discussion reply harris t

300 word min reply with references

Collaboration is one of the critical factors that contribute to the success of any progressive organization. It allows the exchange of ideas between employees to complete a particular project. Depending on the purpose, whether it is to brief workers on new policies, to prepare for a natural calamity, to ensure employees conform to the guidelines of an organization, effective collaboration forms an integral component of management (Nugent, 2011). It enables employees to work quickly and become highly effective in their work by allowing team members to come together and work towards a shared goal through critical thinking, brainstorming, and giving a myriad of ideas to provide solutions to a particular problem. Collaboration at the workplace is a result of establishing effective communication channels between workers (Nugent, 2011). Employees need to know each other and interact freely. Organizations, thus, are tasked to create social interaction platforms to enable employees to mingle and share ideas about a particular project or task.

One of the greatest hindrances to collaborative working is time, and employees not able to meet physically. In such a case, an organization should employ the use of technology platforms where the members of a team working together can connect and share ideas and insights about a particular project. Organizations continue to use their information systems to disseminate information effectively to their employees (Yang and Maxwell, 2011). It is worth noting that where one strategy fails, companies do change their approach to pass information quickly to achieve effective collaborative working among their team members.

To achieve effective collaborative working among team members, the leadership of an organization should lead by example and avoid intimidation and shooting down employee ideas on how to increase productivity. For instance, Oce is a printing and outsourcing firm. The entity’s leadership perceived those who asked questions as if they are uneducated and inexperienced. This problem was solved by collaborative working whereby each team input was considered as valuable. The leadership changed its perspective of viewing its junior employees’ contributions as inferior but of value to the company (Yang and Maxwell, 2011).

It is also essential when communicating the importance of collaboration to employees and how it will impact them and not just the organization. Workers want to hear that using some of the collaboration tools such as an intranet and chatting apps will foster collaboration at the workplace and make their work easier (Achim, Dragolea, and Balan, 2013). For example, a multinational bank in the US creates time to talk to its employees and emphasize the importance of adopting new technologies and how it will make their work more comfortable at the workplace. This example highlights the importance of effective collaboration in the workplace. Organizations are interested in developing collaboration in the workplace. Another important factor is the integration of personnel in the decision-making process from the very beginning. That includes listening to their ideas, suggestions, and obtaining feedback to be integrated into the organization’s strategy and technology (Achim, Dragolea, and Balan, 2013). For example, a leading collections company in the US used to have one-on-one employee engagement. Collaboration changed and embraced technology where one’s ideas and concerns can only be channeled through the use of e-mail and have led to a reduction in employee engagement and active collaboration.

Organizations should, therefore, not package collaboration as an extra task for employees. Instead, it should be integrated naturally in their work-flow. For example, instead of using technical passwords, different usernames, and sophisticated log-in sites, an organization should develop a common collaboration platform to be used by employees to facilitate social interaction and the free exchange of ideas. In this article, it is clear that without effective collaboration mechanisms, collaboration among team members of an organization is tough to achieve. Effective collaborative working depends on active communication structures within an organization.

References

Achim, I. M., Dragolea, L., & Balan, G. (2013). The importance of employee motivation to increase organizational performance. Annales universitatis apulensis: Series oeconomica, 15(2), 685.

Nugent, S. L. (2011). Building and leading a culture of collaboration: An analysis of the influence of a company’s social networking tools on employee collaboration (Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University).

Yang, T. M., & Maxwell, T. A. (2011). Information-sharing in public organizations: A literature review of interpersonal, intra-organizational and inter-organizational success factors. Government Information Quarterly, 28(2), 164-175.