Chapter 15 Creating Collaborative Partnerships

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

Learning Outcomes
15.1 Identify the different ways in which companies collaborate using technology 15.2 Compare the different categories of collaboration technologies 15.3 Define the fundamental concepts of a knowledge management system
15-2

Learning Outcomes
15.4 Provide an examples of a content management system along with its business purpose 15.5 Evaluate the advantages of using a workflow management system 15.6 Explain how groupware can benefit a business

15-3

Teams, Partnerships, and Alliances

Organizations create and use teams, partnerships, and alliances to:
Undertake new initiatives Address both minor and major problems Capitalize on significant opportunities

Organizations create teams, partnerships, and alliances both internally with employees and externally with other organizations
15-4

Teams, Partnerships, and Alliances

Collaboration system supports the work of teams by facilitating the sharing and flow of information

15-5

Teams, Partnerships, and Alliances

Organizations form alliances and partnerships with other organizations based on their core competency
Core competency an organizations key strength, a business function that it does better than any of its competitors Core competency strategy organization chooses to focus specifically on its core competency and forms partnerships with other organizations to handle nonstrategic business processes
15-6

Teams, Partnerships, and Alliances

Information technology can make a business partnership easier to establish and manage
Information partnership occurs when two or more organizations cooperate by integrating their IT systems, thereby providing customers with the best of what each can offer

The Internet has dramatically increased the ease and availability for IT-enabled organizational alliances and partnerships
15-7

Collaboration Systems
Collaboration solves specific business tasks such as telecommuting, online meetings, deploying applications, and remote project and sales management Collaboration system an
IT-based set of tools that supports the work of teams by facilitating the sharing and flow of information
15-8

Collaboration Systems
Two categories of collaboration
1. Unstructured collaboration (information collaboration) - includes document exchange, shared whiteboards, discussion forums, and e-mail 2. Structured collaboration (process collaboration) - involves shared participation in business processes such as workflow in which knowledge is hardcoded as rules
15-9

Collaboration Systems
Collaborative business functions

15-10

Collaboration Systems
Collaboration systems include:
Knowledge management systems Content management systems Workflow management systems Groupware systems

15-11

Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge management (KM) involves capturing, classifying, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing information assets in a way that provides context for effective decisions and actions Knowledge management system supports the capturing and use of an organizations know-how
15-12

Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

Intellectual and knowledge-based assets fall into two categories
1. Explicit knowledge consists of anything that can be documented, archived, and codified, often with the help of IT 2. Tacit knowledge - knowledge contained in peoples heads

15-13

Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

The following are two best practices for transferring or recreating tacit knowledge
Shadowing less experienced staff observe more experienced staff to learn how their more experienced counterparts approach their work Joint problem solving a novice and expert work together on a project

15-14

Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

Reasons why organizations launch knowledge management programs

15-15

KM Technologies
Knowledge management systems include:
Knowledge repositories (databases) Expertise tools E-learning applications Discussion and chat technologies Search and data mining tools

15-16

KM and Social Networking

Finding out how information flows through an organization
Social networking analysis (SNA) a process of mapping a groups contacts (whether personal or professional) to identify who knows whom and who works with whom SNA provides a clear picture of how employees and divisions work together and can help identify key experts
15-17

Content Management
Content management system (CMS) provides tools to manage the creation, storage, editing, and publication of information in a collaborative environment CMS marketplace includes:
Document management system (DMS) Digital asset management system (DAM) Web content management system (WCM)
15-18

Content Management
Content management system vendor overview

15-19

Workflow Management Systems

Work activities can be performed in series or in parallel that involves people and automated computer systems Workflow defines all the steps or business rules, from beginning to end, required for a business process Workflow management system facilitates the automation and management of business processes and controls the movement of work through the business process
15-20

Workflow Management Systems

Messaging-based workflow system sends work assignments through an email system Database-based workflow system stores documents in a central location and automatically asks the team members to access the document when it is their turn to edit the document
15-21

Groupware Systems
Groupware software that supports team interaction and dynamics including calendaring, scheduling, and videoconferencing

15-22

Groupware Systems
Groupware technologies

15-23

Collaboration Trends
E-mail is the dominant form of collaboration application, but real-time collaboration tools like instant messaging are creating a new communication dynamic Instant messaging - type of communications service that enables someone to create a kind of private chat room with another individual to communicate in real-time over the Internet
15-24

Collaboration Trends
Instant messaging application

15-25

CHAPTER FIFTEEN Opening Case Study Questions

1. Identify which systems eBay could use to collaborate internally Explain which Internet technologies have facilitated the way in which eBay collaborates with both its customers and business partners List the four collaboration systems discussed in this chapter and rank them in order of importance to eBays business Describe how eBay could leverage the power of a knowledge management system for its employees and 15-26 for its customers

2.

3.

4.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN CASE DreamWorks Animation Collaboration

DreamWorks and Hewlett-Packard were the first to introduce a collaboration studio for simulating face-to-face business meetings across long distances By connecting its California teams in Glendale and Redwood City, DreamWorks was able to speed up production of Shrek 2

15-27

Chapter Fifteen Case Questions

1. How can companies use Halo to increase their business efficiency? Explain how a company like PepsiCo can use Halo to gain a competitive advantage in its industry How can knowledge management be increased by using a product such as Halo? Why would a company like DreamWorks, that is not IT focused, be interested in collaboration technology?
15-28

2.

3.

4.