4. Collaboration is a joint effort of multiple
individuals or work groups to accomplish a
task or project. (Reihmer,2009a)
• It is a process used to reach goals that
usually cannot be reached by a single
organisation.
(Johnson and Wang,2008)
5. Increase in geographically dispersed organisations
More and more organisations are becoming
geographically dispersed. Therefore More workers are
needing to work in dispersed environments.
Potential to decrease time-to-market
Length of time it takes for product conception until the
product is available for use or sale
(Carmen et al.,2010)
6. E Collaboration
Collaboration
Business to Business collaborations facilitated by the
internet. Not just a buy and sell transaction but better
described as relationships (Johnson and Wang,2008).
Grocery Manufacturers of American Association
Use of internet based technologies to facilitate continuous
automated exchange of information between supply chain
partners. (GMAA,2009)
IBM
Anything that allows people to work together more easily
using electronic tools
7. • Handing off of work at the end of the day from one site
to another, across different time zones, in order to speed
up the development of a product.
Miami
Kommetjie
8. eCollaboration…in essence
• Different individuals over geographically
dispersed areas working towards a common
goal
• Exchange an sharing of information
• Facilitated by an electronic tool (internet)
9. Drivers of eCollaboration
• Emergence of virtual organisations
• Increase in internet technology
• Pressure to constantly innovate
• Globalisation and liberalisation of markets
10. Drivers of eCollaboration
Emergence of virtual organisations
A virtual organisation is a group of companies that
come together to form one organisation to share skills &
expertise (Beranek & Clairborne, 2012).
• Work within a virtual environment which creates room
for more growth, and varied ways of developing
• Because there is a greater pool of skills and
expertise.
Increase in internet technology
Internet has been identified as the main driver behind
eCollaboration, due its rapid growth & perception as a
software platform (Reimer, Steinfield, & Vogal,2009).
11. eCollaboration drivers, continued…
Pressure to constantly innovate
• There’s an increased expectation from consumers to be
provided with individual and personalised services.
• eCollaboration allows for the production of innovative
goods and services to be produced within a short space
of time.
Globalisation & Liberalisation of markets
• Globalisation & market deregulation motivate
businesses to expend into new, often remote markets
which require these organisations to decentralise and
distribute work and partner with local organisations.
• In turn there is an emergence of multi-national alliances.
12. ICT Collaboration Tools
eCollaboration needs to allow people to collaborate
with their colleagues or team mates through different
communication channels.
Collaboration tools allow for people to communicate
and work together on a piece of work in real time.
(Reimer et al, 2009)
• Unified Communication and Collaboration
o Text
o Media
13. Unified Communication & Collaboration
Brings together all collaborations and collaboration
components
Collaboration components are the tools used to
enable and facilitate collaboration
•Email
• Video conferencing
•All on one communication platform
14. Advantages of eCollaboration
Leads to creative and innovative solutions
Higher standards from group outcomes
Increase efficiency & productivity
Helps develop other skills
> Time Management
> Project Management
> Problem solving & communication
15. Disadvantages of eCollaboration
Groupthink: Limits the idea generation process to that
of a single outcome
Unequal Workload: Perceived unequal workload may in
turn negatively influence how the concerned individual
processes their work
Reduced Motivation: The unavailability of technology
may reduce motivation by causing delays and inhibiting
effective collaboration within teams
Interpersonal conflict which may arise due to different
views. Can however be minimised with time
16. Issues and challenges in effective collaboration
Trust and cohesion
Software Collaboration
Cultural Differences
17. Trust and cohesion
A high degree of trust is required in order for effective
collaboration to take place between individuals
Cultural Differences
• Information sharing within organisations which take part in
collaboration , consists of individuals with different cultural
backgrounds.(DeRosa, 2011)
• Cultural differences in a team may result in conflict within a
virtual team, which may in turn affect the effectiveness of
collaboration (Jackson, 2010)
18. Management of Collaboration
Collaboration management involves capturing the
collaboration process, coordinating the activities of the
participating applications and humans, and/or providing
awareness, i.e., information that is highly relevant to a
specific role and situation of a process participant
19. Collaborative Software
• Microsoft
• SharePoint
• Team Foundation Server
• Live Meeting
• Novel GroupWise
• Google Docs
• Oracle Beehive combines email, team
collaboration & conferencing on collaboration
platform
• omNova Technologies interactive online meeting
platform
• Pidoco cloud based collaboration which allows
you to create, share and test site and mobile
application (UI prototypes)
20. Virtual teams & organisations
• A virtual team is a group of geographically
dispersed able to, across time and space
cross organisational boundaries,
communicate and work on a project.
• (Bergiel, Bergiel & Balsmier, 2008)
• Virtual teams heavily rely on interactive
technologies
• Characterised by their temporary lifespan
and membership
21. Virtual team in organisations
• Virtual teams are used by most companies
to cut travel costs, relocations costs and
other business costs
• Helps organisations build a global
presence, outsource operations , or if
there is less need for common expertise or
skills.
22. Virtual teams continued...
• Governed by the same fundamental principal as
traditional teams
• Major Difference: The way in which virtual teams
communicate
• Virtual teams rely on special communication channels
enabled by modern technology
• i.e. Email, teleconferencing, phone calls
(Nunamaker, Reining, Briggs, 2009)
23. Characteristics of virtual teams
• Members are and often need to be
• Self motivated
• Able to work well independently
• Communicate clearly, constructively and
positively
(Virtual Teams Survey Report, 2010)
24. Virtual team challenges
• Trust: building and maintaining trust in a virtual team
is one of the biggest challenges
• Mainly because trust is key for breaking down some
of the communication barriers between members.
• Communication: The lack of face-to-face interaction
• Time-zone: Example: If Mandy in Miami needed to
talk to Jali in Limpopo...when Mandy wakes up Jali
sleeps
25. • Software collaboration- software designed to help
individuals in virtual teams achieve their goals
• Organisations have different I.T. Infrastructure
• Technology- not all individuals in a virtual team may
have access to the same resources
• Making decisions
• Expressing opinions
• Ultimately, the challenges faced by virtual teams may in
turn hinder the generation of innovative ideas and
quality of work produced
(Virtual Teams Survey Report, 2010)
26. • Many organisations are not willing to adopt the
collaborative approach
• Some of these organisations view collaboration as
being time consuming, with costs outweighing
benefits
• Other organisations are just reluctant to work with
other organisations
• Sceptical about the sharing of ideas - fearful that
their knowledge may be exploited or stolen
• Despite these barriers , the practice of collaboration is
expanding around the world.
28. • Workflow is the automatic routing of
documents, information and/ or tasks to be
completed to a particular individual, according to
a set of rules (Carmel et el., 2009)
• Move of information as it flows through the
sequence of steps that make up a business
process.
29. • Workflow is facilitated by a workflow
system which
• Monitors what people do
• Which people do it
• When they are doing it
• Used for transparent planning and
control – where employees work
together and share information
30. Key driver behind workflow
• Highlight need for practical guidelines for
employees in being able to complete tasks
assigned to them.
• Enable the capturing of knowledge about
business processes.
Sharp & Dermott (2009)
31. Workflow Management
Workflow management is the systematic
process of passing information, documents or
tasks from one employee within an
organisation to another, governed by a
procedure or rules.
Workflow management system is a program
that enables automatic procedures so that
everyone who needs to know, knows where
what is, at a specific time.
(Carmel et al., 2010)
33. • Improved Efficiency
Workflow management automates major process within
an organisation by establishing consistent
procedures.
Employees are thus able to narrow down their day to
day tasks , which boosts their productivity levels.
(DeRosa, 2011)
34. Creates a constant flow of documentation
Because of its automatic nature it ensures that
documents move along a predetermined pace
and that the responsible individual receives
and processes them in the correct order.
Mitigates the risk of error and documentation
getting lost as a result of manual systems.
(Riemer, Steinfield, & Vogel, 2009).
35. Traceability
Management is able to track tasks being
performed, or information or documentation
being routed to a specific employee.
Improved customer service
Workflow management allows for consistent
product and service delivery.
36. Standardisation
Workflow enables management to create
standardised working processes within their
organisation.
All employees working on the same task , do so
in a systematic standardised manner.
37. Economisation – savings on cost
All business processes are in a single system
therefore management doesn’t need to
purchase or maintain separate system
(Rosenzweig, 2009)
Extensibility
Workflow systems enable management to extend
business processes in the case where an
organisations business requirements change
(Deelman et al., 2009).
38. Key benefits continued...
Workflow is a management tool
Workflow is mostly used for the benefits of
management i.e. Improving business
processes allows for greater efficiency and
productivity which may in turn increase
revenue.
39. Workflow for the employee...
What the workflow system might read as
“slacking” or creating a bottleneck, is influenced
by various factors
It could be that the employee is slow OR
Employee is held up by other minor tasks
Example: employee goes to the toilet and takes a
bit longer...a bottleneck is identified at that
workstation
Management sees that as an employee being
inefficient
(Carmel et al., 2010)
40. • Workflow major downfalls
• Working under stringent and restrictive
conditions...where an employee feels like
their every move is a cost to their
productivity...
• May negatively influence morale and
performance levels
• Does not work in favour of the employee
41. Workflow vendors
• Workflow is used by different originations for the
same fundamental purpose of keeping track of
who does what and at what time. However, the
type of vendor used by an organisation will be
influenced by the type of organisation; the type
of work done and what the business’ key
objectives are for using workflow.
• (van der Aalst & ter Hofstede, 2012).
42. Relevance to I.S.
• Information Systems is moving away from the popular
culture of consuming, into a culture of participation.
• Through collaboration, virtually any complex problem is
potentially solvable
• The knowledge that organisations would need, resources
and the relevant set of skills, has become easily accessible.
• Success in the business world is largely influenced by the
innovative ideas, fast service delivery at minimum cost.
43. • Competition in the business industry in
constantly increasing - businesses need to
find ways to increase employee
productivity in a cost effective, efficient
and customer friendly manner -Whilst
generating the business profit
• Business Intelligence
• Increase in software & internet technology
44. Case Study
• Davis Controls: Manufacturer of
process control instrumentation &
factory automation practices
• Business was having trouble keeping
their customers happy...turning to
cheaper imports from China
• Invested $300 000 in suit of applications
from Exact Software
45. • By capturing all customer information, for
example, Davis employees would he able to
more efficiently, track and serve their clients.
• If a client recently purchased a new boiler
control, and mentioned that in six months it
would be in the market to purchase
instrumentation to monitor its boilers
remotely, that information could be captured
instead of residing in someone's bead or email
account
46. • Shipping delivery policy was 21 days
• If delivery was late or had been missed,
workflow software would instruct person
in front of the desk , in a task form, to
phone or visit the customer and smooth
over the problem.
• At the end of a working day, Montgomery
received a report with the total orders
booked by the salesperson, profit margin
and accounts received
47. • Since the software became fully
operational the company's yearly
revenue has grown from almost $12
million to just over $15 million in 2005
• Admin staff reduced from 9 to 3 (the rest
were redeployed into sales
• But the number of employees has
remained static at 50 employees
48. Case study analysis & summary
• Workflow system is not just a process
tracking system
• It is a form of ERP and BI intelligence
tool.
• Biggest challenge for Davis Controls and
most likely any other organisation
implementing workflow, is not the
technology but more the people.
• Workflow success is dependent on bother
management & employee buy-in
49. Challenges
• More than adapting to new ways
of conducting business processes
and completing tasks, employees
biggest problem with the
workflow system:
• “Its like big brother is watching
me”
50. • In deciding whether or not to
implement a workflow system within
your company, which factors would you
consider more important and why?
• (from management perspective &
employee)
• Knowing and being aware of all the pro’s
and cons of collaboration and working in
virtual teams...would you consider being
a part of it? Why?
51. THANK YOU
Goodbye diarrhoea
Goodbye type 12...hello type 4
Its time to smell the flowers
