The Social Side of Collaboration

by Brian J. Dooley

The advantages of collaboration in furthering product ideas, responding to challenges, and extending corporate or departmental capabilities are now well known. Much recent attention has been fostered by new technologies and new capabilities falling under the general heading of Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0. These technologies include new communications formats, such as forums, wikis, and blogs, as well as virtual meeting spaces, file and data sharing, and unified messaging. However, while the technologies have received a lot of attention, it is important to bear in mind that collaboration remains fundamentally a people issue and requires consideration of group dynamics in addition to information and communications technology.