, collaboration, and conflict management.  Primarily, the goal of this paper is to provide examples of communication, collaboration, and conflict management that challenges me as a member of the group.   Using the Team Work Plan in Enron One of the most talked-about issues when it comes to auditing and accounting failure is the Enron Scandal, US’s largest bankruptcy and stock collapse (Fox 2003). In this scandal, two names have been given emphasis: Enron and Arthur Andersen.  Enron is a major American energy company. The occurrences that led up to the collapse and bankruptcy of began long before anyone had suspected fraud at the company.  One of the problems perceived in the Enron scandal is because of poor communication and lack of teamwork among the management of the company.   It can be said that the failure of the management of Enron to communicate have been on of the major caused of having this kind of failure. Since there are conflict between the management specifically with regards to their financial accounting directors. In this regard, to be able to solve the issue the top management must be able to instil the practice of effective and good communication within the company and the entire department. It is said that the absence of good communication along with the lack of efficient conflict management system may lead to the worsening of conflicting interests and this had happened to Enron. Because of the poor communication and lack of teamwork, the company has not been able to anticipate all the actions of their staffs, which lead to problems in terms of auditing. On one hand, there are also instances of having an underground agreement between members of the company into other industry which lead to management collapse. Hence, the stench of distrust and irresponsibility of the leaders of Enron reeks from company’s inability to work as a team.       In this regard, the team members especially the leader (shareholders and the top management) should be able to make number of considerations in order to prevent the same problem on the group from happening again. One of which is the approach it will have to use in order to obtain a favourable response from the employees through an effective conflict management. By means of effectively managing the conflict through communicating openly with other members of the team, the group was able to obtain the members full support for the achievement of their goal. The team also considered how each member will respond to this conflict management approach Furthermore, the team leader or the board of directors also considered its current relationship status with the members. Considering good relationship is another way of having good communication among members and also a sign that each member of the company will be able to collaborate well. It can be said that in order to solve the issue, the members of the Enron team, especially when it comes to their financial management, the member of the management teach should collaborate well. Efficient collaboration can enable Enron management to develop better and more practical financial decisions. This is because the presence of more collaborated individuals in the workplace promotes results-orientedness, openness to ideas, willingness to change as well as flexibility. Furthermore, having a good conflict management is also a good way to develop better decisions as this enable the leaders of the team to become more analytical, assertive, creative, observant and spirited to take on challenges and risks.   Conclusion       The success of the group’s initiatives can be attributed to honest and open communication observed among the group members. Through this approach, employees willingly approach the group’s plan of without reducing their productivity level or causing major work disruptions. The absence of problems in the group enabled the team to carry out its plans smoothly. The collaboration of the management and the employees brought about by open communication also made the implementation of the change easier for the group.         The consultative and united approach helps in maintaining the good working relations between the team members. Through this, the members can be made aware of the group’s plans; making them part of the decision-making activities can stress the role and value the team member has for the entire group. This in turn fosters good working relationships. Communication also prevents team member’s conflicts; for instance, if the group members openly discuss its plans for changes with the employees, resistance will be prevented or minimized.       All in all it can be said that in order to successfully meet the objectives of the group, the team members should give emphasis on the communication, collaboration, and conflict management aspects.       References: Fitter, F. (1996). Handling interruptions at work. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved August 17, 2006 from www.highbeam.com   Parnes, S.J. (1992). Sourcebook for Creative Problem Solving. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation Press.   Team Work Plan Forming a group or being a group member does not necessarily ensure that a given activity will be successfully performed. How the group members interact is a vital factor in determining the group’s success and morale of its members towards it. At present, organizations recognize the importance of harmony among group members within an organization, be it a formal or an informal one. Team work is the vocabulary of organizational managers and members, usually connoting it on how it is used in sports, to ensure that organizational task is running smoothly. At present, the concept of collaboration does not only apply to occupational groups but to other types of group activities where collective action is needed. One of the main issues affecting our functions as a group is diversity. Due to the personal and cultural, tensions among the members of our group had been a frequent occurrence. This in turn had been causing considerable work disruptions; moreover, assigning group tasks among the other team members had been difficult due to this issue. In dealing with this issue, the members of the group, specifically the team leader decided to take some actions and conflict management approach. 1.    Respond to the team member. If a member is constantly asking for my attention during the meeting, it is likely that we are communicating well. It is important that the question of the member is answered directly in order to prevent waste of time. 2.    Communicate with other members. In order to prevent the same constant interruption from happening, I need to understand why the member is behaving in that manner. This will also help me determine if there is something unclear or upsetting in the meeting that bothers the employee. Through this, I will be able to become more aware of the members’ different emotions and moods while in a meeting. Fitter (1996) also noted that meeting participants who are fragile, nervous or annoying should be given attention; handling their problems immediately while in a meeting will help prevent further interruptions and waste of time. 3.    Prevention. In order to prevent constant interruptions during a meeting, initially inform the participants that questions would just be entertained after the discussion or that they could just direct their queries through e-mail or at a certain time of the day.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Challenges of Groups and Team Members

Challenges of Groups and team members Introduction Perhaps most of the people have become part of specific groups during the school ...

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