Some Notes on Collaboration

A few months ago Sandor P. Schuman, Research Associate of the Center for Policy Research, University at Albany, SUNY, and President of Executive Decision Services LLC, came to the organization that I work for and conducted a training about collaboration based on the book he edited “Creating a Culture of Collaboration: The International Association of Facilitators Handbook” (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2006). I will share some of the notes that were taken that day:

Collaboration is becoming more popular due to the fact that there are many changes happening in strategy in order to fulfill the requirements needed to accommodate this diverse, interdependent, and complicated world we live in today. Collaboration is being seen as the way to address problems, add value, and achieve desired outcomes in some of the most industries such as business, science, recreation, healthcare, social work, engineering, and governance.

Relationships are important, they provide social context in which we exchange information and make decisions and choices. Mr. Schuman stated that “Through our relationships, the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of each individual have the potential to contribute to greater shared meaning and choices that provide greater mutual benefits”. I agree with his statement, as the old saying goes “Two heads are better than one”, and in this ever changing world we live in, collaboration is necessary to tackle each issue that may arise and make it a better place to live in.

Mr. Schuman also emphasized the importance of making choices and decisions but in order to participate in decision making it is extremely important to have pertinent information. He states “A choice without information is hardly a choice at all”. This reiterates the importance of collaborative tools such as e-government.

Adapted from “A model for interdisciplinary collaboration” by Laura R. Bronstein. Social Work, (2003)48 (3), 297-306

Collective Ownership of goals refers to shared responsibility in the entire process of reaching goals which may include designing, defining, developing, and achieving goals.

Interdependence refers to the occurrence of and reliance on interactions among individuals where all are dependent on the others to accomplish their goals and tasks. – Working in a Quality Assurance dept in my organization, my position is always dependent on the quality of work produced by the staff.

Flexibility refers to the deliberate occurrence of role blurring. A characteristic of flexibility is the ability to reach productive compromises when faced with adversity and/or the alteration of your role. In my organization, some people are willing to embark in tasks that are outside of the job description to support collaborative problem solving.

Collaborative activities refer to acts, programs, and structures that amount to more than what is expected when the same individuals act independently which ultimately increases the expertise of each collaborator.

Reflection on process refers to collaborators’ attention to their process of working together.For example, Are individuals talking to each other about processes that need to occur to complete a task? Are individuals building relationships around processes?

This course and the training that was conducted have opened up my eyes to the new ways of collaboration. I will definitely invest in the book “Creating a Culture of Collaboration: The International Association of Facilitators Handbook” to obtain a even broader understanding of this new technique of working in a collaborative manner. I expect it to be a good read :)

Reference(s):

Schuman, Sandor P. (2007, July).Creating a Culture of Collaboration/ Strengthening Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Training conducted at Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families, New York, NY

E-Government

Each day it is becoming more apparent that information is very important towards the goal of advancing and developing the world. It is even more important that such information is made accessible to all citizens. The term E-government (electronic government) refers to the adoption of e-business (electronic business) practices in the government with the use of Information Technology. To make pertinent information available to the citizens across the world is extremely important, it increases empowerment through information, more accurate analysis can be made, more data driven decision are made, many lives can be saved by building awareness about health, AIDS and HIV, and education can be obtained in countries where there is a lack of teachers.

It can be said that the vision of E-government is a means of engaging and enforcing citizens to become more responsive, efficient, and to build a more accountable government. Some of the major goals of E-government include satisfying customer service expectation, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of governmental operations; provide effective access to information, and increasing government participation. In July 2002, President George W. Bush stated in a presidential memo to the Executive Heads of Departments and Agencies, “Effective implementation of E-government is important in making the government more responsive and cost effective”. Since then, there has been an increasingly amount of government generated information systems that are available directly through the Internet. Information Technology is being used exponentially to deliver government services in many ways such as; assisted citizens service centers, call centers, automated self services stands, digital television, mobile portals, and web portals.

Web portals are widely used to access government information. Web portals are multi-functional information systems which provide a single point access to relevant information services via the Internet. Such Web portals promote administrative reform as well as the elimination of corruption across the world. For example, “U.S. Consumer Gateway” portal was created by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the FTC continues to maintain it with the participation of many other governmental agencies. The site is designed to ensure that users can locate government consumer-related information by different categories such as food, health, product safety, money, transportation, and so on. Each category has further subcategories to direct users to areas within individual federal websites containing related information. For instance, the product safety category includes links to product information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the FTC, among others. More information about U.S. Consumer Gateway can be found at http://www.consumer.gov/. The Cape Gateway Portal in South Africa provides information about all government department services via the Internet. Information such as health, housing, licensing, transportation, and education are made available. The Cape Gateway portal provides easy access to government information, resources, and services that were not accessible prior to the implementation of this portal. Also in South Africa is the Judicial Inspector of Prisons Online Report System (JIP). JIP uses an online system for reporting on prison issues such as the treatment of prisoners and their living conditions. Due to the fact that Africa’s prisons are extremely overcrowded, this system can help to quality control certain issues that may arise. Through independent prison visitors that visit and interview prisoners, information is collected and monthly reports can be generated through analysis and made available to the public. Besides increasing empowerment of people and efficiency, this system can track and monitor if people are being treated humanly and justly.

E-government is not a tool that is limited to the more privileged countries, in fact some of the most developing countries of the world, where accessible, are taking advantage of E-government. More than ever, Information Communication Technologies (ICT’s) are being used to build awareness, empowerment through information, educate people where physicals teachers cannot, and to render efficient customer service. The results of E-government should be an improvement in business practices, a more streamline government, and a more knowledgeable and sophisticated public.

Reference(s):

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/07/20020710-6.html
http://www.cdt.org/egov/handbook/
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan023997.pdf
http://www.worldbank.org/