Free Range Collaboration

Organizational culture plays a significant factor in internal collaboration.  Both managerial and staff level support are essential to the success of internal collaborative efforts.  Either of these could also pose as potential barriers.  When there is a corporate culture that focuses on rewarding individual achievements instead of that which is accomplished by the group, in efforts to boost self-interest and personal advancement, individuals may feel more compelled to keep certain knowledge and ideas to themselves instead of sharing them with the rest of the group.

I would imagine that physical locality, time constraints, and technological capabilities will also play a factor in an organization’s capabilities for internal collaboration.  Collaborative efforts often take time, and an organization must be willing to spend time contributing to whatever it is that they are working together on to see positive results.  Members of an organization must also be able to work out arrangements in regard to physical locality.  In other words, members must be able to periodically gather in some sort of space to exchange their thoughts and contribute to the collaboration.  If it is not feasible for this space to be physical, then a virtual space must be established.  Access to proper technological tools, and the available staff knowledge to utilize these tools will then also play a large role in the ability for collaborative efforts to be achieved.