collaborative and workflow tools
Post on 17-Jan-2015
1.081 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Collaborative and Workflow ToolsNtombenhle
Mngomezulu
Presented by
Seminar #10
• Collaboration
• Definition• E-Collaboration & virtual teams• Challenges of virtual teams• Drivers of e collaboration• Collaboration Tools• Collaboration Software• Workflow Tools
• Definition • Workflow Management• Challenges and benefits
Objectives
• Case Study• Discussion
Collaboration
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)
Collaboration Defined
Why organisations collaborateIncrease 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)
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
E Collaboration
• 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.
Follow the sun
MiamiKommetjie
• Different individuals over geographically dispersed areas working towards a common goal
• Exchange an sharing of information
• Facilitated by an electronic tool (internet)
eCollaboration…in essence
• Emergence of virtual organisations
• Increase in internet technology
• Pressure to constantly innovate
• Globalisation and liberalisation of markets
Drivers of eCollaboration
Emergence of virtual organisationsA 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 technologyInternet has been identified as the main driver behind eCollaboration, due its rapid growth & perception as a software platform (Reimer, Steinfield, & Vogal,2009).
Drivers of eCollaboration
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.
eCollaboration drivers, continued…
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
ICT Collaboration Tools
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
Leads to creative and innovative solutions
Higher standards from group outcomes
Helps develop other skills > Time Management > Project Management > Problem solving & communication
Increase efficiency & productivity
Advantages of eCollaboration
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
Trust and cohesion
Software Collaboration
Cultural Differences
Issues and challenges in effective collaboration
Trust and cohesionA high degree of trust is required in order for effective
collaboration to take place between individuals
• 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)
Cultural Differences
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
Management of Collaboration
• 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)
Collaborative Software
• 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
Virtual teams & organisations
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.
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)
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)
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
• 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)
• 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.
Collaboration Today
Workflow
• 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.
Workflow
• 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
• 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)
Key driver
behind
workflow
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)
Workflow Management
• Improved Efficiency
• Continuity
• Automation
• Traceability
• Improved customer service
• Centralisation
• Standardisation
• Economisation
• Adaptability
Benefits of Workflow
• 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)
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
Key benefits continued...
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)
Workflow for the employee...
• 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
• 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).
Workflow vendors
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.
• 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
• 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
Case Study
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
Case study analysis & summary
• 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”
Challenges
• 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?
Discussion Questions
THANK YOU
Goodbye diarrhoea
Its time to smell the flowers
Goodbye type 12...hello type 4
top related