supporting collaboration & knowledge work. outline 1111 1111 3333 3333 2222 2222 supporting...
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Supporting Collaboration & Knowledge Work
Outline
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Supporting Knowledge Work
Emerging Organizing Principles
Organization Structure---Demise of Hierarchy
Command-and-control hierarchical bureaucracies
Coordinated, collaborative self-managed groups
New Organizing Principles ---Self-organizing Rather Than Designed Inspiration from chaos theory, ecology and biology
Order out of chaos The basic tenet is that nature provides a good
model for future organizations that must deal with: Complexity Share information & knowledge Cope with change
Self-organizing systems create their own structure, patterns of behavior, and processes to accomplish their work
New Organizing Principles ---The Learning Organization
(1) Peter Senge, The 5th Discipline: The art & practice of the learning organization Most organizations live only 40yrs – 1/2 the life of a
person Because they have "learning disabilities"
Organizations that can learn faster than their competitors will survive In fact, it is the only sustainable advantage Companies have to continually adapt and learn in
order to respond to changes in environment and to grow
New Organizing Principles ---The Learning Organization
(2) Five learning principles for learning organizations Personal mastery
Life-long learning and development The spiritual foundation for the learning organization
Mental models Deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, and
images that influence how people see the world and what actions they take
E.g. Shell learned how to surface its managers’ assumptions and challenge their inaccurate mental models
New Organizing Principles ---The Learning Organization
(3) Shared vision An organization’s view of its purpose, its calling The common identity by which its employees and
others view it Team learning
Dialog, not discussion Systems thinking
To understand systems, people need to understand the underlying patterns
Outline
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Supporting Knowledge Work
Emerging Organizing Principles
The Company of the Future
France Caircross states in her The Company of the Future The company of the future could be a collection of online
communities Internal or across the company boundaries Designed or self-organized
A main job of executives and managers is to foster these communities A major job of CIOs is to provide the technology to support
online communities and online collaboration
Teams: The Basis of Organization (1) A symphony orchestra, not a manufacturing
organization will be the new organizational paradigm when organization becomes information-based Teams of specialists who direct their own performance
Three factors driving the move Knowledge workers naturally resist command-and-
control form of organization Companies are forced to be more innovative and
entrepreneurial IT is forcing the shift
Teams: The Basis of Organization (2) We are in the third evolution in the structure of
management Around 1900, separated business ownership from
management 1920s, created the "command and control" corporation Now, organization of knowledge specialists
Organizations are becoming flatter Work is done mainly in task-focused teams Yet, people seem to feel they are most productive when
they work alone Groupware – electronic tools that support teams of
collaborators
Characteristics of Groups (1)
Collaboration is all about getting work done in a group rather than individually
Characteristics that differentiate groups include: Membership
Some groups are open, some are closed. Interaction
Some groups are loosely coupled (salespeople with their own territories)
Others work closely together (project team)
Characteristics of Groups (2)
Hierarchy Some groups have a chain of command (tiers of committees)
Location Some members are co-located, some are dispersed
Time Some groups are short-lived, some are ongoing Some group member works full time on the group's work,
other groups only require intermittent work
These characteristics illustrate that providing computer-based support for groups is not uniform From inter-company groups to global teams
Types of Groups (1)
Authority groups Involve formal authority (and often hierarchy), such as
boss and subordinates; Membership closed Coupling tight
Intradepartmental groups Can have members all doing essentially the same
work, often under the same boss Membership closed Interaction can range from tight to loose coupling
Types of Groups (2)
Project teams Work full-time to accomplish a goal within a
specific schedule Membership closed Coupling tight
Interdepartmental work groups Pass work from dept. to dept. (purchasing,
receiving, accounts payable) in a chain Membership closed; coupling tight; no hierarchy
Types of Groups (3)
Committees and task forces Committees are ongoing and task forces deal with the
issue, then disband Generally no full-time work requirement Membership not too closed Interaction generally not tightly coupled
Business relationship groups Relationships with customers, groups of customers,
suppliers, and so on Membership often closed; interaction loosely coupled;
no hierarchy
Types of Groups (4)
Peer groups Meet to exchange ideas and opinions Membership can range, interaction loosely coupled,
no hierarchy
Networks Groups of people who socialize, exchange information
Electronic groups Include chat rooms, multi-user domains, user groups,
and virtual worlds
New Organizing Principles ---Communities Rather Than
Groups Communities form of their own volition Groups formed by design, their members are
designated a priori
Communities Perform the same job, or collaborate on a shared
task/product They have complementary talents & expertise They are held together by a common purpose & a
need to know what the others know
Community of Practice (1)
Communities of practice (CoP) are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly
CoPs are all about managing knowledge, capturing and spreading know-how, ideas, innovations, and experience In some enterprises, CoPs form the foundation of
their knowledge management efforts
Community of Practice (2)
Three characteristics of CoPs are crucial The domain
An CoP has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest.
The community CoP members engage in joint activities and discussions,
help each other, and share information The practice
Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice
Community of Practice (3)
Though informal, some CoPs have had a profound effect on their enterprise Driving strategies Creating new lines of business Spreading best practices, and Solving seemingly intractable problems
Community of Practice (4)
CoPs resist being managed. But some enterprises have seen their value and have learned how to nurture them Identifying Potential CoPs
CoP consultants to help forming a CoP Providing a CoP Infrastructure
Executives need to give CoPs legitimacy Measuring CoPs
Measuring their contributions nontraditionally because their effects may only show up in a team member's department, not in the community's work
Network Armies (1)
A widely dispersed group of people that forms to further a cause It is as permanent as their common agenda Their cohesive force is their value system Their communications are open, taking place in
forums that anyone can join
Hierarchies have a tremendously difficult time fighting network armies because there is no single leader, simply a "hydra with many heads."
Network Armies (2)
Network armies have existed for a long time, but they can now suddenly appear with a lot of power because of three developments: High-speed information flows due to a common
language (English) and communication system (Internet)
The geometrically expanding power of networks (adding one person geometrically increases the number of interconnections)
The international visibility now afforded just about any cause
Group Activities and Supporting Tech Group activities
Communication and interaction Communication: transmitting information from one person to
others Interaction: back-and-forth communication over time
Decision making and problem solving Group members reach a decision or form a consensus
Supporting tech Communication: email, office systems Collaboration: CSCW (Groupware) Decision making: GDSS
Collocated Distributed
Synchronous
Asynchronous
Groupware and CSCW
Groupware denotes the technology that people use to work together Systems that support groups of people engaged
in a common task (or goal) and that provide an interface to a shared environment
CSCW studies the use of groupware CSCW is the study of the tools and techniques of
groupware as well as their psychological, social, and organizational effects
The CSCW Matrix
Same Time/Same Place
Face to face interaction Room-ware Shared tables, wall displays Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) Single display groupware
Same Time/Different Place
Remote interaction Video-conferencing Real-time groupware Messaging (Instant messaging, Email) Virtual worlds Multi-user editors Shared screen (VNC)
Different Time/Same Place
Continuous task Project walls Meeting room schedules Large displays
Different Time/Different Place Communication and coordination
Wiki Blogs Workflow Version control Work flow
New Organizing Principles --- Virtual Rather Than
Physical A virtual organization doesn't exist in one place or time It exists whenever & wherever the participants
happen to be
e.g. Chief Scientist of Sun, John Gage The network creates the company "Your e-mail flow determines whether you're really
part of the organization: the mailing lists you’re on say a lot about the power you have."
Managing Collaboration in Virtual Organizations The increasingly virtual organizations
Network of communities instead of hierarchical bureaucracies
Virtual structures: CoPs, network armies, freelancers etc.
The key in managing these nontraditional, collaborative and knowledge-based structures Not to manage them (telling them what to do) But to lead them (show them the direction where the
organization is going)
Motivating a Virtual Workforce Inspirations from Open Source Movement
Expanding the kinds of motivators Money High reputation among peers Pride in contribution Participation in quality software development
Governing Virtual Organizations While the open source movement appears to
have all the trappings of chaos waiting to happen, it is actually very well disciplined because of its self-governance
Important governance principles Managed membership
Well-defined leadership; authority only comes from core teams
Rules and institutions e.g. Open source license; democracy and publicity on
activities Social Pressures
e.g. flame, spam and shun disobeyers
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Supporting Knowledge Work
Emerging Organizing Principles
Companies Want to Manage Knowledge (1) Controversial views on knowledge
management Knowledge can be captured in computer systems Knowledge can not be captured in a machine, it
only exists inside a person’s head Information VS. knowledge Knowledge management is a misnomer
Knowledge cannot be managed, but only shared The more people are connected, the more they exchange
ideas, the more their knowledge spreads and can thus be leveraged
Companies Want to Manage Knowledge (2) Tacit and explicit knowledge
Tacit knowledge exists within a person's mind and is private and unique to each person
Explicit knowledge has been articulated, codified, and made public
Effective knowledge management requires transferring knowledge between these two states Nurturing, cultivating and harvesting knowledge Knowledge management knowledge sharing
A Model for Managing Knowledge (1)
A Model for Managing Knowledge (2) These four stages create three types of capital:
Human capital Knowledge, skills and innovativeness of employees as well as
company values, culture and philosophy Structural capital
The capabilities embedded in hardware, software, databases, organizational structure, patents, and trademarks
Customer capital Can either be human capital (relationships with the company)
or structural capital (products used from the company)
CoPs and Knowledge Management Traditional knowledge management captures
only the most explicit forms of knowledge Tacit knowledge is more related with day-to-day
activities and how work is done in practice
Communities are the critical building blocks of a knowledge-based company People, not processes, do the work Learning is about work, work is about learning, and
both are social Organizations are webs of participation