Friends or Foes? Practicing Collaboration—An Introduction

Abstract

We might question the concept of collaboration when so many contradictory messages are produced in the field of management. On the one hand, a strong focus is put on the sharing of resources, inter and intra organisationally—especially the sharing of knowledge as an absolute source of competitiveness and progress. On the other hand, some pessimists describe an apocalyptic and hostile world, where collaboration is more of a utopia than a reality—something desirable but rarely achievable. Externally, time-based competition is derived from globalisation and the shortening of innovation cycles. Industry boundaries are vanishing and companies are caught in the ambiguity and complexity of shifting games of multiple alliances. Internally, if we don’t subscribe to a description, à la Crozier, in which individualism is only limited by constraining structure, we must accept the idea that information technology has brought panopticism within easy reach of every manager. Even if total control is not the driver, then the competition between profit centres, combined with the pressure of “necessary” redundancies, can easily compromise any form of collaboration.