1. 1
Building a collaborative Enterprise
Harvard Business Review July-August 2011
Thomas CLUZEL
Alexandra FLEURY
Antoine JOLY
Axel PAQUIN
Olga ZRAZHEVSKAYA
Grade: 16/20
2. 2
1° )About the authors
2°) Key points of the article
3°) Key examples of the article
4°) Our view of the article
3. 3
The authors
Paul Adler Charles Heckscher Laurence Prusak
4. 4
The authors
Paul Adler Charles Heckscher Laurence Prusak
Pr at Rutgers University
Pr of Management and Researcher (USC) and
Current (USA)
Organization at University of Consultant (WB,
position Director : Center for Work
Southern California (USC) NASA..)
place Transformation
Founder of IBM
Education in Australia and
Institute for Knowledge
France Education and first faculty
Biography Management
1981 USA with Columbia, position in Havard
Work wih NGO and
Harvard and Stanford
authorities
Technology and Innovation, Collaborative work,
Management Division and organizational change, Information and
Specialization
the Critical Management andthe future of organized knowledge resources
Studies labor
- The development of "Working Knowledge," a
Current stakeholder systems knowledge research
research - The effects of team work program at Babson
in acute hospital care College
5. 5
Key points of the article (1/2)
Three models of corporate community
Traditional Collaborative Community
Free-Agent Model
Industrial Model Model
Self-interest &
Loyalty of Strong shared values
Affection for a Sense of shared purpose
employees & Tradition
charismatic leader
Huge bureaucratic
Modular structure Communities coordinated
Organization structure with densely
without bonds between through collaboratively
structure interconnected
communities developed procedures (Matrix)
community
Economies of scale, Innovative
Strengths Economies of scale Innovative & Flexible
& Flexible
Inflexible, Slow to Model hard to sustain (long term
Weaknesses Organizationnal problems investment, time consuming, lose of
innovate autonomy)
In the era of knowledge-based work, the Collaborative Community Model is
emerging and will replace the existing model because of the satisfaction it provides for all
stakeholders.
6. 6
Key points of the article (2/2)
The organizational efforts to build a collaborative enterprise
Defining & building a Cultivating an ethic of
shared purpose contribution
SUCCESS
Developing processes that
Creating an infrastructure
enable people to work
in which collaboration is
together in flexible but
valued and rewarded
disciplined projects
7. 7
Key examples : Computer Service Corp
Tools
Capability Maturity Model build in
collaboration with key technical
workers to combine talents of Ethic of contribution
specialists • Less autonomy make the work
understandable and criticized
New employees have to read by the team
“Instructions” => Every code is
readable by the entire team Interdependent processes
• Written processes help people
work faster
Results Collaborative infrastructure
• Team has to be involved in the
-75% errors
+10% productivity procedure building
Many innovations
8. 8
Key examples : Kaiser Hospital
Tools
Labor Management Partnership to
streamline more cash and time
consuming surgery
Collaborative infrastructure
Composed of every kind of people • Help to increase coordination
working in the process and expression zone for people
with different interests
To analyze processes coordination • Show how communication is
crucial in an organization
Ethic of contribution
• Increased satisfaction when
Results
people take part in a project
Operations/day *2
Time between procedures from 45 to 20 mn
85% increase in job satisfaction
9. 9
Key examples : City bank
Tools
E-solution team created to fight AOL threat
Shared purpose : “Be a leader in creating Shared purpose
new and complex online banking products • Shared vision is multidimensional,
to tailor customer needs” practical and constantly enriched in
debate about concrete problem
E-business road map available on internet
for the entire company Interdependent processes
• Change in processes take into
Rules for the meeting account consequences on others
Divided management within the team => Ethic of contribution
Participative centralization • Focus on capabilities and market
position instead of building
individual credibility
Results
Workers do not work on a project because “it Collaborative infrastructure
is the job” but are able to explain how their • Matrix form help people to bring
project contribute to the share purpose ideas
10. 10
Our opinion : A complex set of skills to create
synergies
• Define a shared purpose : A collaborative enterprise as opposed to a
competitive enterprise ?
▫ Build long term and mutually beneficial relationships with all
stakeholders
▫ More sustainable business practices
▫ From maximizing shareholder value to a long term socially responsible
vision
• From a traditional structure to an ever moving collaborative structure
11. 11
Collaborative knowledge management tools
Knowledge management tools add a new more powerful dimension to classic conversation
Shared space
Receiver/Sender Conversation Receiver/Sender
12. 12
Criticisms of the “Collaborative approach”
• Sharing costs, risks & technical challenges brings uncertainty
of who is accountable?
• Chaos and slowing down of decision making process
(information overload can happen)
• Long to implement
• Not really a collective decision making upper-level
managers are still retain centralized control
• Preserves the distinction between thinkers and doers
• Collaborative tools can cause adjustment issues for people
accustomed to traditional meeting formats.
• Don’t forget the human challenge : tacit knowledge is hard to
transfer
13. 13
Reference list
Articles
• Tencati, Antonio, and Laszlo Zsolnai. "The Collaborative Enterprise." Journal Of
Business Ethics 85, no. 3 (March 30, 2009
• Gerhard Fischer, Jonathan L. Ostwald. ”Knowledge Management: Problems, Promises,
Realities, and Challenges”. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2001: 60~72
Books
• Skyrme, David, Knowledge Networking: Creating the Collaborative Enterprise (1999)
• Schrage, M. , Collaborative Tools: A First Look, in Knowledge Management Tools
(1997)
Website
• Ryszard Barnat, LLM., DBA, Ph.D. (Strat. Mgmt) 3. The Collaborative Approach), The
Nature Of Strategy Implementation
http://www.strategy-implementation.24xls.com/en100
