Complex Collaboration, Volume 10: Building the Capabilities for Working Across Boundaries (Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams)

296 Pages·2004·2.01 MB·English

by  Michael M. Beyerlein

CONTENTS
LISTOFCONTRIBUTORS vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
ABOUTTHEEDITORS xi
INTRODUCTION
MichaelM.Beyerlein,DouglasA.Johnsonand
SusanT.Beyerlein xiii
DEVELOPINGCOMPLEXCOLLABORATIONS:BASIC
PRINCIPLESTOGUIDEDESIGNANDIMPLEMENTATION
DonMankin,SusanCohenandStephenP.Fitzgerald 1
CO-DEVELOPMENT:COLLABORATINGACROSS
BOUNDARIESONJOINTSTRIKEFIGHTER
JudeG.Olson 27
NOTYOURSTEPPINGSTONE:COLLABORATIONAND
THEDYNAMICSOFFIRMEVOLUTIONINTHELIFE
SCIENCES
KennethW.KoputandWalterW.Powell 59
THEIMPACTOFCOLLABORATIVEMOTIVATIONON
COMPLEXMULTI-AGENCYPARTNERSHIPS:ACASE
STUDYOFTHEUNITEDKINGDOM
JanineStilesandPaulWilliams 83
v
vi
COMPLEXCOLLABORATIONS:THECASEOFABUSINESS
SCHOOLANDITSCOMPLEXNETWORKOF
RELATIONSHIPS
PeterLorange 109
INTEGRATINGPERSPECTIVES:AMULTIDIMENSIONAL
CONSTRUCTOFCOLLABORATIVECAPABILITY
MelanieSchreinerandDanielCorsten 125
THECOLLABORATIVECAPACITYFRAMEWORK:FROM
LOCALTEAMSTOGLOBALALLIANCES
StephenP.Fitzgerald 161
LEADINGCOMPLEXCOLLABORATIONINNETWORK
ORGANIZATIONS:AMULTIDISCIPLINARYAPPROACH
KarenL.HigginsandJosephA.Maciariello 203
“SKONKWORKSHERE”:ACTIVATINGNETWORKSOCIAL
CAPITALINCOMPLEXCOLLABORATIONS
LuAnneR.JohnsonandDavidKnoke 243
MANAGINGVALUEANDVULNERABILITYINCOMPLEX
COLLABORATIONS:ALLYINGWITHCOMPETITORS
JosephP.McGillandMichaelD.Santoro 263
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
SusanCohen CenterforEffectiveOrganizations,University
ofSouthernCalifornia,USA
DanielCorsten KuhneInstituteforLogistics,UniversityofSt.
Gallen,Switzerland
StephenP.Fitzgerald CaliforniaSchoolofOrganizationalStudies,
AlliantInternationalUniversity,Alhambra,
CA,USA
KarenL.Higgins ExecutiveDirectorandDirectorforResearch
andEngineering,NAVAIRWeaponsDivision,
ChinaLake,CA,USA
LuAnneR.Johnson DepartmentofSociology,Universityof
Minnesota,USA
DavidKnoke DepartmentofSociology,Universityof
Minnesota,USA
KennethW.Koput EllerCollegeofBusiness,Universityof
Arizona,USA
PeterLorange IMD–InternationalInstituteforManagement
Development,Lausanne,Switzerland
JosephA.Maciariello DruckerGraduateSchoolofManagement,
Claremont,CA,USA
DonMankin Co:e-laborationDesignAssociates,Venice,
CA,USA
JosephP.McGill CollegeofBusiness,KeanUniversity,Union,
NJ,USA
JudeG.Olson LockheedMartinAeronauticsCompany,
FortWorth,TX(AND)FieldingGraduate
Institute,SantaBarbara,CA,USA
vii
viii LISTOFCONTRIBUTORS
WalterW.Powell EducationandOrganizationalBehaviorand
Sociology,StanfordUniversity,Stanford,CA,
USA
MichaelD.Santoro CollegeofBusiness&Economics,Lehigh
University,Bethlehem,PA,USA
MelanieSchreiner InstituteforTechnologyManagement,
UniversityofSt.Gallen,Switzerland
JanineStiles HenleyManagementCollege,Henleyon
Thames,UK
PaulWilliams NationalCentreforPublicPolicy,University
ofWales,Swansea,UK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ThisworkwaspartiallysupportedbytheCenterforCollaborativeOrganizations,
formerlyTheCenterfortheStudyofWorkTeams.Thechangeinnamereflects
our recognition that collaboration occurs at many levels of organization besides
the team level. The Center has always considered bridging the gap between the
academicandpracticeworldsamissiontobepursued.Thesuccessofthatbridging
iscriticalforunderstandingpracticeandforbasingpracticeontestedtheory.The
chaptersinthisbookreflectthiskindofbridgingpartnership.
We want to acknowledge the help and support of Nancy Gorman. For four
volumesinthisseries,Nancyhasbeenresponsibleforcommunicatingwithauthors,
editors,andthepublisher,arrangingforflowofmanuscriptsbackandforthamong
these people, educating all of us on manuscript format, arranging for proofing,
catching the errors the editors miss and bringing the chapters, introduction, and
prefacetogetherinafinalassemblytocompleteawholeforthepublisher.Nancy
has done an outstanding job under significant time pressure to pull the pieces
togetherintoacarefullypreparedmanuscript.Muchofthequalityinappearance
forthisvolumeisduetoherthoughtfulwork.
ix
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Michael Beyerlein is Director of the Center for Collaborative Organizations
(www.workteams.unt.edu)andProfessorofIndustrial/OrganizationalPsychology
at the University of North Texas. His research interests include all aspects
of collaborative work systems, organization transformation, work stress, cre-
ativity/innovation, knowledge management and the learning organization, and
complexadaptivesystems.Hehaspublishedinanumberofresearchjournalsand
hasbeenamemberoftheeditorialboardsforTEAMMagazine,TeamPerformance
Management Journal, and Quality Management Journal. Currently, he is senior
editoroftheElsevierannualseriesofbooksAdvancesinInterdisciplinaryStudies
of Work Teams and the Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer Collaborative Work Systems series.
Hehasauthoredoredited15books.HismostrecentareBeyondTeams:Building
theCollaborativeOrganization(2002),TheCollaborativeWorkSystemFieldbook
(2003), and Team-based Organizing (2003). He has been involved in projects at
theCenterforCollaborativeOrganizations(formerly,TheCenterfortheStudyof
WorkTeams)withsuchcompaniesasBoeing,Shell,NCH,AMD,Raytheon,First
American Financial, Westinghouse, and Xerox and with government agencies
suchasVeteransAffairs,DCMAO,EPA,andtheCityofDenton.
Douglas A. Johnson is director of the Industrial/Organizational psychology
program, professor of psychology, and associate director of the Center for
Collaborative Organizations at the University of North Texas. He has published
researchinavarietyofareasrangingfromteams,leadershipandjobsatisfaction,
tooperantconditioningandinterpersonalattraction.Heco-foundedandservedas
presidentoftheDallas-FortWorthOrganizationalPsychologyGroup(nowDallas
AreaIndustrial/OrganizationalPsychologists),andparticipatedinthecreationof
the Dallas office of the consulting firm, Personnel Decisions International, from
whomherecentlyretired.
SusanTullBeyerleinholdsaPh.D.inorganizationtheoryandpolicywithaminor
in education research from the University of North Texas. Since 1995, she has
beenaninstructorofbusinessandpsychologyatOurLadyoftheLakeUniversity
in Irving, Texas. Susan has served as a research scientist/project manager with
theCenterforCollaborativeOrganizationsattheUniversityofNorthTexas,and
has been a recipient of research grant awards from the Association for Quality
xi
xii ABOUTTHEEDITORS
andParticipation,theNationalScienceFoundation,andcorporatedonors.Since
1995, she has co-edited the Elsevier/JAI Imprint annual book series entitled,
AdvancesinInterdisciplinaryStudiesofWorkTeams,andhasservedasanadhoc
reviewer for The Academy of Management Review. She has been a member of
the Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer Collaborative Works Systems series since its inception.
SusanhaspublishedbookreviewsoncontemporarybusinessofferingsinBusiness
andtheContemporaryWorld,andherworkhasalsoappearedinStructuralEqua-
tionModeling:AMultidisciplinaryJournal,JournalofManagementEducation,
EmpiricalStudiesoftheArts,andMultipleLinearRegressionViewpoints.Sheisa
memberoftheAcademyofManagement,BetaGammaSigma–thehonorsociety
forcollegiateschoolsofbusiness,andPhiKappaPhiNationalHonorSociety.
INTRODUCTION
Complex collaboration refers to situations where working together effectively
acrossboundariesiscriticalforcomplexprojectsandproblems.Thisworkoften
involves projects of large scope and long duration. The knowledge of a variety
ofdisciplinesmaybeinvolved.Suchprojectsmaycrossorganizational,national,
and/or cultural boundaries. The problem of managing such situations includes
ambitiousschedules,conflictofculturesandpractices,massiveamountsofinfor-
mation,multiplelanguages,andambiguityofrolesandresponsibilities.Complex
collaboration represents a capability that is essential to effective execution in
such situations as new product development, mergers and acquisitions, joint
ventures,andsupplychainmanagement,aswellaslargegovernmentprojects.A
numberofissuesemergeinexaminingcomplexcollaboration,including:unitof
analysis,criticalrelationships,resourcedevelopment,virtualteaming,keyskills,
andimprovementprocesses.
The chapters in this volume address these issues and share examples that
illustrate the principles that may be operating in complex systems. The authors
suggestnewdirectionsforresearchwithsomearguingthatcomplexcollaboration
maybeanemergingfield.
(1) Is the unit of analysis for research and change work the same across levels
of such complex systems or different? This issue deals with convergence of
research and change work. Part of the question involves the practicality of
attempting planned change in a complex system. Most successful change
work focuses on limited systems. For example, what may be referred to as
“workatthecorporatelevel”mayactuallybeassimpleasteambuildingwith
the top management group. Interventions such as organizational redesign
usually occur at single sites. Little literature exists to test the question of
whetherornotchangeworkcanoccureffectivelyacrossmultipleboundaries.
Ontheotherhand,researchersmustfindwaystostudythewholeofacomplex
system,asmuchastheparts.Canaconvergenceofresearchandchangework
improvethewaycomplexcollaborationcapabilityisdeveloped?
(2) Doessuccessdependonafewcriticallinksorontheoverallsetofrelation-
ships? A few critical members often determine how well an overall system
functions.Thenetworkofrelationshipsacrosstheboundariesofcomponent
systemsinacomplexcollaborationisoftenrepresentedbyhowthefewcritical
xiii
xiv INTRODUCTION
membersinteract.However,totalperformanceofsuchasystemmaydepend
more on raising the level of collaborative capability of all members. For
example,ifafrontlineworkerincomponentsystemAcantalkdirectlywith
a supply chain member in another component, an improvement in process
may emerge. Is there an advantage in focusing on one or the other of these
relationshipsets?Doesthepreferredfocuschangewithstageintheevolution
oftheproject?
(3) Shouldprojectleadersfocusresourcesoninfrastructureandskilldevelopment
oronprocessimprovementtoachievehighperformance?Ineveryorganiza-
tion,simpleorcomplex,resourcelimitationsmaketoughchoicesnecessary.
Insituationswherecomplexcollaborativecapabilityisessentialtosuccessful
attainment of organizational goals, the choice may be whether to spend
resourcessuchasmoney,time,andpersonnelondevelopmentof:(a)infras-
tructure surrounding the actual work, such as common computer platforms;
(b) knowledge, skills, and abilities of the organizational members, so the
qualityofcollaborationrisesatallpointsofcontact;or(c)processesthatguide
decisions and behaviors toward effective collaboration. Perhaps the answer,
asusual,is“itdepends.”Itmaydependonthenatureoftheproject,thestyle
andphilosophyofthetopmanagementgroup,thelevelofcomplexityorun-
certaintyorrisk,orthedifferencebetweencurrentlyadequateandinadequate
levelsofsupport.
(4) Can the teams rely on virtual communication or is face-to-face interaction
necessary? Complex situations depending on collaboration for knowledge
sharing,innovation,anddecisionmaking,ofteninvolvegeographicdistances
that require use of electronic forms of communication, ranging from phone
& fax, to email, to video conferencing. With heightened travel restrictions
in most companies now, a heavier reliance on virtual communication has
emerged. What is the role of face-to-face contact in this situation? When is
that essential enough to warrant increased expense and risk? Is there a way
tofindabalancepointbetweenthemethodsofmeeting?
(5) Are the key skills lateral or hierarchical in making complex collaborations
work?Crossingboundariesfornetworkingonaprojectinvolveslateralcom-
municationsandtheskillsthatgowiththat,suchasthewhen,who,andhow
ofconnection.Muchoftheinnovationworkoccursintheconversationsthat
occurintheselateralrelationships.However,themorecomplextheproject,the
moreimportantthebigpicture,andalthoughitoughttobesharedbyeveryone
tosomeextent,itsscopeislikelytobesuchthatonlyafewpeoplehigherin
thehierarchycanachieveanadequateviewpoint.Controlthroughtop-down
decisions is essential in coordinating the main components of a complex
project.Howcanthatcontrolbemanagedsoinnovationatlowerlevelsisnot