Pautas para la evaluación.

Several authors have described and defined coordination (Malone & Crowston, 1994; Weigand, Van der Poll & de Moor, 2003; 1967; Singh & Rein, 1992; Holt, 1988). These definitions reflect that within a collaborative work there are many activities working towards a common goal and interdependencies exist between these activities that must be managed. For instance, Malone and Crowston (1994) define coordination as the act of

21

managing interdependencies between activities performed towards achieving a goal. Collaborative work therefore denotes the management of interdependencies towards attaining a specific common objective.

From a more holistic perspective, with aim to promote sustainability, the idea of coordination emphasised in this study encapsulates all aspects of articulation work as realised in CSCW. This takes cognisance of factors that can influence the coordination outcome. Articulation work is referred to as the additional effort required in obtaining the actual collaboration from the sum of individual tasks. In articulation work, certain tasks are accomplished initially, and rarely require alteration, while others are dynamic and are subject to constant re-negotiation. Coordination represents the dynamic aspect of articulation work, which constantly demands renegotiation to align actions during a collaborative effort. Other activities of articulation work include the identification of the objectives of the group work; the mapping of these objectives into tasks; the selection of participants, in conjunction with the distribution of tasks among the participants; and the eventual coordination of the execution of the tasks. By focusing on the execution of goal- oriented tasks, users with overlapping task structures are able to exploit opportunities for coordination with each other. Thus, coordination is referred to as a process of articulating work and managing interdependencies to support and sustain collaborative work. To adequately negotiate agreements over collaboration and coordination of activities, it is imperative to gain insight and awareness into the actions and accomplishments of the other participants.

Collaboration allows groups with limited resources to work together more effectively. As organisations often have limited resources and are constantly faced with a dynamic and unstable environment, collaboration allows the pursuit of shared goals and the addressing of common concerns to a mutually beneficial end. It is vital, however, to stress the need to coordinate actions towards a successful collaborative effort. This connotes that a principal aspect of collaborative work is the notion of interdependency, which has to be effectively managed.

As organisations combine to take advantage of opportunities, solve problems or produce goods and services (Dyer & Singh, 1998; Gulati et al., 2000) they create interdependency. This is generated as a result of cooperation, out of which negotiations and subsequent agreements emerge between the collaborators. Therefore, in order to attain the desired objective(s), collaborators must coordinate their tasks and actions to avoid conflicts or repetitive tasks. To align actions collaborators often depend on coordination mechanisms such as communication, information sharing, and standardisation of assets. In order to work harmoniously, individuals and their interdependent activities must be well-coordinated (Gerson & Star, 1986; Strauss,

22

1994). Although the coordination of interdependencies between tasks in a collaborative environment is crucial, it is not easily achievable. Usually the coordination problem is inherently distributed as there are multiple participants involved. The complexity of the situation is defined by the number of participants involved; the distance between participants (co-located or geographically distributed); and the autonomy of participants (Gerson & Star, 1986; Schmidt, 1998).

In situations of low complexity, where there are few people involved, who are, for instance, co-located, collaborative work activities may be coordinated within the regular range of day-to-day modes of social life interaction. In certain instances these modes of coordination are sufficient to manage cooperative work effectively and efficiently. Collaborative work participants in a co-located environment can implicitly monitor each other as they perform their activities, in a manner in which the awareness and understanding of the work of a co-worker is supported. This allows contributors to take each other‘s previous, present and future activities into account when planning and conducting their own work. Essentially, the role-players talk, write and gesture among themselves, allowing a seamless and dynamic complementary interconnecting of these modes of interaction (Schmidt, 1998).

The achievement of effective cooperation and collaboration is, however, far more difficult when multiple actors are involved; are geographically distributed and are engaged in a variety of interdependent activities. This introduces a new level of complexity wherein everyday social and communication skills become insufficient. This is exacerbated if the entire coordination process is left to the users to manage exclusively, by whatever ad- hoc means will work (Holt, 1985). Principally, when dealing with greater complexity, relative to coordination in a heterogeneous and distributed environment, there is a necessity for other coordination artefacts.

Raposo, et al., (2001) assert that a significant challenge in proposing coordination mechanisms to control collaborative activities is accounting for the flexibility demanded by the dynamic interactive nature of the partners. These authors contend that by clearly separating coordination activities from the coordinated work such flexibility can be achieved. This infers that by separating the actual work aimed at goal achievement and the work aimed at coordination, policies may be altered, adjusted and aligned for certain interdependencies, without affecting the core of the entire collaborative system. In order to account for the complexities of coordination in a distributed environment the research has explored and reviewed existing theories and concepts. These diverse and varied theories and concepts arose with the aim of providing insight into the potential coordination issues which may occur at different levels of granularity. To describe the

23

fundamental tenets and bases of organisation and to identify the requirements towards the development of suitable solutions the subsequent section, based on existing frameworks, points towards potential resolutions.

A consideration of the existing theories and concepts on coordination reveals that several perspectives on coordination, arising from various disciplines, exist, with no specific one providing a complete overview of coordination. The existing frameworks that have emerged typically focus on a limited number of defining features. As multiple authors, including Mintzberg (1998), Marlone and Cawston (1999) as well as Sposito (2000), suggest, it is necessary to observe the issue from the perspective of manifold dimensions to understand the complexity of the modern organisation fully. To assess all the requisite elements adequately, this chapter therefore reviews and examines previous work generated from an assortment of disciplines, in order to gain insight into and an understanding of possible coordination breakdowns, together with how to resolve them. Moreover, to appraise the coordination possibilities from these diverse perspectives, Section 2.3 encompasses a discussion regarding the construct provided by coordination theory (CT). CT as an interdisciplinary model provides a structure which assists in categorising and summarising the constructs, lessons and ideas generated by the theories and concepts considered within this chapter. Coordination management constructs are discussed in the analytical literature review, making explicit the conditions and configurations which may limit or enhance coordination in a distributed environment. The following section reveals the relevant theories and concepts, with emphasis on their analytical focus.