Experienced Rapid Growth in a Relatively Short

¶ … experienced rapid growth in a relatively short period of time, requiring us to make smart decisions related to organizational structure and process. We will need to encourage collaboration to meet our goals. Technology is critical to these changes, and to meeting the challenges that our organization now faces. The increased need for collaboration in the workplace requires a whole new concept of organizational design, structure and culture. Collaboration is actually "crucial" to organizational effectiveness and to meeting organizational goals, notes Shaw (n.d.). How to achieve greater collaboration is difficult, due to the wide range of options available for managers. Collaborative technologies are changing the ways people work, which is precisely the goal in our organization.

Our organization has been relying on the stand-alone machine model rooted in asynchronous collaborative communications concepts such as those Kock (1999) pointed out in his book Process Improvement and Organizational Learning. Yet these asynchronous collaborative communications technologies need to be supplemented with synchronous forms of collaborative communications. We need more virtual meetings, virtual brainstorming sessions, and real-time file sharing that allows for a more efficient workplace environment.

We need to connect all users in a manner that will allow them to manage and share files in a central location. There are several ways we can achieve this goal, and I believe that the best thing for us to do at this stage is combine a few different technologies and approaches. To start, we can use a cost-effective combination of tools including Dropbox and Teambox. Dropbox is a commonly used online (cloud-based) storage system. Using Dropbox, our organization can create different Dropboxes for different departments. This will ensure privacy and security of files. We can set access codes for the different Dropbox accounts.

Dropbox is good for file storage, but does not actually provide a solution for working together. Therefore, I strongly suggest starting with Teambox. Teambox is, like Dropbox, a Web-based solution. That means that the actual software is stored externally and not on our company servers. This reduces the money and time spent on technical maintenance and troubleshooting. It also means that our employees can collaborate no matter if they are at home, in our main office, or in our offices abroad if the company eventually expands.

Teambox has several features and functions that will be helpful for our organization. The first is communications. Using technologies like instant messaging and social media-style networking, our employees remain in touch in a way that is familiar and informal. I believe that Teambox will foster collaboration by creating and fostering camaraderie and team spirit. Some of our employees are too shy to voice their opinions in a boardroom meeting. Teambox allows for shier employees to share their thoughts an ideas in an online format, as if they were just posting to Facebook. Another benefit is that the feedback is instant but can also evolve over time just like a Facebook conversation. If we only relied on in-person meetings, the people would leave the room and go do other things without following through on thoughts and ideas. The conversational style of communicating using Teambox also enhances the sense that all employees are valuable and encouraged to contribute.

The software of Teambox allows for instant file sharing. This means that if a colleague wants another employee to make a few changes to a report, they can mark up the copy in Word or whatever software they like, and send that file instantly for corrections. The file can be returned in a matter of minutes. This process is especially helpful for projects that more than one person is working on, because all have access to the same parent files.

Teambox also has software that enables task and project management. Scheduling is one of the most important collaboration tools we can have at this stage in the evolution of our organization. If we can stay on schedule, our clients are much more likely to be happy with our work and recommend our company to others. Our business can expand more rapidly if we have organized approaches to projects and tasks. This requires calendar software that all members of the team collaborate on, with clearly defined roles. Thus, there can be color coded entries for each employee, who can easily see what their tasks are on a given assignment. Role clarity is highly important in collaborative environments and Teambox makes role clarity simple.