Comments on: Does Collaboration Impact Business Performance?

By: jacobmorgan

jacobmorgan — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:49:00 +0000

Thanks for the kind words Kevin, very much appreciated.

By: Kevin peterson

Kevin peterson — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:20:00 +0000

Very good article. Collaboration does impact business performance as having Online Collaboration increases business efficiency, work efficiency, productivity, reduces costs, better client interaction etc. There are various online collaboration tools such as WebEx, gomeetnow, gotomeeting, on premise RHUB appliances etc. to select from.

By: Yasmin

Yasmin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:23:55 +0000

Just read your comment, Martin, and purchased Collaboration. HBP books are usually great. Thanks for the tip!

By: Yasmin

Yasmin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:54:14 +0000

I'm working on an enterprise 2.0 strategy at a large government agency, and just read the article mentioned in this blog post. While I think it provides useful ways about thinking about return on collaboration, I am concerned about the methodology used. It doesn't seem like there were any statistical methods used to look at how powerful the effects of collaboration were on business performance, or if the changes experienced were at all statistically significant. Do you know if the data sets are available for further analysis? I definitely want to use information that points to the effectiveness of this stuff on biz outcomes, but want to make sure the data is analyzed in a rigorous way. I'm actually surprised that Verizon and Cisco would authorize such a report!
Thanks!
Yasmin
http://bonnieandyasmin.com

By: Martin White

Martin White — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:21:21 +0000

There was a very good monograph on statistical methods published by Imperial Chemical Industries over 60 years ago on statistical methods which the author dedicated to his wife, on the basis that she was a better cook than any statistician. The report you cite is well meaning but statistically flawed. The only way in which percentage improvements in (say) sales growth as a result of collaboration can be measured is to carry out the same process with and without collaboration being part of the workflow. Sadly most surveys are based on qualitative guesstimates from people who have no real metrics and an interest in justifying the investment they have made on collaboration platforms.

For a more rigorous study have a look at the paper by Haas and Hansen in Strategic Management Journal, 26(1), pp1-24, which shows that in the case of Sterling Software sales performance fell as collaboration increased! This paper is cited in Hansen's excellent book Collaboration (Harvard Business School Press, 2009) along with many other studies that show that it is not possible to state that the better your company collaborates the greater the impact.

Think back to 1970 and the wonderful collaborative effort that resulted in the crew of Apollo 13 surviving when the Command Module oxygen tank exploded on the way to the Moon. On that basis certainly collaboration is the way to get great results. Then think back to 1986 and the launch of the Challenger Space Shuttle. A decision made with a great deal of collaboration resulted in the deaths of seven astronauts.

I rest my case