A Review of Key Issues in IT-mediated Collaboration

1. A Review of Key Issues in IT-mediated Collaboration SAONEE SARKER lecture notes have been developed from Nunamaker et al. 1991, Dennis et al. 2008, Sarker and Sarker 2009, Sarker and Sahay 2006, and Sarker et al. , Forthcoming 2010

2. Discussion Outline Background • What is collaboration? • What are different contexts in which collaboration occurs? • What are complexities associated with collaboration? • What are some relevant IT/media characteristics that can help address these complexities? • What are the key ingredients of effective collaboration? An Emerging Facet of Collaboration -- Agility • How can globally distributed teams be agile? Concluding Remarks

3. What is Collaboration?

4. Collaboration • A group of individuals working together… • Among knowledge workers, successful collaboration often involves/requires: • Communication and coordination • conveyance and (more importantly) convergence • Shared focus • Shared frame of reference • Shared norms • Shared identity – formation of “groupness”, mutuality • Relevant pooled skills • Communication <> Collaboration • For complex, interdependent tasks, the group has to “develop” to a stage where collaboration occurs.

5. Lets talk a little bit about a collaboration context that you have participated in.

6. What type of task did you work on?What would have happened if the task was different?

7. A Typology of Group Tasks (from Strauss 1999)

8. What would have happened had your groups been larger?

9. What would have happened if you were given only 7-10 minutes to complete a task?

10. What are the OTHER contexts in which collaboration occurs?

11. Contexts of Collaboration Same Time Same Place Different Place Different Time

12. Same Time Videoconferencing between New York and Boston Live Meetings in Electronic Meeting Facility Same Place Different Place WSU faculty with different teaching schedules co-authoring a journal paper Distributed IS development Involving participants situated in Seattle, Copenhagen, and Hyderabad Different Time

13. What are the complexities associated with collaboration? WHAT TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS CAN HELP ADDRESS THE COMPLEXITIES?

14. Selected Collaboration Complexities • Failure to Remember • Information Overload • Conformance Pressure • Evaluation Apprehension • Free Riding, Social Loafing • Air Time Fragmentation • Attenuation Blocking • Domination • Sole Task Focus

15. Some Collaboration Technology Features • Group Memory/Reprocessability • Anonymity • Parallelism • Immediacy of Feedback/Transmission velocity • Multiplicity of Cues • Rehearsability • Shared Space (substituting for shared place) • Transparency/visibility • Sociality • Applications • e-Calendaring, e-Voting, e-timers, and e-reminders

16. Comments are shared with others

17. Comments may be displayed on shared screens

18. Create a Folder

19. Invite Participants

20. Create an Agenda

21. Electronic Brainstorming

22. Topic Commenter

23. Casting your ballot

25. Mapping Tech Properties to Complexities Addressed • Group Memory/Reprocessability • Anonymity • Parallelism • Transparency/visibility • Sociality • Immediacy of Feedback/Transmission velocity • Shared Space (substituting for shared place) • Multiplicity of Cues • Rehearsability • Applications • e-Calendaring • e-Voting • e-timers and e-reminders • Failure to Remember • Information Overload • Conformance Pressure • Evaluation Apprehension • Free Riding, Social Loafing • Air Time Fragmentation • Attenuation Blocking • Domination • Sole Task Focus

26. Collaboration Complexities in Distributed Settings • Problems arising from geographical separation • Limited human connection due to lack of physical situatedness • Ineffective communication due to lack of well accepted norms • Suspicion arising from the inability to verify actions • Problems arising from different cultural contexts • Mismatch in language • Misunderstandings arising from dissimilar conversational/ writing styles • Uncertainty caused by remote members switching to native language in meetings • Confusions related to the differences in festivals and holidays • Different work ideologies

27. Collaboration Complexities in Distributed Settings • Problems arising from ‘clock time’ differences and subjective interpretations • Mismatches in the physiological and social rhythms in different time zones. • Confusions regarding reference to time and time adjustments • Unproductive waits for other side to respond with clarifications/feedback • Unsympathetic/suspicious interpretations of time lapses (e.g. silence, missing deadlines)

28. Mapping Tech Properties to Complexities in Distributed Settings • Immediacy of Feedback/Transmission velocity • Reprocessability • Shared Space (substituting for shared place) • Sociality • Multiplicity of Cues • Transparency • Rehearsability • Applications • e-Calendaring • e-Voting • e-timers and e-reminders • Limited human connection • Suspicion • Mismatch in languages/misunderstandings • Confusion due to different festivals/holidays • Confusions regarding reference to time and time adjustments • Delay in response/feedback from other side

29. Beyond the Traditional complexities of Collaboration in distributed Settings: How can globally distributed teams be agile?

30. A Possible Global IS Development Scenario Site 2 Roles, competencies, maturity Country 2 Site i Specific roles, competencies, maturity A project environment where speed of delivery is essential and changes/ crises can occur any time, with or without prior notice Vendor i Vendor j, k Site 1 Specific roles, competencies, maturity • Geographical and temporal distances • Technology-mediated communication Site j Specific roles, competencies, maturity Country 1 Client Reps Country 3

31. What is Agility? • Ability to “detect new techniques” and adapt those to the organization (Lui and Piccoli 2006, p. 123) • Incorporating both the “sensing and response capabilities” of the firm (e.g., Overby et al. 2006; Sambamurthy et al. 2003) • “Innovative response to an unpredictable change” (van Oosterhout et al. 2007, p. 53) • Some say ISD agility arises from the use of different agile methods a (e.g., Scrum, XP) and practices such that organizations and ISD project teams are able to handle change • To summarize, involves “creation,” “proaction,” “reaction,” and “learning” (Conboy and Fitzgerald 2007)

32. Types of Agility in Distributed ISD Settings 32

33. Conclusion…… Thinking Ahead

34. Mobile Collaboration • Members with spatial, temporal, and contextual mobility • Corporate cruisers/wanderers • Globe trotters/visitors • Road warriors/travelers • How can MCTs with capabilities such as portability, location-awareness, reachability, ability to “fill in dead spots” help?

35. First dimension of the Grid • Degree of Mobility of Group Members • Low (occasional “wandering” an “visiting” for short durations– members are mostly corporate cruisers or corporate wanderers) • High ( high volume of “traveling,” and “visiting” for extended durations by members– one or more members are road warriors or globetrotters)

36. Second Dimension of the Grid • One key dimension of categorizing groups is by their “temporal scope” (McGrath 1984) • Refers to the length of time during which a group will be in existence • Some groups may exist for a long duration, therefore, requiring less time for building social relationships and “getting to know each other” (e.g., volunteer organizations) • Other groups may be in operation for only a short time, assembled together quickly to perform a task, thereby needing extra emphasis on developing a “bond” or “working relationship” quickly (e.g., project teams) (e.g., DeFillippi 2002)

37. Third Dimension of the Grid • Time Pressure under which the group performs (Saunders 2000; Bourgeois and Eisenhardt 1988) • High (teams in high time pressure are extremely task-focused, engaged in “several simultaneous activities” at the same time (Esbjornsson and Ostergren 2002). • Low

38. The Group Collaboration Technology Grid

39. The Group Collaboration Technology Grid (contd.) • Cell H • Low Temporal Scope • High and intense Time Pressure • High extent of mobility of group members • Members will need to collaborate even while “traveling” or “visiting” other locations • Features of mobile technologies (e.g., reachability, portability, and accessibility) will enable the group members to communicate and collaborate even while in a state of high mobility

40. The Elements Underlying Effective Collaboration… • Result of managing a complex socio-technical process, IT alone cannot be the solution • Appropriate technologies/technological features must be utilized (“task-technology fit,” “culture technology fit”) • US-Chinese systems development teams using IM effectively • Matching norms and work practices appropriated • requires careful development of team with large number of members and handling complex interdependent tasks • Incentive systems, leadership, trust, knowledge transfer… • Larger human concerns such as WLB and collaboration ethics addressed