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New Ways for Collaborating & Learning in Organizations

Hala AnnabiBrazil Executive Seminar

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Agenda

Introduction

Organizations Today

Organizational Learning

Collaboration Systems

Case Study: Parson Brinckerhoff

Background

BS in Bus/MISMBA

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Jordan

Ph.D. in Information Science and Technology

Professional Experience

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Academic

Consultant

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Making the Best of this Session

Ask questions

Provide opinions

Challenge one another

Stay focused on task

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New Ways for Collaborating & Learning in Organizations

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Organizations Today

How do organizations look today? What are their benefits?What are their challenges?

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Distributed/Virtual Organizations

Organizations whose members and resources may be geographically dispersed but function as a coherent unit though the use of information

and communication technology

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Virtual/Distributed Organizations

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What are the benefits of distributed organizations?

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Distributed Organizations: Drivers and Benefits

Changing employee values• Telecommuting• Quick restructuring of groups

Need for cost reduction• Lower Labor and operating costs• Ability to exploit time-zone differences to allow work to proceed around the

clock• Closer to raw materials

Globalization• Presence in Global markets• Closer to markets and suppliers

Need for specific expertise• Access to larger pool of experts

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What are the challenges facing distributed organizations?

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Distributed Organizations: Challenges

Lack of a common organizational setting

Difficulty to interpret

Lack of knowledge about other members

Members may not know who the experts are

Languages and cultural differences

Negative effect on organizational learning and knowledge management

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The challenges facing distributed organizations negatively affect Organizational Learning

But…. Organizational learning is a CORE competency for business

success

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BUT…What’s Organizational Learning?

Why do we care about it?

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Organizational Learning

What do we mean by learning in Organizations?

Who learns in organizations?

What is being Learned?

When does learning take place?

How does learning occur?

Why is organizational learning important?

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Organizational Learning Organizational learning is the process by which an organization integrates the knowledge of individual members into its rules, procedures, norms and culture.

Knowledge-base view: the firm as the means to integrate individual members’ knowledge into the firm’s activities and products

Learning is a core competency!

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Who is learning?Individual

Group

Organization

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What is being learned?

Rules and standard operating procedures

Decisions reached

Cognitive and behavioral changes

Innovation

Organizational knowledge

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When does learning take place?

Slack in resources (Cyert & March, 1963; Duncan & Weiss, 1979)

Stress or tension (Cangelosi & Dill, 1965; M. C. Fiol & Lyles, 1985)

Error or mismatch of expectations (Argyris & Schön, 1978; Levitt & March, 1988)

Innovation (Annabi, 2005)

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What results does learning yield?

Improved performance

• better adaptation and alignment to the environment (Cyert & March, 1963; Duncan & Weiss, 1979; M. C. Fiol & Lyles, 1985; Levitt & March, 1988)

• reduction of stress (Cangelosi & Dill, 1965)

• better range of action strategies of potential behaviors (Argyris & Schön, 1978; Huber, 1991)

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Does all Learning Lead to Improvement?

Ineffective behaviors

Espoused theories vs. theories in use

Liability

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Individual process

Group process

Organizational process

How does learning take place?

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Why Organizational Learning? Adapting to the environment

Avoiding stability traps and Rethinking means and ends

Experimenting

Correcting for error

Innovating

Realizing human potential for learning in the service of organizational purposes

Creating organizational settings as contexts for human development

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Summary- Organizational Learning

What does Organizational Learning mean?

• Organization learning is the process by which an organization integrates the knowledge of individual members into its rules, procedures, norms and culture.

Who is learning?

• Individuals, groups, and organizations

What is being learned?

• Rules, procedures, practices, shared understanding, norms, and culture

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Summary- Organizational Learning

When does learning take place?

• Should be continuous; a way of being

What results does learning yield?

• New ways of thinking and practicing

How does learning take place?

• Process of interaction, sharing knowledge between individuals, groups, and organization

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If Learning is about Integration…

Distributed Organizations face challenges coordinating and integrating knowledge sources due to difficulties in:

• Identifying sources of knowledge• Connecting disparate sources of knowledge• Protecting against knowledge loss• Applying knowledge towards business ends

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How do you facilitate organizational learning in Distributed Organizations?

Identifying sources of knowledgeConnecting disparate sources of knowledgeProtecting against knowledge lossApplying knowledge towards business ends

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Businesses Turn to Information Technology

To connect and integrate the distributed organization business use Collaboration Systems..

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Collaboration Systems at Work

What are they?How do they help traditional and nontraditional distributed organizations overcome the challenges?

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What is a Collaboration System?

applications that enable the sharing and flow of information between different members of the distributed organization to support collaboration within and across businesses.

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Collaboration Systems include:

Content management systems

Workflow management systems

Groupware systems

Peer-to-peer systems

Knowledge management systems

Social media

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Use of Collaboration Systems

Identify uses from your readings or experience that address the following

• Identifying sources of knowledge• Connecting disparate sources of knowledge• Protecting against knowledge loss• Applying knowledge towards business ends

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Examples of Uses of Collaboration Systems

• SelectMinds – DeloitteIdentifying sources of knowledge

• Beehive – IBM

Connecting disparate sources of knowledge

• Intelpedia – IntelProtecting

against knowledge loss

• Wikicentral –IBM patent policy

Applying knowledge

towards business ends

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Are collaboration systems really helpful?

ORDo collaboration systems do

more harm than good?

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Break

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Parson Brinkerhoff Practice Area Networks (PANs)

Part IPB History and Structure

PANs History and StructureKnowledge Exchange at PB

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History and Structure of PB

• 125 Year Old Firm Barclay Parsons & Klapp• Over 12,000 Employees in over 200 Offices in 72

countries• Accelerated Growth in the 90’sProject-Based

Entrepreneurial Business Model• Growth Through Project wins and Acquisition

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Geographic Distribution: North America

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Geographic Distribution: Europe

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Geographic Distribution: Middle East

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Geographic Distribution: Asia

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Geographic Distribution: Australia/New Zealand

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PB Growth Prompted the Growth of Practice Area Networks

Practice Area Networks are an example of Communities of Practice

What are Communities of Practice?What are their Benefits?What are their challenges?

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Communities of Practice (CoP)

“groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and want to deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis" (Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder, 2002)

CoP add value for organizations, primarily by connecting isolated and distributed pockets of expertise in knowledge

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• Practice Area Network = PAN• PANs Created in 1994• Leadership: Voluntary• Membership: Voluntary

History and Structure of PB Communities of Practice

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Benefits and Limitations of CoP/PAN

Facilitate knowledge exchange between individuals by connecting isolated and distributed pockets of expertise

Minimize the possibility of knowledge loss due to employee attrition

Limitation of CoP: not considered in relation to business objectives and knowledge stays within single CoP’s

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Knowledge Exchange at PB

PAN Requestor

PAN Coordinator

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Knowledge Exchange at PB

Broadcast Request to PAN Members Around the Globe

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Knowledge Exchange at PB

Responses Routed through Coordinator to Requestor

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There were instances of…

Contributions to Business Objectives

• Human Resources • Knowledge exchange across PANs• Knowledge repository • Global integration• Increase efficiency• Business development• Innovation • Disseminate cutting edge knowledge

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PART IHow to Harness the Power of CoPs for Business Objectives?

CoPs have been used to help manage knowledge in organizations…

• Focus on knowledge exchange between individuals • Knowledge resides within single CoP- not across• Limited integration

Issues

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How to Best Harness the PANs for Business Objectives?

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How to Best Harness the PANs for Business Objectives?

Align PANs to business strategy

Create Proper alignments between the PANs

Design each PAN to fit its specific objectives and disciplinary nature

Empower PANs

Prepare and empower PAN leadership

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Align PANs with Organizational Strategy• Determine where PANs reside within organizational

structure• Determine the role/roles of the PANs in contributing to

strategy• Communicate the roles of PANs • Provide management support

Business Development• Land Use Resource Center 1999• Facilitators

– PAN Initiative– Support

Leadership

Blogs on

Strategy

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Create Proper Alignments between the PANs

• Align PANs - related objectives and focus• Facilitate interactions across PANs- creative

collaborations

Knowledge Exchange across PANs & HR:• Transfer from IT PAN to CADD PAN to Project

Administration PAN• Facilitator– Alignment with CIO– Collaboration between PANS– OPP support

Internal social network, blogs and RSS Feed

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PAN Informal Collaboration

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Design PANs for Specific Objectives and Disciplinary Nature

• Diverse expertise and activities within PB• Design to fit various roles

Global Integration• Interdisciplinary and far reaching topics

(e.g. Environmental Planning)• Transferring advanced practice around the

globe• Facilitators– Supportive culture– Individual willingness mashups

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Empower PANs• Create supportive structure– Resources– Reward Systems– Authority and capabilities– Flexible tools

Increased Efficiency • Create a central processing for software

purchases• Facilitators– Collaboration with corporate – Initiative of PAN leadership– Supportive culture

RSS FeedRecognition System

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Prepare and Empower PAN Leadership• Articulate the Role of PAN leadership• Time allocation• Training and support

Innovation: PB CommentSense • Created New tool• Facilitators– Initiative– Awareness of PAN members’ needs– OPP support

Wiki

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How do you Align the uses of CS to Business Objectives Consistently?

Take Away

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The Learning Organization

• Move from organizational learning to the learning organization

• A system approach• Align all organizational learning and

knowledge management efforts to business strategy

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How to Harness the Power of CoP’s for Business Objectives?

Align CoPs to organizational strategy

Design each CoP to fit its specific objectives and disciplinary nature

Create Proper alignments between the CoPs

Empower CoPs

Prepare and empower CoPs leadership

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Questions and Discussion

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Additional Readings• The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the

Learning Organization. By Senge, Peter M., Doubleday/Currency, 1990.

• Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge. By Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder, Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

• Grant, R.M. “Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), Winter Special Issue, 1996, pp. 109-122

• 15 Free Enterprise Collaboration Tools• http://www.cio.com/article/598122/15_Free_Enterpri

se_Collaboration_Tools?page=1#slideshow