The current study explored the collaborative processes present in a collaboration between an urban university in the Southeast United States, a state-funded educational support agency, and several urban and suburban school districts served by the state agency. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the collaboration and relevant practices, perceptions were obtained from university, community agency, and K-12 school representatives through 12 individual and 2 group interviews. Data were collected and analyzed using Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenology methodology. Findings indicated that participants perceived collaborative processes in the areas of collaborative structure, communication practices, characteristics of collaborators and organizations, and group dynamics. Participants also described outcomes of the collaboration in the areas of general impact on professional learning participants, learning, evolution of behaviors and beliefs, relationship development, emotional impact, sustainability, and generalizability. Comparison of the current results to Hord’s (1986) model of inter-organizational collaboration and the literature on inter-organizational collaboration revealed strong support for a synthesis model of inter-organizational collaboration. Furthermore, the findings suggest implications for practice in the areas of goal alignment, communication, perceptions of collaborative involvement, system entry and assimilation, and personal characteristics.

To organize and implement social development projects through interorganizational collaboration is common, but lack empirical studies from a psychological perspective. The study´s aim was to make a collaboration analysis on the implementing actors within a social development project, to understand how the collaboration was functioning. The study took place within a project for marginalized groups in Tanzania, arranged by a Swedish NGO and implemented by interorganizational collaboration. Eight participants were interviewed on six areas: Environment, Membership characteristics, Process and Structure, Communication, Purpose, and Resources. The findings highlight the complexity of interorganizational collaboration. The studied collaborative network is overall working in the same direction, but has both functional and dysfunctional areas where the dysfunctional need to be improved for the collaboration to work well. The study indicates that interorganizational collaboration brings benefits for social development projects, and the six areas studied seem to cover essential areas of interorganizational collaboration.

Information technology offers many tools for promoting collaboration and communication in architectural design. A growing number of companies and individuals are adopting computer-based techniques to facilitate remote collaboration between geographically distributed teams. Thus, it is important to investigate the use of technology in developing collaborative tools for architects, especially as required training in architectural education. This research explores the feasibility of augmenting communication in the design studio using a web-based collaboration tool. A prototype was developed for an integrated system that allows for streaming media, real-time collaboration, and multi-way video, audio and text messaging, tailored specifically to the needs of a distributed architectural design studio. The Collaborative Online Architectural Design Studio (COADS) is based on a three-tier client-server structure consisting of an interface tier, an application-logic tier and a data tier. COADS allows role-based participation for students and teachers, facilitating collaboration over design sketches and presentations using personal computers equipped with a microphone and a web-cam. The system was developed and subjected to usability testing in a design studio consisting of graduate-level students of architecture. The participants were required to use COADS for conducting peer evaluations of designs for their class project and subsequently, to answer a questionnaire assessing the usability of the system. The analysis showed that COADS has definite advantages as a tool to augment communication in the design studio. The biggest advantage was that participants could get immediate feedback about their designs from their peers, irrespective of their location. COADS was also relatively easy to set up on end-user machines and provided an integrated point for accessing relevant studio resources from a single location. The disadvantages were mostly due to the limitations of the hardware on end-user machines such as small screen sizes, low quality microphones and web-cams. Further, the collaborative whiteboard within COADS lacked essential tools, such as pan/zoom and erase/undo tools, which reduced its usability. In conclusion, systems such as COADS can effectively augment communication within the architectural design studio. However, they need to be integrated closely with the course structure, right from the introductory stage of the project to the final presentation stage.

No description available.

Collaboration between academia and industry has been the focus of numerous government reports and initiatives over the past 15 years, and is increasingly recognized as an effective way to capitalize on the UK's world-class research base. However, there is a need to further understand the role of such collaborations in the field of translational medicine, where the path to market is particularly lengthy, expensive, and risky, due to complexities associated with the clinical trial process. This research uses a mixed methods approach to investigate collaboration in translational medicine at the University of Oxford. The project comprises three principal stages. First, a broad understanding of the current landscape of academia-industry collaboration in translational medicine was obtained by administering a questionnaire to academics who had received industry funding. Next, a deeper understanding of the barriers to collaboration was sought through semi-structured interviews with 27 academics. Finally, potential strategies to reduce practical barriers to the collaboration process were investigated through interviews with members of three groups within the university who interact directly with industry: Research Services, Oxford University Innovation, and Business Development. This research constitutes the first empirical study on university-industry collaboration in translational research in the United Kingdom. It contributes to existing theory through the development of a new theoretical framework for the evaluation of barriers in terms of a) the practicalities of the collaboration process, b) the institutional environment and c) presiding cultures. Through these analyses, differences in experiences of barriers to collaboration emerged for clinical and non-clinical researchers. Furthermore, industry was seen as playing a crucial role in the translation of new therapeutics, especially in the funding of research that was perceived as being ‘too risky’ for Research Councils. Thus, reducing barriers to university-industry collaboration was seen as important to the realisation of public benefit from university research. Barriers were seen as being overcome, or avoided, via the formation of relationships between academics and companies at several different levels; while systems exist within the university to facilitate this, awareness and uptake of these systems was poor amongst the study population. Finally, if universities are to deliver impact as a key metric of performance, incentives within the university need to reward academics for commercialisation activities, in addition to publication. Through the suggestion of long and short-term strategies and a detailed analysis of industrial collaboration in this setting, this research has implications for both university and government policy.

Les premières phases de conception de produit sont très importantes pour le développement de produits à succès, parce que jusqu'à 90 % des coûts des produits sont verrouillés durant les phases de concept et d'ingénierie. Lors de ces phases, les entreprises impliquent activement leurs fournisseurs à participer au développement du produit. Cependant, la littérature académique n'a pas accordé suffisamment d'attention au lien entre le stade de l'implication des fournisseurs précoce et le stade de production en série subséquente. Les objectifs de l'entreprise, qui développe le nouveau produit, et ses fournisseurs ne sont pas nécessairement alignés, ce qui peut entraîner de graves inefficacités. Par conséquent, l'objectif de cette thèse est de résoudre le conflit d'incitations à l'étape de la conception du produit, lorsque le fabricant d'un nouveau produit implique le fournisseur du composant clé. Cette thèse considère trois scénarios importants de la conception collaborative de produit : (1) les plusieurs conceptions alternatives du composant clé, (2) le développement de composants en parallèle par plusieurs fournisseurs, et (3) le test du composant clé par le fournisseur afin d'apprendre sa qualité. S'appuyant sur la méthodologie de la théorie des jeux non coopératifs, la thèse fournit des prescriptions pratiques sur la façon d'atténuer le décalage d'incitation dans chacun des trois scénarios. / Product design stage is utterly important for successful product development, as up to 90% of the product costs are locked in during the concept and design engineering phases. At these phases, manufacturers of new products actively involve their suppliers to participate in product development. However, academic literature has not given sufficient attention to the link between the early supplier involvement stage and the subsequent mass production stage. The goals of the product developing manufacturer and its suppliers are not necessarily aligned, which can result in serious inefficiencies. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to resolve the conflict of incentives at the product design stage when a manufacturer of a new product involves a supplier of a key component. This thesis considers three important facets of collaborative product development: (1) multiple alternative designs of the key component, (2) parallel component development by several suppliers, and (3) testing of the key component by the supplier in order to learn its quality. Relying on the methodology of non-cooperative game theory, the thesis provides practical prescriptions on how to mitigate the incentive misalignment in each of the three cases.

Dans un contexte d’« hyper » compétition, la capacité d’adaptation à un environnement économique sans cesse changeant, détermine l'avenir et la stratégie des entreprises. La nécessité d’innover, et de mobiliser le savoir est un défi pour l’existence des organisations. Les réseaux d'entreprises sous leurs différentes formes répondent à cette situation car, pour innover, il faut coopérer et maîtriser l’économie en réseau. Les managers, peu préparés à un Knowledge management qui mobiliserait les savoirs de leurs firmes, doivent être sensibilisés à une nouvelle forme de gestion qui ne relève pas des coûts directs. La connaissance collective d'une entreprise, son capital immatériel, ne s'évaluent effectivement à la fin d’un processus d’innovation. La construction d’une véritable intelligence collective se basant sur un partage de savoirs se heurte à une résistance de la part des collaborateurs. Ce refus trouve ses raisons dans un manque de confiance vis-à-vis des partenaires au sein et à l’extérieur des entreprises constituées en dans un réseau. Un changement de mode de communication, plus transparent et plus ouvert, est une possibilité d’utiliser exploiter le potentiel humain et le capital social et d’améliorer la performance socio-économique. La mise en place d’une plateforme de communication, pilotée et coordonnée par un Community manager, utilisant les nouveaux média, pourra servir d’outil de changement vers une collaboration. La seule mise en place d’une technologie, sans la concertation avec les utilisateurs et sans un projet commun basé sur la confiance mutuelle des acteurs, ne pourra cependant pas suffire et demande l’accompagnement d’un expert extérieur à l’organisation. / In a context of "hyper" competition, the capacity of adaptation to a constantly changing economic environment, determines the future of companies. The necessity of innovating and of mobilizing knowledge is a constant challenge for the continued existence of organizations. Various types of company networks are an answer to this situation because, in order to innovate, it is necessary to cooperate and to master the economy through networks. Managers, little prepared for a "Knowledge" management which would mobilize the firm's expertise, must be prepared towards a new shape of management which does not just take direct costs into consideration. The collective knowledge of a company, its immaterial capital, is in reality, only assessed in posteriori at the end of the innovation process. Furthermore, the construction of a real collective intelligence based on sharing expertise comes up against resistance on behalf of the collaborators. This resistance is mainly due to a lack of trust towards the partners inside and outside a network. A change in communication skills and becoming more transparent and more open, is a possible means of developing human potential and social capital, and of improving socio-economic performance. The implementation of a communication platform piloted and coordinated by a Community manager, based on new media, can serve as tool of change towards collaboration. A company introducing new technology without mutual trust evolving from dialogue and coordination with users will most certainly require the services of an outside expert to accompany the collaborative project.

Dans cette thèse, j’étudie les avantages des Murs d’Écran Interactif à Haute Résolution(UHRIWD - Ultra High Resolution Interactive Wall Displays) pour la collaboration. Je me concentre sur uncontexte de collaboration bien précis: la surveillance des systèmes critiques dans les salles de contrôle. Desvisites de ces salles et ainsi que des interviews avec des opérateurs montrent qu’une collaborationplus ou moins étroite est nécessaire en fonction de la situation. C’est lorsqu’une collaboration étroiteest nécessaire que je pense qu’un UHRIWD peut être bénéfique pour celle ci. Je montre d’abordqu’un mur d’écran encourage la collaboration étroite comparée à l’utilisation de plusieurs postes detravail individuels. Puis je montre comment une technique d’interaction peut avoir une influence sur letype de collaboration. Par exemple, une technique avec une large empreinte visuelle va encouragerune collaboration plus étroite. J’applique cela dans la conception de techniques pour afficher desprédictions de trafic parallèlement au trafic en temps réel dans une salle de contrôle de trafic routier.Pour finir, je propose des techniques pour faciliter les transitions entre les différents écrans d’unesalle de contrôle. / In this thesis, I study the benefits of collaboration in front of Ultra-High ResolutionInteractive Wall Displays (UHRWD). I focus on the specific collaborative context of control rooms.Visits of control rooms and interviews with operators show that different degrees of collaboration arerequired in function of the situation. I believe that a UHRIWD could be beneficial in situations whenclose collaboration is needed. I first show that wall display encourages close collaboration comparedto multiple separate displays. Then I show that the interaction techniques can also influence thedegree of collaboration, for instance, a technique with a large visual footprint also encourages a closecollaboration. I apply this in the design of technique to visualize road traffic forecast on a wall displayfor road traffic control centres. Finally, I propose techniques to help the transition between thedifferent setups of a control room: the workstations and the wall display.

La qualité de la collaboration au sein et entre les entreprises dans une chaîne d'approvisionnement est l'une des principales préoccupations étudiées dans la gestion de la chaîne d'approvisionnement et la littérature économique. Il existe de nombreuses forces qui affectent le niveau de collaboration dans différents contextes hiérarchiques: la collaboration au sein des entreprises (au niveau de l'équipe (groupe)) et entre les entreprises (au niveau de l'entreprise) (Drago and Turnbull, 1988; Siemsen, Balasubramanian, and Roth, 2007). La collaboration et la communication au sein des entreprises et entre les entreprises sont étudiées dans des publications antérieures sous différents aspects et par des méthodes analytiques (Gibbons, 2005) et non analytiques (Mortensen and Neeley, 2012). Cette thèse se concentre sur la collaboration et la coopération entre les différentes parties, soit dans une entreprise, soit entre différentes entreprises dans une chaîne d'approvisionnement, dans différents contextes.Ce travail est compose du trois chapitres. Dans le premier chapitre, je discute de la conception des incitations, spécifiquement dans le contexte du développement du produit et de la manière dont les différents types de collaboration affectent la composition optimale de l'équipe dans la conception d'un produit. Dans le second chapitre, je me concentre sur la collaboration d'un fournisseur et de différents détaillants pour améliorer la durabilité d'une chaîne d'approvisionnement en termes d'amélioration du bien-être socialtour en réduisant. Dans le dernier chapitre, je considère la collaboration entre un fournisseur et différents acheteurs. L'objectif principal de ce chapitre est d'étudier la sous-traitance des acheteurs par rapport à la décision d'approvisionnement dans une chaîne d'approvisionnement en présence d'apprentissage par action par les acteurs, compte tenu de l'effet de la concurrence sur le marché. / The quality of collaboration within and between firms in a supply chain is one of the main concerns which is studied in supply chain management and economics literature. There are many forces that affect the level of collaboration in different hierarchical settings: collaboration within firms (in team (group) level) and between firms (in firm level) (Drago and Turnbull, 1988; Siemsen, Balasubramanian, and Roth, 2007). Collaboration and communication within firms and between firms is studied in previous literature from different aspects and through analytical (Gibbons, 2005) and non-analytical methods (Mortensen and Neeley, 2012). This dissertation focuses on collaboration and cooperation between different parties, either within a firm or among different firms in a supply chain, in different contexts.This thesis consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I discuss incentive design specifically in the context of product development and how different types of collaboration affect optimal team composition in designing a product. In the second chapter, I focus on collaboration among a supplier and different retailers to improve sustainability in a supply chain in terms of improving social welfare by lowering waste in the supply chain. In the last chapter, I consider the collaboration among a supplier and different buyers. The main purpose of this chapter is to study buyers' outsourcing versus in-sourcing decision in a supply chain in the presence of learning-by-doing by players, considering the effect of competition in the market.

No description available.