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38 Chapter 2 Collaboration Information Systems

In this text, we define collaboration as a group of people working together to achieve
a common goal via a process of feedback and iteration. Using feedback and iteration, one
person will produce something, say the draft of a document, and a second person will review
that draft and provide critical feedback. Given the feedback, the original author or someone
else will then revise the first draft to produce a second. The work proceeds in a series of
stages, or iterations, in which something is produced, members criticize it, and then another
version is produced. Using iteration and feedback, the group’s result can be better than what
any single individual can produce alone. This is possible because different group members
provide different perspectives. “Oh, I never thought of it that way” is a typical signal of col-
laboration success.
Many, perhaps most, student groups incorrectly use cooperation rather than collabora-
tion. Given an assignment, a group of five students will break it up into five pieces, work to ac-
complish their piece independently, and then merge their independent work for grading by the
professor. Such a process will enable the project to be completed more quickly, with less work
by any single individual, but it will not be better than the result obtained if the students were to
work alone.
In contrast, when students work collaboratively, they set forth an initial idea or work prod-
uct, provide feedback to one another on those ideas or products, and then revise in accordance
with feedback. Such a process can produce a result far superior to that produced by any student
working alone.

Importance of Effective Critical Feedback

Given this definition, for collaboration to be successful members must provide and receive
critical feedback. A group in which everyone is too polite to say anything critical cannot col-
laborate. As Darwin John, the world’s first chief information officer (CIO) (see Chapter 11),
once said, “If two of you have the exact same idea, then we have no need for one of you.” On
the other hand, a group that is so critical and negative that members come to distrust, even
hate, one another cannot effectively collaborate either. For most groups, success is achieved
between these extremes.
To underline this point, consider the research of Ditkoff, Allen, Moore, and Pollard. They
surveyed 108 business professionals to determine the qualities, attitudes, and skills that make
1
a good collaborator. Figure 2-1 lists the most and least important characteristics reported
in the survey. Most students are surprised to learn that 5 of the top 12 characteristics involve
disagreement (highlighted in blue in Figure 2-1). Most students believe that “we should all get
along” and more or less have the same idea and opinions about team matters. Although it is
important for the team to be sociable enough to work together, this research indicates that it
is also important for team members to have different ideas and opinions and to express them
to each other.
When we think about collaboration as an iterative process in which team members give
and receive feedback, these results are not surprising. During collaboration, team members
learn from each other, and it will be difficult to learn if no one is willing to express different, or
even unpopular, ideas. The respondents also seem to be saying, “You can be negative, as long
as you care about what we’re doing.” These collaboration skills do not come naturally to people
who have been taught to “play well with others,” but that may be why they were so highly ranked
in the survey.
The characteristics rated not relevant are also revealing. Experience as a collaborator or in
business does not seem to matter. Being popular also is not important. A big surprise, however,
is that being well organized was rated 31st out of 39 characteristics. Perhaps collaboration itself
is not a very well-organized process.

1 Mitch Ditkoff, Tim Moore, Carolyn Allen, and Dave Pollard, “The Ideal Collaborative Team,” Idea Champions,
accessed April 26, 2014, www.ideachampions.com/downloads/collaborationresults.pdf.