Framework for enhancing online working-together relations
| Date | 12 November 2018 |
| Published date | 12 November 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-04-2018-0043 |
| Pages | 357-380 |
| Author | Mousa Abu Kashef,Athula Ginige,Ana Hol |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
Framework for enhancing online
working-together relations
Mousa Abu Kashef,Athula Ginige and Ana Hol
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics,
Western Sydney University, Rydalmere, New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper was to develop a framework of working-together relations and
investigate ways to enhance working-together relations among people, organisations, communities and
neighbourhoods using working-together applications. Today, people in communities, neighbourhoods
and constituencies often work together in a coalition of public, private and non-profit institutions. The
technology used today has enabled new forms of communications and collaboration. The rapid growth of
mobile technologies and interactive, collaborative applications based on Web technologies has enabled the
development of new approaches to derive and share organisational and local knowledge. Not all of these
applications have succeeded; after a certain time, users tend to stop using online applications that do not
assist themin developing collaborative practiceswith their team members.
Design/methodology/approach –To better understand the essential characteristics of a successful
online application that effectively supports people to work together, the authors undertook an inductive
analysisof related literature and existing social media application.
Findings –By combining and categorising the findings, it was possible to articulate the characteristics
associatedwith four identified categories ofworking-together relations:networking, coordination,cooperation
and collaboration.The study also identified essential activities that are performed in each working-together
categoryand the factors that enable successfulworking-togetherrelations: trust, risk andrewards.
Research limitations/implications –Future studies will look into how applications could be further
enhanced, so that,for example, an application that is currently classifiedas “coordination”could be improved
and the requiredcharacteristics of “collaboration”couldbe met.
Practical implications –It is expected that the frameworkderived will assist in the design of successful
online applicationsto support different categories of working-togetherrelations.
Originality/value –The main contribution of this study is a new framework that can now be used to
identifyhow effective an existing application can be in assistingthe working-together relations.
Keywords Cooperation, Trust, Collaboration, Coordination, Networking, Working-together
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
From the very early days of mankind, people have worked together to achieve better
outcomes to meet both short- and long-term needs and goals, in diverse areas such as food
production, health care, education, entertainment, business, social activities and
infrastructure development. Whether it is a sales team, a management team or a medical
research team, groups of people are often brought together to tackle problems. Effective
working-together relationships can result in enhanced productivity, efficiency, cost-
effectiveness and deeperinsights.
Working-together can be defined as a single task or a set of interdependent activities
done by multiple people to achieve a common objective (Di Maio, 2007;Mattessich, 2001).
One of the major advantages of working-togetheris the ability to achieve outcomes quicker.
Moreover, an individual who works with others will gradually develop the attitude
Enhancing
online working
357
Received26 April 2018
Revised12 July 2018
Accepted17 July 2018
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.16 No. 4, 2018
pp. 357-380
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-04-2018-0043
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
that is necessary for effective teamwork. The team member will discover the
significance
of communication, decision-making, planning, preparation and positive actions
(Cohen and Levesque, 1991). While working-together, people may have ideas to share,
negotiate
and learn from one another. Suggestions and advice from others can help generate
new ideas and bring out groups’creativity. Whether amongst individuals in a
community, at work or on a sporting field, efficient working-together can lead to
extraordinary results (Munkvold, 2005), such as inventions. Organisations do not
usually innovate in isolation but in collaboration with, and interdependence on, other
organisations (Ginige, 2004;Hoegl and Gemuenden, 2001).
Teams work together both face-to-face and virtually. The rapid growth of mobile
technologies and interactive, collaborative applications based on Web technologies has
enabled new approaches to derive and share organisational and local knowledge (Ginige,
2016).
In recent years, informationtechnology vendors have competed to populate the booming
collaboration marketby producing specialised technologies, which has contributedto heavy
market segmentation. A 2015 study by 451 research studies found that the social business
applications market was expected to grow from $13.9bn in revenue in 2014 to $37.0bn in
2019. The market segments cited were marketingautomation, social media monitoring and
management, enterprise collaboration/social and Web experience management
(Dimensional Research,2015).
Working-together applications refers to all types of information and communication
technologies that enable individuals or organisations to work together at various levels,
from two persons sharing information or a document to very large organisational
collaboration in common tasks (Munkvold, 2003). Some examples of working-together
applications include:
Web-based team or project rooms (integrating email, instant messaging, group
calendars, document management, discussion forums, etc.), e.g. Gmail and Microsoft
exchange;
desktop conferencing systems (integrating audio, video, and data conferencing), e.g.
Skype and Cisco WebEx;
knowledge repositories management systems (incident report databases, alert
systems, best practice databases, lessons learned systems, expertise locator
systems), e.g. MediaWiki and DSpace;
workflow management systems, e.g. Microsoft Project; and
social networks, e.g. Facebook and LinkedIn.
The number of organisations currently adopting these applicationsis increasing rapidly. In
a 2015 study of business professionals, DimensionalResearch (2015) found that 83 per cent
of business professionals depend on technology to collaborate. Online working-together
applications are considered the key element in business strategy today, for aspects such as
knowledge management, processimprovement, virtual teamwork, global collaboration and
e-Learning (Munkvold, 2005). However, the use of working-together applications does not
automatically develop collaboration amongst team members. It was noticed that after a
while users may on occasions stop using the applications (Anandarajan,2010). For example,
groupsystems.com, mygamma.com and Collaber.com are applications that are no longer
used. Dimensional Research (2015) also found that 59 per cent of users experienced
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