Advantages And Disadvantages Of Collaboration In The Workplace

Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaboration in the Workplace

Finding new and creative solutions to problems is a challenge in today's business world. In order to stay competitive companies and organizations must produce better products in a shorter amount of time. The development of collaborative teams is becoming a common practice in organizations with growing popularity across the nation and around the world. Collaborative teams can be defined as a group of individuals who have open communication, share common thoughts, ideas, or beliefs, and are working towards a common goal.

There are many advantages for organizations to allow and incorporate collaboration between employees and potentially other organizations. One good example occurs when a project is too large for one person, or just one division, to tackle individually but is perfect to split up into parts and distribute among groups. Some projects span more knowledge areas than just one corporation, department, or individual may be able to accommodate, which forces collaboration and the formation of collaborative teams.

Another advantage of collaboration is decrease of production time brought about by the spreading out the resources. Many projects have deadlines that are dependent upon other initiatives that cannot be changed. It is imperative that more resources are pulled into the project in order to complete it on time. Competition created in the team environment may also boost productivity thereby allowing projects to be completed sooner.

Simply by its nature, collaboration brings together different and varying ideas. The benefit of having multiple people in a group, where the talent pool is larger, creates a valuable resource in groups that is not available in individual work product. People have different personal experiences and academic backgrounds that create a diverse environment for ideas. It is imperative for the success of problem-solving that ideas and solutions are out of the box and

creative in order for any organization to prosper. Complicated problems may only be solved by innovative ideas and solutions. The amalgam of past experiences available in groups brings intrinsic value to the corporate atmosphere.

Brining a sense of belonging is also an important aspect found in collaboration. People have a natural need to belong and seek to feel like they are part of something; collaboration fills that need. Collaboration brings out the best in people because it drives better working relationships, which forges camaraderie between its members. If teams can build strong communication methodologies the possibilities are endless.

Through communicating to each other, a wealth of information is conveyed. Individuals within teams learn from each other. Often, listening and observing the behavior of others within the team teaches skill sets that cannot be learned in any other way. Learning is key in the future of every organization and an obligation held for each organization to their employees.

While the advantage of collaborations far outweighs any disadvantages, the disadvantages must be identified and mitigated in order for the team to produce and come together cohesively. The obvious disadvantages such as "team conflicts" set aside, as these can be worked in team building exercises with professional consultants and instructors, the following indicate some issues to be addressed when looking towards collaboration in organizations:

Technologies used in a virtual team may be considered a disadvantage. For example, during a conference call or web meetings, the absence of physical indicators (facial expression, posture, etc) can be harmful. It is not possible to tell if someone is eating, confused, or bored. Modern technology has grown made advances towards mitigating this type of concern with such new additions as videoconferencing in groups and individually through a personal computer.

Furthermore, in a virtual setting, team harmony may be harder to come by. Due to an apparent difference in the working surroundings, team members do not make the necessary adjustments when they are no longer working "face-to-face". The absence of face-to-face interaction with upper management means the less power you hold in the organization. Without the face-to-face interaction, building trust can be difficult. Trust is the most important team element and is difficult to ascertain behind a computer screen or telephone. The following article excerpt "Politics and Partnerships: Challenges and Rewards of Partnerships in Workplace Health Research in the Healthcare Sector of British Columbia, Canada", exemplifies this concept:

In British Columbia (BC), Canada, a partnership of researchers, healthcare employers, and healthcare unions reduced high injury rates through examining determinants of healthy workplaces and designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions. Over $51 million (Canadian) was saved from the BC healthcare budget over two years, largely attributable to the collaborative effort. Challenges and rewards of the process were determined from interviews and workshops with researchers and community stakeholders, and by obtaining direct input to this report. Challenges included maintaining communication and trust between partners, preserving partnerships during restructuring and labor disputes, and maintaining involvement and support of front-line workers and senior management (Yassi, A., Tomlin, K., Sidebottom, C., Rideout, K., & De Boer, H. 2004).

One way to address this concern would be to conduct regular meetings, gather employee feedback at regular intervals, and hold staff trainings in person, where management is present and will make connections.

When working collaboratively, team members may feel