Abstracts
This paper presents a historical review of the evolution of management thinking and collaboration technologies. This review shows that the gap between management ideas and the functionality available in collaboration technologies has been steadily narrowing since the late 1960s, opening up new opportunities for developers and integrators of these technologies as well as companies that use them. Management ideas have preceded and likely driven the development and use of collaboration technologies up until the early 1990s. This situation has been reversed since the mid-1990s due to circumstances related to the advent of the World Wide Web. One caveat associated with this new state of affairs is that it makes it difficult for companies to achieve or sustain a competitive advantage in their industries, particularly if they use standard technologies that are also available to their competitors. From a traditional management perspective, this is the equivalent to placing the "cart in front of the horses", so to speak. We argue that, to overcome difficulties associated with this situation companies need to instill a new management model into their management ranks. Based on the results of business process redesign projects involving over 10 companies in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Region, we provide a first step toward the development of a generic management model that takes advantage of features of modern collaboration technologies.
Este trabalho apresenta uma revisão da evolução do pensamento gerencial e das "collaboration technologies". Esta revisão mostra que o "gap" entre as idéias gerenciais e a funcionalidade presente nas "collaboration technologies" tem diminuído firmemente desde o final dos anos 60, abrindo novas oportunidades para os criadores e integradores dessas tecnologias, assim como para as empresas que as utilizam. As idéias gerenciais precederam e provavelmente impulsionaram o desenvolvimento e uso das "collaboration technologies" até o início dos anos 90. Esta situação foi revertida desde meados dos anos 90 devido a circunstâncias relacionadas ao advento da W.W.W. Uma advertência associada com esta nova situação refere-se às dificuldades que as empresas têm de atingir uma vantagem competitiva, particularmente se elas usam tecnologia padrão, que também estão disponíveis para suas competidoras. Da perspectiva da gerência tradicional, isto corresponde a "colocar o carro na frente dos bois". Nós argumentamos que para vencer estas dificuldades, as empresas devem implantar um novo modelo gerencial em seus quadros. Baseado nos resultados de projetos de reconfiguração dos processos empresariais envolvendo mais de 10 empresas na Região Metropolitana da Filadélfia, nós damos um primeiro passo no sentido do desenvolvimento de um modelo gerencial genérico que leva em conta as características das modernas "collaboration technologies".
ARTIGOS/ARTICLES
Who is on the Driver Seat? The Evolution of Collaboration Organizations
Ned Kock e Ravi Patnaiakuny
Ned Kock e Ravi Patnaiakuny - Department of Computer and Information Sciences Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a historical review of the evolution of management thinking and collaboration technologies. This review shows that the gap between management ideas and the functionality available in collaboration technologies has been steadily narrowing since the late 1960s, opening up new opportunities for developers and integrators of these technologies as well as companies that use them. Management ideas have preceded and likely driven the development and use of collaboration technologies up until the early 1990s. This situation has been reversed since the mid-1990s due to circumstances related to the advent of the World Wide Web. One caveat associated with this new state of affairs is that it makes it difficult for companies to achieve or sustain a competitive advantage in their industries, particularly if they use standard technologies that are also available to their competitors. From a traditional management perspective, this is the equivalent to placing the "cart in front of the horses", so to speak. We argue that, to overcome difficulties associated with this situation companies need to instill a new management model into their management ranks. Based on the results of business process redesign projects involving over 10 companies in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Region, we provide a first step toward the development of a generic management model that takes advantage of features of modern collaboration technologies.
RESUMO
Este trabalho apresenta uma revisão da evolução do pensamento gerencial e das "collaboration technologies". Esta revisão mostra que o "gap" entre as idéias gerenciais e a funcionalidade presente nas "collaboration technologies" tem diminuído firmemente desde o final dos anos 60, abrindo novas oportunidades para os criadores e integradores dessas tecnologias, assim como para as empresas que as utilizam. As idéias gerenciais precederam e provavelmente impulsionaram o desenvolvimento e uso das "collaboration technologies" até o início dos anos 90. Esta situação foi revertida desde meados dos anos 90 devido a circunstâncias relacionadas ao advento da W.W.W. Uma advertência associada com esta nova situação refere-se às dificuldades que as empresas têm de atingir uma vantagem competitiva, particularmente se elas usam tecnologia padrão, que também estão disponíveis para suas competidoras. Da perspectiva da gerência tradicional, isto corresponde a "colocar o carro na frente dos bois". Nós argumentamos que para vencer estas dificuldades, as empresas devem implantar um novo modelo gerencial em seus quadros. Baseado nos resultados de projetos de reconfiguração dos processos empresariais envolvendo mais de 10 empresas na Região Metropolitana da Filadélfia, nós damos um primeiro passo no sentido do desenvolvimento de um modelo gerencial genérico que leva em conta as características das modernas "collaboration technologies".
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Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
11 Feb 2015 -
Date of issue
Dec 1999
