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1 – 10 of over 30000Payam Akbar and Stefan Hoffmann
The purpose of this paper is to develop and introduce the new concept of the collaborative space.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and introduce the new concept of the collaborative space.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on an extensive overview of past research and footing on extant conceptual work, the paper chooses an explicating conceptualization approach.
Findings
The paper presents the collaborative space, which features the three bipolar dimensions, namely, the type of consumption (access vs reownership), source of resource (company-owned vs consumer-owned) and the type of compensation (with vs without monetary fee). These dimensions open up multiple areas of the collaborative space, including the pseudo sharing economy, sharing ecology, redistribution markets and redistribution communities.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows blind spots in the literature as well as the need to consider the consumption context to outline directions for future research.
Practical implications
For managers, this paper develops a foundation for entering, exploring and exploiting the collaborative space along the stages acquisition, distribution, consumption and compensation.
Social implications
Collaborative consumption is associated with community-building, resource saving and sustainability. The conceptualization of the collaborative spaces provides different options to enable more sustainable consumption and raise social exchange between consumers.
Originality/value
So far, an overarching framework that reveals similarities and differences of business models that are associated with collaborative consumption and the sharing economy is missing. This paper develops this framework, which is labelled the collaborative space.
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Paula Ungureanu, Carlotta Cochis, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli and Anna Chiara Scapolan
This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external stakeholders. In particular, the study focuses on collaborative spaces as tools for multiplex (i.e., simultaneous internal and external boundary management in innovation projects).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative study in a multi-divisional organization that set up in its headquarters a collaborative space for collaborative product development. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations.
Findings
Findings highlight that the relation between expectations and experiences about the collaborative space impact on employees' ability to perform boundary work inside and outside the organization. In addition to the collaborative space's affording role for expectations about hands-on collaborative innovation (space as laboratory), the study also highlights a set of collaboration constraints. These latter are generated by perceived boundary configurations (i.e. degree of boundary permeability and infrastructure in internal and external collaborations) and by discrepancies between expectations (space as laboratory) and actual collaboration experiences in the space (i.e. space as maze, cloister, showcase and silo). We show that space-generated constraints slow down internal and external boundary work for innovation and generate a trade-off between them.
Originality/value
Using the process-based perspective of boundary work, the paper connects studies on cross-functional teaming and open innovation through the concept of “multiplex boundary work.” It also contributes to the literature on boundary work by showing the challenges of using collaborative spaces as organizational support tools for multiplex boundary spanning.
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The call for more women to start up and grow businesses as a vehicle for economic vibrancy is a prevailing discourse in the UK. There have been calls for greater co-ordination…
Abstract
Purpose
The call for more women to start up and grow businesses as a vehicle for economic vibrancy is a prevailing discourse in the UK. There have been calls for greater co-ordination between research, policy and practice to create collaborative spaces whose focus is to influence and shape structures and processes beyond the individual or community level to a macro level of enterprise policy. However, calls have not specifically focussed on the issues of gender or other categories of social difference. This study aims to understand how such co-ordinations can be established to enable progress within the women’s entrepreneurship space through the development of collaborative spaces fusing research, policy and practice and how they should be structured to ensure inclusion through the process as well as enabling greater inclusion as part of the collaborative space outcome.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a critical feminist perspective, the study draws from extant literature on women and minority networks research from the women in leadership, diversity and inclusion fields as a lens through which to frame the analysis of women’s enterprise policy in the UK, research and practice.
Findings
The study highlights the importance of collective feminist action drawing upon post-feminist sensibilities and an Engaged–Activist Scholarship approach. Such collective feminist action appreciates the importance of the micro as an enabler to progressive action at the macro level to enact structural and system change within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. A framework for inclusive and collaborative entrepreneuring space development is offered.
Practical implications
This paper offers policymakers, researchers and practitioners a framework as a practical way forward to ensure efforts are progressive and enable structural and systemic change.
Originality/value
The paper offers a framework for developing inclusive and collaborative entrepreneuring spaces to ensure progression by lifting the focus to a macro level of change to enable inclusion as part of the process and outcome of such collaborative spaces.
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Lindsey Godwin and Julie Rennecker
Collaborative capital, or the capacity to work effectively with others toward shared goals and outcomes, reflects an accumulation of both skills and resources by individuals or…
Abstract
Collaborative capital, or the capacity to work effectively with others toward shared goals and outcomes, reflects an accumulation of both skills and resources by individuals or groups. Traditionally, these skills and resources represented products of experiences in face-to-face task or interest groups. More recently, reflective of organizational trends to collaborate more often across both geographical and organizational boundaries, these experiences have been mediated by technologies designed to facilitate collaborative work. Often, however, the people using the technologies already know one another and interact face-to-face periodically. In contrast, in this chapter, we focus on a new technology-enabled social form, the multi-day online conference enabled by iCohere, an emerging groupware technology supporting the conference, to examine how collaborative capital might be built in and among previously unacquainted, globally distributed individuals. Using Erickson and Kellogg's notion of “social translucence” we explore the case of one online conference attended by over 600 participants in 50 countries to identify technologic and social infrastructures conducive to the generation of new collaborative capital through participation in virtual spaces. By design, the technology and conference plan replicated common conference experiences conducive to collaborative capital development, but conference attendees also interacted and participated in ways that transcended the possibilities of a face-to-face conference. We anticipate these findings to be interesting for both managers and project team leaders seeking to foster collaborative capital development with the aid of modern communication and collaboration technologies.
Vatcharaporn Esichaikul, Win Myint Aung, Clemens Bechter and Mariam Rehman
The purpose of this paper is to define standard guidelines for the development of a wiki collaboration space for e-Learning, in order to provide collaborative activities among…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define standard guidelines for the development of a wiki collaboration space for e-Learning, in order to provide collaborative activities among students, and between instructors and students.
Design/methodology/approach
The general requirements and extended features of wiki collaboration space were determined by conducting a requirement study and discussion with major stakeholders, i.e. students and tutors. Then, the wiki collaboration space was developed based on an open source wiki system. Finally, a wiki collaboration space was evaluated in terms of usability and collaboration effectiveness.
Findings
A comparison was performed between the wiki collaboration space and the original wiki in students’ works in an online course. The results showed that the effectiveness of collaboration and usefulness of wiki collaboration space were higher than original wiki in collaborative assignment.
Practical implications
As for practical implications, e-Learning developers/managers can use the outcome of this study as a guideline to integrate wiki and/or other social software to supplement e-Learning systems for better collaboration.
Originality/value
There is a need to define standard guidelines that provide the necessary features for wiki in e-Learning. In this study, extended features of wiki as collaborative learning tool were identified and evaluated to meet the needs of students in e-Learning environment.
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Raewyn Lesley Hills, Deborah Levy and Barbara Plester
Meetings with colleagues are an essential activity in workplace collaboration. The iterative nature of collaborative work demands spaces that team members can access quickly and…
Abstract
Purpose
Meetings with colleagues are an essential activity in workplace collaboration. The iterative nature of collaborative work demands spaces that team members can access quickly and easily. Creating suitable meeting spaces will become more critical if the hybrid work model continues and the workplace environment becomes the hub for face-to-face collaborative time, learning and training. Workspace and fit-out is expensive so it is crucial that the investment in meeting spaces supports employees’ collaboration activities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study of a corporate organisation undertaken in New Zealand to investigate how employees from two business units use their workspace to collaborate within their own team and across other teams in their organisation. The study uses ethnographic techniques, including participant observation and in-depth face-to-face interviews.
Findings
The findings show that the frequency and nature of small group work in collaboration was underestimated in the initial planning of the new workspace. Although participants found the design and fit-out of the formal meeting rooms supportive of collaborative work, the meeting rooms were in high demand, and it was difficult to find a room at short notice. The breakout spaces were confusing because they lacked key design attributes identified by the participants as conducive to small group work. Design shortfalls together with fit-out features perceived as supportive of collaborative work are identified.
Originality/value
The research reports on employees’ perceptions and experiences across two functionally diverse business units, reflecting their different needs and concerns.
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Angeliki Garoufali and Emmanouel Garoufallou
With the technological innovation dominating higher education, the university libraries, as physical spaces, continue to play a crucial role in connecting students with knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
With the technological innovation dominating higher education, the university libraries, as physical spaces, continue to play a crucial role in connecting students with knowledge. The emergence of the “Learning Commons” serves as a catalyst in the design of library spaces, renewing libraries’ roles and missions and making them popular to Millennials for new reasons. This study aims to record Greek librarians' views on the current situation in Greek academic libraries regarding physical space design, services provided and the existence of the “Learning Commons” model characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted through an online survey structured questionnaire (closed-ended, five-point Likert scale, multiple-choice and statements questions). This study population comprised librarians working in 37 academic institutions and colleges. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. The research questions were answered using variables creation and the tests, t-test, ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis. The groups of questions were tested for their reliability using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient.
Findings
In total, 186 librarians responded to this study. The responses revealed that participants were willing and ready to accept and support a different approach to academic library physical spaces use, according to the shared learning spaces model. However, this requires changes in the organization's vision, further growth and evolution. Although recently most Greek academic libraries have made significant progress in developing their services to function as information and digital hubs, they do not function as learning collaborative hubs, since the “Learning Commons” model is not reflected in their buildings.
Originality/value
The creation of new academic libraries according to the “common” model is a rapidly evolving issue that affects Greek libraries. This paper highlights the characteristics of libraries that should be adopted in the modern era, the new roles of academic librarians and the importance of an appropriate design of the physical space to achieve optimal learning outcomes. At the same time, this paper is one of the few that illustrates librarians', and not users', perceptions of these changes. This paper is a good research example, and the methodology for measuring this type of context could be used by other future research approaches in other countries.
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Fatt Cheong Choy and Su Nee Goh
The focus on designing spaces for users in the last decade or so signifies the gradual change in the mission of libraries from provision of resources to that of a pro-active…
Abstract
Purpose
The focus on designing spaces for users in the last decade or so signifies the gradual change in the mission of libraries from provision of resources to that of a pro-active partner in learning. Planning for user space in support of learning is far more complex as it needs to take into account the variety of users’ needs and behaviour. Before specifying the actual layout and design of users’ spaces it is important to consider all the major factors that affect the use of the intended library space. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guide to library planning base on the experience of the authors at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework for planning library spaces developed at NTU Libraries consists of four components – collaborative space, sanctuary space, interaction space and community space. Discussion on the rationale of these spaces and suggestions for their implementation will assist others in asking appropriate questions on their own library space planning exercise.
Findings
The paper reinforced the view that a good library building has to provide a wide variety of spaces, some of which are contradictory as the needs of a student is different from another. A student also has different needs at different times. Providing and balancing these needs is essential.
Originality/value
This paper provides a tried and tested conceptual framework for use by library space designers.
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Keywords
The idea of active learning classrooms (ALCs) in post-secondary institutions across North America is not a new one and it continues to gain prominence (Davis, 2018; Ellern &…
Abstract
The idea of active learning classrooms (ALCs) in post-secondary institutions across North America is not a new one and it continues to gain prominence (Davis, 2018; Ellern & Buchanan, 2018; Park & Choi, 2014). Research shows that these dynamic classrooms increased student comprehension of key concepts, problem-solving ability, improved attitude toward learning, and overall learning gains (Cotner, Loper, Walker, & Brooks, 2013; Park & Choi, 2014). Not surprisingly then, there has been a growing number of academic libraries which see the potential benefits and have incorporated ALCs, or elements of such, into their spaces (Ellern & Buchanan, 2018; Karasic, 2016; Soderdahl, 2011).
This chapter presents a case study on the 2017 redesign of a Canadian academic library, the Albert D. Cohen Management Library at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Once considered a “study hall,” the renovated business library has been transformed into a modern student learning space. The library is outfitted with a modular ALC equipped to accommodate the varied learning needs of the twenty-first-century students at the Asper School of Business. The author provides a detailed first-hand account of the ALC planning process, key partnerships, challenges, and post-launch reaction.
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Hilary Bradbury-Huang, Benyamin Lichtenstein, John S. Carroll and Peter M. Senge
Corporations are now collaborating to meet complex global sustainability challenges, which, until recently, were considered beyond the mandate of business leaders…
Abstract
Corporations are now collaborating to meet complex global sustainability challenges, which, until recently, were considered beyond the mandate of business leaders. Multi-organizational consortia have formed, not as philanthropic efforts, but to find competitive advantage. To examine the dynamics of an early collaboration of this sort, with a view to suggesting how future inter-organizational projects might be fostered, we pursued an in-depth multi-method case study of “The Sustainability Consortium.” The Consortium has convened Fortune 50 senior managers since 1998. Our analysis uncovers the primacy of “Relational Space” – a rich context for aspirational trust and reflective learning across organizational boundaries, which is enabled by, and in turn gives rise to, collaborative projects. Within this space, an ecology of organizational leaders committed to sustainability can accomplish together what would be impossible in their individual organizations. We explain the viability of this collaboration.