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Defining Common Collaboration Tensions
In a previous post we pointed to emerging examples of a "collaboration curve" in which the more people and interactions you add to a carefully designed environment, the more performance improves.
Transactional versus Relational Collaboration: their transactional nature requires clearly and concisely stating both the problem and its solution. Yet in a world of near-constant disruption it's increasingly difficult to know what the problem is. Solutions, when found, are often in the form of experiential, "tacit" knowledge that's difficult to articulate. That's why relational collaboration, in which seekers and solvers build relational capital and trust during a longer period of time, is poised to become the most valuable form of collaboration: it supports the creation of and the exchange of tacit knowledge.
Loosely versus Tightly Coupled: In a pull-based creation space, loose coupling provides a way around the n-squared problem by modularizing (and standardizing the interfaces between) resources so they can be flexibly combined and recombined. Said differently, loosely coupled collaboration scales; tightly coupled collaboration does not.
Static versus Dynamic: Some forms of collaboration assume that the task is simply to get participants to contribute existing resources or knowledge. These forms focus on coordination of static capabilities. Other forms of collaboration take as a starting point the challenge of creating new knowledge and capabilities so that participants individually get better as a result of the collaboration.
People and institutions getting better faster working together in flexible but enduring relationships where collective performance rapidly increases and new knowledge accumulates over time
Enterprise 2.0 Adoption Study Good Sign for Social Computing in PLM - PLM and Profitability | Blog on Manufacturing Business Technology
o what does this mean for manufacturers? As much as I would love to jump to the conclusion that social computing is booming, I interpret this differently. I see this as:
Manufacturers are very interested in social computing
The early adopters are hard at work figuring it out
Progress has been cautious (for the most part)
My beliefs on how manufacturers will adopt social computing in product development has not changed:
Most manufacturers will start with the low-hanging fruit of improving collaboration, and most will start internally
Manufacturers will be more likely to adopt social computing techniques when they are incorporated into applications they trust such as PLM, which will protect their intellectual property (IP)
There will be significant value gained by those manufacturers that adopt social computing to improve product innovation, product development, and engineering performance
Facebook at the Factory: Manufacturing software must become more like social media, study says
The Importance of Online Workplaces
Online workplaces are involved in virtually all information- or knowledge-based activities within an enterprise. By improving online workplaces, an enterprise can significantly increase the performance of these activities. However, the goals of an online workplace need to go beyond automation. When aligned with supporting culture and business practices, online workplaces can provide the basis for sustainable competitive advantage. The source of this advantage comes from the intellectual capital that can be captured and reused.
The efficiency of completing repeatable processes and transactions is the focus of workflow systems and transactional systems. In the interest of decreasing cycle time, both of these system types optimize how individuals and groups serve business processes: The process comes first and the worker is subservient to the process (cue Pink Floyd music). However, this “process first, user second” design does not work well for the many ad hoc activities that make up a typical workday, in which the user juggles multiple variables and gathers information as needed. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid call these two different modes “process” and “practice.”
Advantages based on practice are difficult to replicate because they consist of talent of the people involved and information with which those workers make decisions. This goes to the heart of the goal of an effective online workplace: Enable the enterprise to leverage assets that competitors do not have. These are the talent of its people and information only the enterprise possesses.
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