In this paper we will present what e-collaboration means and how can this concept revolutionize the XXI-th century economy. Our analysis leads to a conclusion that the future of business will be based on technological backgrounds. Breaking time and space frontiers will be the key of success in a hard competitive business environment. In our opinion this goals will be achieved by the implementation of groupware. However, our study shows that this field still needs a lot of normalization as concept of e-collaboration still has no standard approaches and many theoreticians still confuse collaboration with the classical “three c” terms.economy

Costin Aurelian-Răzvan

Ţolea Eniko

English

Research Papers in Economics

 
 
E-COLLABORATION 
THE NEW ECHONOMIC WORLD 
 
Costin Aurelian-Răzvan
1 
Ţolea Eniko
2 
 
Abstract 
 
In this paper we will present what e-collaboration means and how can this concept 
revolutionize the XXI-th century economy. Our analysis leads to a conclusion that the 
future of business will be based on technological backgrounds. Breaking time and space 
frontiers will be the key of success in a hard competitive business environment. In our 
opinion this goals will be achieved by the implementation of groupware. However, our 
study shows that this field still needs a lot of normalization as concept of e-collaboration 
still has no standard approaches and many theoreticians still confuse collaboration with 
the classical “three c” terms.   
 
Introduction 
 
Over the years many authors tried to define collaboration but in truth a universal 
definition still is not in place (Johnson, 2001). Even so, a lot of theory exists, nowadays, 
regarding this issue, so we will try to compile the best definitions which match with our 
point of view. 
 
Michael Schrage said in his book “Shared minds” that “…collaboration is the process of 
shared creation”. This is the most concrete explication of its meaning. A lot of 
controversial appear when theoreticians try to explain what e-collaboration really is. 
Many tend to use cooperation, coordination and communication interchangeably, to 
define it, but collaboration is distinct from each of this terms. “The ambiguities reach a 
higher level when other related terms are considered such as networking, communication, 
and coordination” (Denise, 1999; Grosz, 1996; Himmelman, 2001; Pollard, 2005). 
 
“Like any winning sports team, an unforgettable ballet or the best theatrical production, 
collaborative social networks are the source of value creation. This is because they are our 
most cohesive pattern of social relationships” (Scott, 1991). 
 
Nowadays, there is a new multidisciplinary field called Computer Supported Cooperative 
Work (CSCW) which studies the opportunity and the way systems that support 
collaborative working should be implied. CSCW is a design-oriented academic field 
bringing together social psychologists, sociologists, and computer scientists, among 
others. Despite the variety of disciplines, CSCW is an identifiable research field focused 
on understanding characteristics of interdependent group’s work with the objective of 
designing adequate computer-based technology to support such cooperative work. 
                                                             
1 Costin Aurelian-Răzvan, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 
2 Ţolea Eniko, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 
  
 
We should percept e-collaboration as a way of using information to create something 
new, by working together in real time. Collaboration uses the C-Three (cooperation, 
coordination and communication) as a set of tools to achieve its goal but it should not be 
confused with these terms. 
 
The CCCs vs. Collaboration  
None of this three C’s define Collaboration. 
Communication refers to the way that people interferes, how they communicate and 
understand each other. 
The main issue about communication is that even if someone is listening and interfering 
they may not be collaborating because each one has he‘s one ideas and way of 
understanding things. 
Coordination is all about balance and symmetry. Coordination is a framework used to 
ensure coordination between central office and field units. It is used to achieve efficiency. 
Cooperation is very important in a group, in organizations and even between humans. 
If we refer specifically to an organization were  a collaborative system is integrated, 
cooperation is the key of success.  
If the members of the organization are communicating and cooperating, and between 
them exists coordination then we can go further and integrate a collaborative system. 
Collaboration is the relation between Communication, Coordination, Cooperation.  
Collaboration is, as Michael Schrage says: 
„...the process of shared creation: two or more individuals with complementary skills 
interacting to create a shared understanding that none had previously possessed or could 
have come to on their own. Collaboration creates a shared meaning about a process, a 
product, or an event. In this sense, there is nothing routine about it. Something is there 
that wasn’t there before.” 
 
Collaboration is distinct from each of the “C” words profiled above. 
 
 
Figure 1. 3C vs Collaboration model 
 
 
E-collaboration is about space, time and money 
 
The frame work of e-collaboration is the groupware. Groupware is software that can be 
used by a group of people who are working on the same information but may be 
distributed in space. It allows people to work together across time and distance. These  
 
applications include shared text editors, design platforms, multi-distributed-player games, 
etc. A shared design application could allow engineers from different places to plan, view, 
and manipulate new parts for a manufacturing process. “Similarly, a group 
troubleshooting system could allow expertise from many locations to be gathered together 
to investigate a problem and explore possible solutions” (e.g. Steves and Knutilla 1999). 
 
A very good example for a groupware is the Halo project created by HP in collaboration 
with DreamWorks. Halo creates a new conferencing experience that exceeds any previous 
attempts to replicate face-to-face meetings (Halo white paper). The idea of building the 
Halo system resides on the fact that people do their best work in collaborative social 
networks (Sandow & Allen, 2005). It is used by large companies to create a meeting 
platform for their employees that work in different places. HP says that collaborative 
systems “are about time and space” to which I would add money. The success this project 
had is denoted by the great deal of interest that it raised among big multinational 
companies like PepsiCo, Advanced Micro Devices or DreamWorks. 
 
Companies had been investing in alternative work places since the 80s and groupware 
might be what they are looking for (Carr, 1999). Potential benefits of such systems are 
clear: no more need for offices, no more traveling, improving productivity, as Carr said 
“virtual employees tend to devote less time to office routines”. So a company could save 
millions due to the use of such a system. 
 
In today’s business world there is a saying: “time is money”. E-collaboration has another 
perspective on this issue. IT specialists came with a solution to reduce costs inner an 
organization. This solution is the groupware, which is a compilation of breaking space 
borders, going behind time limits and nevertheless saving money. 
Challenges for e-collaborative systems 
 
The first obvious challenge for groupware is how to make distributed work as effective as 
face to face interactions. The correct approach of this challenge is to percept groupware as 
an alternative medium that allows remote interaction. E-collaboration will not replace face 
to face communication but it may actually be preferable in some situations for some 
groups because certain difficulties, inconveniences, and breakdowns can be eliminated or 
minimized. For example, distributed interactions allow participants to access other 
relevant information, either via the computer or in a book on the shelf, without 
interrupting the interaction flow. This is analogous to findings on the use of telephone, 
electronic mail, and other technologies. While none of these replace face-to-face 
interaction, each has a niche where it is a unique and useful mode of communication. The 
challenge, then, is to apply appropriate technological combinations to the classes of 
interactions that will benefit the most from the new medium (Ellis, Gibbs, Rein 1991). 
 
Companies engaging in e-collaboration must participate in external business relationships 
by using computer interactions (Damanpour, 2001). Implementing e-collaboration 
strategy can require many sophisticated technologies and systems such as EDI, XML, 
eCRM (Zhao, 2008). So, another great challenge e-collaboration is confronted with is re-
engineering IT strategies and resources. The following constitutes some of the key 
technological issues facing e-collaboration:  
 
• Process and system alignment and integration; 
• Interoperability of systems; 
• Accessibility, security and compatibility of inter-organizational information systems; 
• Traffic in collaborative e-commerce activities; 
• Sustained IT support and resources; 
• Transferring and sharing information and data; 
• Building and sustaining an effective virtual network structure amongst e-partners; 
• Quality and effectiveness of networking and communications (Zhao, 2004). 
 
Collaborative systems could be used to create communication canals between different 
companies to. But this type of collaboration “stresses sharing risks and responsibilities 
towards a jointly defined goal ... It increases the likelihood that the goal can be met. 
However, three powerful, common barriers that might impede collaborative efforts or 
working together of agencies are time, trust and turf” (Himmelman, 1995). 
   
1.  Time: Developing on collaborative systems could cost more time and effort than 
providing services independently; however, on the long term it will save time.  
2.  Turf: Turf issues surface when an imbalance, perceived or real, of benefits to the 
collaboration partners occurs. For example, one agency might see that another 
agency reaps more benefits from the collaborative effort; or, one agency takes on 
less responsibility, or has more decision making power. Partners do not see each 
other as equally involved in benefiting of the collaboration.  
3.  Trust:  Lack of trust becomes a barrier in collaborative efforts. Trust can be 
influenced by prior or current troubled working relationships, or by lack of 
understanding on how agencies or disciplines operate, or by personal factors such 
as personality or temperament of an agency representative. (Himmelman, (1995).   
 
Last but not least, of the challenges, is managing cultural discrepancy. When establishing 
a virtual team, a manager should be very careful on the cultural compatibility of its 
members. This brings us to another issue. We can view the cultural problem from another 
angle to. What organizational-culture should an organization have to permit the 
implementation of an e-collaborative system? 
 
To accomplish the virtual team collaboration, employees must be involved from the start 
of the project. Organizations must promote cooperation and teamwork, and provide 
training. It is required to develop and publish policies and procedures. They have to offer 
incentive programs for participants. Because all these activities are related with change, a 
plan is required, and key performance indicators must be in place before the project 
begins. Tools like Balanced Scorecard can help integrate different departments involved 
in the process, and keep track of cultural change plan success. So, it takes a lot of 
management effort to create the right work environment, in order to accommodate all 
diversity aspects, technology challenges, cultural differences, and get all the best of 
virtual team workers. The management philosophy and style needs to be more 
informational, rather than industrial, in order to give room to alternative workplaces 
arrangements. Informational organizations operate mainly through voice and data 
communications. They are not necessarily high tech, but employees style are flexible,  
 
informal, change when necessary, have a sense of respect for personal time and priorities, 
and are committed to use technology to improve performance. Industrial, in this context, 
means that organization’s structure, systems, and management processes are designed for 
intensive face-to-face interaction and that employees remain rooted to specific 
workplaces. Thus, a dynamic, nonhierarchical, technology driven organization is more 
likely to adopt alternative workplaces programs than a highly command-driven one, 
because its culture is more open and fosters proactive ways of doing a job (Fernandez, 
2008). 
 
Virtual teams and collaboration in technology based environments requires a transition 
from industrial to a knowledge mindset, where physical presence is not really necessary, 
but only employees’ knowledge and skills matter. It means that there will be an 
organizational cultural change that may impact on personal cultural beliefs. We have to 
understand that collaboration only happens over time because it requires participants to 
develop trusting relationships (Fernandez, 2008).  
 
Types of groupware 
 
If we analyze the behavioral patterns of the members involved in a collaboration process 
we would observe a set of characteristics in the paradigm of these patterns and so we 
could make a categorization of e-collaborative systems.  
 
Katzy (2005) divided e-collaboration systems in three types, in terms of structure as 
follows: 
 
1.  Chain topology, typical for manufacturing industries or supply chains. 
2.  Star topology, which, in fact, is the most spread. This form of collaboration is 
typical for automotive industry. 
3.  General network topology used more often in knowledge industries. 
 
 
 
Figure 2 – Examples of topologies of collaborative networks 
 
 
In a chain topology, the partners’ interaction pattern mainly follows a value-chain. In a 
star topology, partners interact with one central hub or strategic center, while partners in 
general network topology have multiple relationships among all nodes without hierarchy. 
In the last case we can have not only a peer-to-peer kind of interaction but also a more 
general form involving several partners, or even all of them. 
 
In terms of duration, we can find short-term networks, typically triggered by a 
collaboration opportunity, as the case of a virtual enterprise, and long-term networks, as  
the case of strategic alliances or supply chains.  Furthermore, applications in different 
domains introduce specific terminology for that domain, what increases the difficulties of 
mutual understanding in an area that is of a multidisciplinary nature. In order to cope with 
such situation, this chapter tries to clarify the basic concepts and introduces taxonomy of 
collaborative networks forms. 
 
Even if there are a lot of types of e-collaborative systems, all groupware have the same 
purpose. 
Information sharing is the core element of all forms of e-collaboration. 
 
Conclusion 
 
As shown, e-collaboration is not just about communicating and information- exchange. 
Groupware could assure a way of making business in a turbulent environment.  Therefore, 
we strongly believe, e-collaboration will develop to a main tool in future business world. 
 
With the fast development of the area of collaborative networks, showing in a diversity of 
application domains, theoreticians say that it is becoming crucial to systematize and 
consolidate the knowledge in this area. 
 
“Groupware research and development should proceed as an interdisciplinary endeavor. 
We use the word interdisciplinary as opposed to multidisciplinary to stress that the 
contributions and approaches of the many disciplines, and of end users, must be 
integrated, and not simply considered. It is our belief that in groupware design, it is very 
difficult to separate technical issues from social concerns and that the methods and 
theories of the social sciences will prove critical to groupware's success” (Ellis, Gibbs 
1991). 
 
So, it takes a lot of management effort to create the right work environment, in order to 
accommodate all diversity aspects, technology challenges, cultural differences, and get all 
the best of virtual team workers. And it takes a lot of developing work to create a solid 
groupware that could actually be an asset for a company. And lastly it takes a lot of study 
until e-collaboration will be correctly value. 
 
 
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No More Teams! Mastering The Dynamics Of Creative Collaboration.

On Coalitions and the Transformation of Power Relations: Collaborative Betterment and Collaborative Empowerment.

E-COLLABORATION. THE NEW ECHONOMIC WORLD

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