Technology in Organizations: Facilitating Collaboration Facilitating Collaboration: Technology in Organizations

Collaboration and knowledge-sharing are crucial for successful project implementation and overall organizational success. Communication technologies and digital media facilitate collaboration among employees in an organization. This text explores the concept of collaboration, with particular focus on how it could be enhanced and evaluated in the organizational setting.

How might you manage the people and process problems identified in table 2.1 of the Keyes text?

Keyes (2013) identifies four different types of mistakes that increase the risk of project failure in the organizational setting: people-related mistakes, process-related mistakes, product-related mistakes, and technology-related mistakes.

Managing people-related mistakes

Mistakes in this category include undermined motivation, weak personnel, wishful thinking, unrealistic expectations, friction between workers and customers, lack of effective leadership, and lack of stakeholder buy-in. Project managers could employ a variety of strategies to address these mistakes and minimize the risk of project failure. To begin with, they could develop incentive programs for rewarding loyal employees, and those who manage to perform up to expected standards. Moreover, they could execute transformational leadership, where they are not only interested in achieving results, but also improving employees both personally and professionally so they are able to realize their maximum potential. When employees feel valued and appreciated, they are likely to derive more satisfaction from performing their jobs, and are likely to be more motivated and inspired to work towards project success. To make their reward programs more effective, organizations need to recognize exactly what employees expect of their reward programs. Monetary incentives alone may not be effective in motivating employees and getting them to identify with the project's goals and objectives. Entry-level employees, for instance, who are still trying to compete with their peers to win their supervisors' hearts and build a name for themselves may appreciate recognition and honor parties better than monetary rewards because the former accord them opportunities to be appreciated in their peers' watch. Moreover, Generation Y employees, also referred to as 'the trophy generation', are used to getting recognized and appreciated for their effort through certificates of participation, even when they are not the best performers. This group of employees would, therefore, be better motivated if they are rewarded and recognized regularly as opposed to once in a while.

Organizations need to structure their reward programs in such a way that they respond to the specific needs and expectations of employees. Having a diverse range of non-monetary incentives, in addition to monetary incentives, places a reward program in a better position to address the needs of employees. Non-monetary incentives that could be considered include promotions, honor/recognition parties, trips and vacations, educational scholarships, and stakes in the company. Besides being diverse in incentives, rewards also need to be advanced more regularly as opposed to being taken as a one-time affair. This is a particularly crucial element with the entry of Generation Y employees into the workforce.. Employees would be better motivated if reward programs address their needs and are tailored in line with their reward expectations.

Training and opportunities for continuous learning could be provided to ensure that employees have the right skill and knowhow to execute their duties. This would help address the problem of weak human resources.

Effective project planning, which basically means determining, in a timely manner, the staff to take part in the project, the specific objectives to be met based on the available time and resources, the roles of individual employees, the best person to assign the project's leadership to, and the best environment for employees to work in could help minimize the risk posed by unrealistic expectations, unfavorable work places, lack of effective project leadership, and lack of adequate human resources to steer the project to completion (Cross & Brohman 2014). Proper planning would ensure that everyone understands their role in the project, and everyone knows exactly what can be achieved given the available resources. This ultimately helps to save time and ensure that the project is completed within the stipulated time. Proper and adequate project planning would also ensure that sufficient time and resources are allocated to engaging with, and obtaining buy-in from the various stakeholders (Cross & Brohman 2014). This would ensure that the project aligns with the needs of stakeholders, and does not cause friction between them and the organization.

Finally, the project leader and their staff need to engage in knowledge-sharing to ensure that the latter understand customer needs and expectations. This would minimize the risk of friction developing between workers and customers.

Managing process-related mistakes

Common mistakes in this category...

A number of strategies could be used to manage these problems. First, project managers need to engage in careful and adequate planning to determine the amount of time a project is likely to require (Cross & Brohman, 2014). They could obtain insight on project schedules from previous projects, or from their colleagues in other companies, who may have implemented a similar project before (Cross & Brohman, 2014). This would help them come up with the right schedules, and avoid the risk posed by having overly optimistic schedules. The same sources used in obtaining information on how to develop schedules could be used to provide insight on the possible risks that could be experienced in the course of the project such as financial risk, technological risks and so on. The manager should develop a contingency plan to cater for these risks in case they occur (Cross & Brohman, 2014).
It is also prudent that the project manager subjects prospective contractors to a comprehensive evaluation process to determine their suitability for the job. Cost ought not to be the primary factor in the selection of contractors. Often times, organizations go for the lowest bidder in the selection of contractors. This, in most cases, results in low-quality work, and ends up costing the organization more in time and financial resources. To prevent this, project managers need to assess the suitability of contractors on the basis of competence. They need to review prospective contractors' performances in past projects to determine their level of competence and experience. They could use referrals from project managers in other organizations that have implemented similar projects to gauge the suitability of prospective contractors. Selecting contractors on the basis of competence as opposed to cost would help minimize the risk of contractor failure. Besides subjecting prospective contractors to comprehensive evaluation, the organization also needs to ensure that contractors who ultimately get selected are accorded adequate support in the form of financial resources, human resources, and time so they are able to work effectively, with lower risks of failure.

Relevant sources both within and without the organization need to be consulted to obtain insight on the most appropriate design for a particular project. Such knowledge-sharing would help minimize the risk of failure associated with inappropriate designs.

Moreover, the project manager needs to emphasize the aspect of quality, and communicate the same to employees and contractors. The aspect of quality should be clearly articulated and communicated in the mission, vision, and objectives guiding the project. This would ensure that employees understand the importance of quality, and commit to the same in their respective roles.

Question 2: Discuss how you would manage communication, artifacts, and tasks

Keyes (2013) points out three areas that need to be managed in order for there to be effective collaboration in an organizational setting: communication, artifacts, and tasks. Managing the communication process means ensuring that there are no gaps or boundaries impeding effective interaction and knowledge-sharing among individuals. In order to achieve this, a leader needs to eliminate the potential barriers preventing employees in different departments or levels of authority from interacting and sharing knowledge with each other. Physical barriers such as geographical distance (say between departments) could be eliminated through technology use, particularly social media platforms, instant messaging services, and tele-conferencing facilities. This would help to ensure seamless communication and knowledge-sharing between employees in different physical locations. The leader could facilitate communication among employees in different levels by encouraging vertical communication, and giving employees an opportunity to interact with top-level managers and give their views on issues facing the organization. Both of these strategies would help to eliminate communication barriers and facilitate organizational collaboration.

In addition to making communication seamless, the leader also needs to ensure that there is constant communication in the organization. This they could do by adopting communication technologies that make it possible for employees to engage in knowledge-sharing with other employees and their supervisors at any time, regardless of geographical distance.

Besides communication, leaders also need to manage artifacts within the organization. Artifacts in this case could be taken to represent the organizational culture; that is the rules and norms that govern how individuals interact and operate within the organization. A favorable organizational culture facilitates communication and consequently, collaboration (Shanley, 2009). Managing the organizational culture means making it favorable for employees to interact and engage in knowledge-sharing with each other (Shanley, 2009). This could be achieved through developing effective avenues for conflict-resolution, maintaining open communication, granting employees…