What is Collaboration?
1 What Is Collaboration?
- Group efforts toward a single goal
- Shared production responsibilities across borders
- Efficient use of diversified resources
- Dedicated group actions
2 Challenges/Trends in Product Development Projects
- Project sizes continue to grow
- Projects are getting more diversified
- Project completion times are getting shorter
- Project team sizes are increasing
- Project costs are being (prorated) reduced
- Project Planning is a large compendium of written documents
3 Why Collaborate?
- Project growth requires larger efforts for planning
- Project diversification requires larger staff
- Shorter completions require more concentrated efforts
- Team size growth requires expanded team communication
- Reduced costs demand increased efficiency
- Written documents are beyond a single person’s efforts
4 Collaboration Advantages
- Division of Labor: Increased effectiveness of group members’ activities (divide and conquer)
- Speed: Reduced time in processing (efficiency in numbers)
- Expertise:
- Effective utilization of multi-disciplines
- Ability to employ global resourses
- Check on Conditioned Reasoning:
- Improved quality from multiple reviewers
- Helps prevent oversight and mistakes
- Synergy:
- Generates new ideas
- Clarifies concepts
- Group Learning and Ownership:
- Fosters organizational identity
- Hone skills/expand knowledge
- Control and empowerment
- Potential for reduction in levels of management
5 Disadvantages in Collaboration
- “Group Think”
- Potential to stifle individual qualities/contribution
- Domineering members can override complacent members
- May lead to middle-of-the road solutions to satisfy group differences
- Withholding of Effort or Information
- Resistance to team leader
- Concern over sharing ideas/receiving recognition
- Less contribution than in individual environment
- Group accountability buffers individual accountability
6 Critical Team Values
- Mutual Respect
- Loyalty – to each other, to the effort
- Diversity – complimentary (as opposed to competing) mix of capabilities
- Trust – open/honest/effective communication
7 Team Member Responsibilities:
- Listen
- Be open to new ideas and experiences
- Be ready/willing to learn
- Respect others as they respect you
- Be patient
- Don’t always be assertive or competitive
- Don’t always need to be right
- Give everyone special treatment
8 Ideal Collaboration Group Makeup
- Dynamic individuals
- Professional perspective
- Team Player
- Well defined goal
- Diversified group (background and profession)
9 Good Collaboration Method
- Elected team leader
- Agree on a purpose/objective/charter
- Establish a mechanism to foster open communications among all team members
- Develop a schedule and WBS
- Establish overall approach, style guides, formatting and communications conventions
- Assign Tasks
- Achievable
- Definitive completion
- Measurable milestones
- Defined review process
- Document the Collaboration/team approach
© 2015-2017, Old Dominion Univ.
