Paradoxes and Prerogatives in Global Virtual Collaboration

and Ilze Zigurs Sajda Qureshi
PARADOXES AND PREROGATIVES GLOBAL VIRTUAL COLLABORATION IN Ubiquitous computing is not only influencing our lives, butCase our livelihoods. Indeed, career environments choices and paths study findings from traditional several corporate will require fundamental attitude adjustments. suggest that successful virtualization does not depend on the degree of technological sophistication. It’s how the tools are used that matters. Increasing virtualization of the work environment is requiring people to manage relationships, share knowledge and expertise, and coordinate joint activities in entirely new ways. Collaborative technologies make virtualization possible. These technologies range from electronic meeting systems and videoconferencing to newsgroups and calendaring systems (see box). Even such traditional technologies as the telephone and email play a critical role in supporting virtualized work environments. Organizations that use collaborative technologies expect to share resources, manage relationships, and bring dispersed skills and knowledge to bear on joint projects that span global operations. Yet employees complain they are not motivated to use the technology, do not have the time or skills, or do not see rewards for participating. Why is reality so distant from the ideal? We address this question using data from case studies collected over the past two years via interviews, participant observations, electronic transcripts, and informal conversations. The data represents multinational companies using collaborative technologies for a variety of tasks and degrees of virtualization. The results suggest both paradoxes and lessons learned about global virtual collaboration. COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM December 2001/Vol. 44, No. 12 85 The Paradoxes Collaborative technologies in virtual environments enable better face-to-face meetings. Geographically dispersed work groups can draw upon collaborative technologies to support rapid formation and continuing development of relationships, common goals, and communities of interest. The senior leadership team at Shell Services International comprises 18 globally distributed people who make decisions on strategic issues of high impact at three in-person meetings per year. They use simple technologies such as telephone conferencing and email for ongoing collaboration between meetings. A document management system for sharing briefing materials proved too difficult to use and update because team members traveled so much. Other technologies would be tested as they became more generally accepted. The Central and Eastern European node within Shell Europe Oil Products (SEOP) Retail Network relies on a core retail team and an extended team of planners, engineers, and other staff. Occasional faceto-face meetings are meaningful from ongoing virtual collaboration seen as essential for accomplishing detailed tasks. Team members are trained in trust building, communication etiquette, agenda sharing, and timely response. NetMeeting is viewed as ideal for communicating management decisions to the rest of the team and for sharing documents. It also Virtual asset teams at Shell Exploration and Production are distributed teams of experts brought together for a single purpose—such as developing a new technology—and they disband when the project is completed. Each asset team is provided with training on defining shared objectives, agreeing on roles and responsibilities, and starting an expertise network. Alta Vista Forum is used to access and share data, and email and phoning provide communication among dispersed members. The environment helps team members focus on common goals and bring diverse skills to bear on joint projects. Virtual collaboration between European and Latin American team members revealed instances of misunderstanding due to cultural differences in perception. Although these differences occasionally impeded communication, the structured approach of the technology ensured high task focus. Cultural differences are seen as a challenge at Monitor Company, a worldwide consulting firm that forms ad hoc strategy teams commissioned by clients. Their Knowledge Network is built with Lotus Notes and provides access to information services, document sharing, and email. These collaborative technologies deliver fast responses to clients by enabling the right mix of people and knowledge matched to specific client problems. Simple and adaptable technologies enable more complex virtual collaboration. Virtualization means rapid change, high diversity, and distributed resources. Flexibility is Companies and Technologies more important than ever and successful Cases studied: Andersen Consulting, Cap Gemini Ernst and technologies combine simplicity with Young, KPMG, McKinsey, Monitor Co., Shell (SSI, SEOP, SEP), adaptability. Solvision embodies this idea, Solvision. since it exists only as a virtual organization Collaborative technologies used: Calendaring systems, chat communicating solely through collaborarooms, desktop videoconferencing, email, e-meeting systems, tive technology. Rather than a physical information and knowledge repositories, newsgroups, personal office, this consultancy provides each information managers, project management systems, teleemployee with a laptop, GSM phone, and phone conferencing, video whiteboards, workflow systems. an ISDN connection to communicate with each other and clients. The company’s intranet runs Livelink, which provides access to profiles, agendas, project information, and alleviates the need to travel long distances to meet. knowledge communities. Consultants and clients Email, phoning, and scheduling software supple- may physically meet at Solvision’s Grand Café to ment this environment for sharing knowledge and establish social contact. experience. Even in traditional work environments, simple Cultural differences increase the resolve to collaborative technologies enable more complex connect in virtual collaborations. The need to activities to be carried out. Through Arthur Anderexchange knowledge and the task-focused design of sen’s Knowledge Xchange System—which uses many collaborative technologies creates an environ- Lotus Notes on the company’s internal worldwide ment where people can deal with cultural differences network—all employees have access to over 2,000 to a much greater extent than expected, or perhaps databases. These databases contain information in a way that is different from traditional venues. about projects, methods, tools, technical specifica86 December 2001/Vol. 44, No. 12 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Why is reality so distant from the ideal? tions, contacts, and best practices. Consultants use build on their core competencies, and draw upon email (primarily from client sites) to communicate networks of personalized interorganizational relaand databases to customize services. In-house devel- tionships. opers collaborate on innovative products using email Virtual communities have implications for the and application-sharing programs. Senior managers creation of knowledge in virtual organizations. and partners use videoconferencing for meetings Communities of minds evolve in virtual spaces and with U.S. headquarters and other international act on social networks to create communities of offices. practice. Virtual collaboration supports the creation Communities arise outside explicit technology of communities of practice where people work design. Truly networked organizations find that together to achieve joint goals. These communities people go beyond explicit designs for communica- comprise individual experts, groups, and even orgation to create fortuitous links. These unexpected communities of diverse Lessons Learned knowledge can foster innovation. A knowledge management and organiza- • Management motivation has a direct effect on virtual tional memory information system at Cap collaboration. Gemini Ernst and Young makes it possible • Collaborative roles emerge, but must be made more explicit. for people to connect in entirely new • Tasks that benefit most from virtual collaboration are those ways. Consultants can move freely requiring knowledge sharing, structure, and detailed teamthrough the organization, forming hybrid work. projects and switching expertise among • Cultural diversity can enhance the value of virtual collaboration. departments, thanks to the knowledge • Training is important for successful virtual collaboration and marketplace on the company’s state-ofsuccessful training programs put work practices at the forethe-art intranet. Questions can be posted front. on specific issues to which people within • Technology is a device, not a driver, of virtual collaboration. the firm generally answer. The virtual space on the knowledge marketplace is divided into consultant-defined subjects known as nizations that can access each others’ valued infor“marketspots.” When someone posts a question or mation and resources. An organization may tap into an answer in a marketspot, its members receive an the assets of other organizations by mobilizing its email message. The consultant can also see short own members or directors who belong to these other biographical data about other consultants within the organizations. Politically active organizations gain marketspot. Consultants can locate colleagues who access to politically relevant resources through memhave marketspot experience, enabling them to con- bers and directors. By cultivating diversified ties to nect on the basis of their expertise. In this way, spe- large numbers of community organizations capable cial interest communities have emerged within the of supplying resources, an organization’s or a group’s organization and brought the diverse skill and exper- dependence on a single source is significantly tise of its globally distributed consultants to bear on reduced. Furthermore, collective action through specific projects. communities of practice takes place by formally allocating people and resources to tasks and providing The Prerogatives mechanisms for coordination. Collective action can These experiences show virtual collaboration mat- be mobilized through virtual spaces supported by ters. Collaborative technologies present opportuni- electronic communication and group decision supties for sharing knowledge and skill, for mobilizing port systems. resources toward joint efforts, and for providing The main challenge facing modern organizations more innovative and customized products and ser- is recognizing and maximizing core competencies. vices. It is a prerogative for those able to master While core competencies may be codified within global virtual collaboration to tap into the value of corporate databases and organizational systems, they their emerging virtual communities, manage and are most often dispersed in different parts of the COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM December 2001/Vol. 44, No. 12 87 Truly networked organizations find that people go beyond explicit designs for communication to create fortuitous links. organization, lie within the minds of different employees, and are created through personal interaction. Sharing this personalized knowledge is supported by collaborative technologies. For example, virtual collaborations about how to solve a particular product defect are recorded and become part of the organization’s memory, to be referenced later by other employees facing similar situations. Used this way, virtual collaboration enables the creation and in these case studies—tasks requiring structure and tasks requiring detailed teamwork. Shell’s virtual asset teams have highly structured, one-time projects easily managed within virtual collaborations. At Monitor Company and Shell CEE, collaborative technologies enabled detailed tasks to be carried out. Manage stakeholder expectations. Collaborative technologies developed to suit users’ espoused needs are not necessarily used. KPMG’s K-World is a very sophisticated intranet system whose use does not meet expectations. Cap Gemini Guidelines Ernst and Young’s virtual project office and My Galaxy represent high-end collabora• Develop and communicate norms across remote and diverse tive technologies. Still, the most popular is units. the simple knowledge marketplace Web • Develop and sustain shared goals within diverse groups. enabling communities to form around spe• Identify and support interaction of like-minded individuals cific work problems. or special interest groups across traditional boundaries. Take advantage of diversity. Culture is • Foster exchange of personalized knowledge. not the enormous barrier for virtual collab• Expand boundaries of knowledge beyond the organization’s oration some predicted. The Shell and walls. Monitor cases suggest focusing on tasks • Mobilize distributed resources quickly. and goals is easier in virtual environments • Match people and other resources to rapidly changing needs. than in traditional ones, so take full advantage of diversity in global collaborations. maintenance of knowledge networks through which Collaborative technologies can provide enduring people in different parts of the organization cooper- and empowering prerogatives for virtual collaboration ate and consult with each other to provide knowl- by fostering the emergence of virtual communities, edge-intensive services. enabling core competencies to be maximized, and We are witnessing a progression from networks personalizing interorganizational relationships. Servsupporting formal interorganizational relationships ing the needs of team members is the starting point such as strategic alliances, to a world in which the for these payoffs from global virtual collaboration. c key value of virtual collaboration is the personalization of interorganizational relationships. Nonroutine, interorganizational relationships are facilitated, Sajda Qureshi (squreshi@fac.fbk.eur.nl) is an assistant professor and routine relationships are changed, when deci- of Information Management at Erasmus University, The Netherlands. sions made in virtual workspaces are seen to be legit- Ilze Zigurs (zigurs@spot.colorado.edu) is Mutual of Omaha imate. This has implications for the provision of Chair of Information Science and Technology at the University of customized services provided jointly by a number of Nebraska at Omaha, NE. organizations. Moving Forward The accompanying box lists guidelines for reaping the benefits of virtual collaboration in the face of the paradoxes discussed here. The following strategies are also essential for successful collaborations: Make explicit choices about virtual tasks. Two kinds of tasks worked best for virtual collaboration 88 December 2001/Vol. 44, No. 12 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. © 2001 ACM 0002-0782/01/1200 $5.00