Technology and Collaboration in Organizations: A Management Guide

Introduction: Collaboration and Knowledge-Sharing

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 paper explores the concept of collaboration, with particular focus on how it can be enhanced and evaluated in the organizational setting.

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. The sections below address strategies for managing people-related and process-related mistakes, followed by a discussion of how to manage communication, artifacts, and tasks to foster effective organizational collaboration.

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 can 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 practice transformational leadership, where they are not only interested in achieving results, but also in 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 more likely to be motivated and inspired to work toward project success.

To make reward programs more effective, organizations need to recognize exactly what employees expect of them. Monetary incentives alone may not be effective in motivating employees or 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' approval and build a name for themselves may appreciate recognition and honor events better than monetary rewards, because the former give them opportunities to be appreciated in the presence of their peers. Moreover, Generation Y employees — also referred to as "the trophy generation" — are accustomed to being recognized and appreciated for their effort through certificates of participation, even when they are not the top performers. This group of employees would therefore be better motivated if they are rewarded and recognized regularly rather than only occasionally.

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 employee needs. Non-monetary incentives that could be considered include promotions, honor and recognition events, trips and vacations, educational scholarships, and equity stakes in the company. Beyond being diverse in their offerings, rewards also need to be provided more regularly rather than treated as a one-time affair. This is a particularly important consideration with the entry of Generation Y employees into the workforce. Employees will be better motivated when reward programs address their needs and are tailored in line with their reward expectations.

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

Effective project planning — which means determining, in a timely manner, the staff to take part in the project, the specific objectives to be met based on available time and resources, the roles of individual employees, the best person to assign the project's leadership to, and the most suitable working environment — can help minimize the risk posed by unrealistic expectations, unfavorable workplaces, lack of effective leadership, and insufficient human resources to steer the project to completion (Cross & Brohman, 2014). Proper planning ensures that everyone understands their role in the project and knows exactly what can be achieved given the available resources. This ultimately helps save time and ensures that the project is completed within the stipulated timeframe. 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 helps ensure that the project aligns with stakeholder needs and does not create friction between them and the organization.

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

Managing Process-Related Mistakes

Common mistakes in this category include overly optimistic schedules, insufficient risk management, contractor failure, inadequate design, and shortchanged quality assurance. Several strategies can 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 can obtain insight on project schedules from previous projects or from colleagues in other organizations who may have implemented similar projects (Cross & Brohman, 2014). This helps them develop realistic schedules and avoid the risks associated with overly optimistic timelines. The same sources used to develop schedules can also provide insight into the possible risks that could arise during the project — such as financial and technological risks. The manager should develop a contingency plan to account for these risks should they occur (Cross & Brohman, 2014).

It is also prudent for project managers to subject prospective contractors to a comprehensive evaluation process to determine their suitability for the job. Cost should not be the primary selection factor. Organizations often choose the lowest bidder, which frequently results in low-quality work and ultimately costs the organization more in both time and financial resources. To prevent this, project managers need to assess contractors on the basis of competence. They should review prospective contractors' performance on past projects to gauge their level of competence and experience, and may use referrals from managers at other organizations that have implemented similar projects. Selecting contractors on the basis of competence rather than cost helps minimize the risk of contractor failure. Beyond evaluation, contractors who are ultimately selected must be given adequate support — in the form of financial resources, human resources, and time — so they can work effectively with a lower risk of failure.

Relevant sources both inside and outside the organization should be consulted to obtain insight on the most appropriate design for a particular project. Such knowledge-sharing helps minimize the risk of failure associated with inappropriate designs.

Furthermore, the project manager needs to emphasize quality and communicate that emphasis clearly to employees and contractors. The importance of quality should be clearly articulated in the mission, vision, and objectives guiding the project. This ensures that employees understand the value of quality and commit to it in their respective roles.

Managing Communication, Artifacts, and Tasks

Keyes (2013) identifies three areas that must be managed for effective collaboration in an organizational setting: communication, artifacts, and tasks. Managing the communication process means ensuring that there are no gaps or barriers impeding effective interaction and knowledge-sharing among individuals. To achieve this, a leader needs to eliminate obstacles that prevent employees in different departments or at different levels of authority from interacting and sharing knowledge. Physical barriers such as geographical distance can be eliminated through technology — particularly social media platforms, instant messaging services, and teleconferencing facilities. This ensures seamless communication and knowledge-sharing between employees in different physical locations. Leaders can also facilitate communication across organizational levels by encouraging vertical communication and giving employees the opportunity to interact with top-level managers and share their views on issues facing the organization.

In addition to making communication seamless, the leader also needs to ensure that communication is continuous throughout the organization. This can be achieved by adopting communication technologies that allow employees to engage in knowledge-sharing with colleagues and supervisors at any time, regardless of geographical distance.

Leaders also need to manage artifacts within the organization. In this context, artifacts represent organizational culture — 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 conducive for employees to interact and engage in knowledge-sharing (Shanley, 2009). This can be achieved by developing effective conflict-resolution mechanisms, maintaining open communication, granting employees access to organizational resources, and encouraging innovation (Shanley, 2009).

The third area to be managed is that of tasks. Different individuals are charged with carrying out different tasks to enable the organization to realize its overall objectives. Collaboration is not possible without effective task management. Managing tasks means ensuring that tasks are assigned to the right people based on skill and experience. Moreover, tasks should be designed to require more teamwork than individual effort. This means structuring tasks so that they are interdependent — such that failure in one task results in failure in the entire project. This kind of task coordination pushes employees to collaborate and work together effectively.

One organization that has implemented an effective model of collaboration is ING Direct Canada (Morgan, 2013). The organization manages communication by eliminating physical offices and job titles — employees have no formal titles and no dedicated offices, which means that anyone can speak with anyone, regardless of functional expertise or position (Morgan, 2013). The organization's leaders focus on removing obstacles rather than creating them. Its culture emphasizes open communication and employee empowerment — the CEO welcomes input and feedback from team members, whether positive or negative, and employees are granted freedom in their collaborative environment (Morgan, 2013). This environment allows employees to collaborate effectively and engage in knowledge-sharing while empowering themselves. Other organizations can emulate this model as a way of encouraging collaboration among their employees.

Conclusion: Choosing the Right Collaboration Model

It is worth noting that while some projects can be executed effectively through social media collaboration — such as the use of wikis — others may not be as successful. Projects that work best with social media collaboration tend to be less complex in nature and do not require physical visits to a site. Complex projects, where a significant portion of the work takes place in a physical setting, may not be effectively managed through social media collaboration alone. A construction project, for example, where most of the work is conducted in the field and team members benefit most from being physically present at the site, illustrates this well. In such a case, face-to-face collaboration would yield better results than remote collaboration via social media. The project manager would be better served by meeting with team members physically at the site to evaluate progress, rather than relying on images of the uncompleted work shared through digital platforms.

It is therefore prudent for a project manager to carefully assess whether a given project would yield better results through social media collaboration or face-to-face interaction. Making the right decision significantly increases the chances of project success.

References

Cross, B. L., & Brohman, K. M. (2014). Project leadership: Creating value with an adaptive project organization. CRC Press.

Keyes, J. (2013). Enterprise 2.0: Social networking tools to transform your organization. CRC Press.

Morgan, J. (2013). The 12 habits of highly collaborative organizations. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2013/07/30/the-12-habits-of-highly-collaborative-organizations/

Shanley, M. G. (2009). The prospect for increasing the reuse of digital training content. RAND Corporation.