A collaborative working environment (CWE) supports people, such as

e-professional E-professional or "eprofessional" or even "eProfessional" is a term used in Europe to describe a professional whose work relies on concepts of remote work: working at a distance using information technology and communications technology, as well as ...

s, in their individual and cooperative work. Research in CWE involves focusing on organizational, technical, and social issues.

Background

Working practices in a collaborative working environment evolved from the traditional or geographical co-location paradigm. In a CWE, professionals work together regardless of their geographical location. In this context,

s use a collaborative working environment to provide and share information and exchange views in order to reach a common understanding. Such practices enable an effective and efficient collaboration among different proficiencies.

Description

The following applications or services are considered elements of a CWE: *

E-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

Instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

* Application sharing *

Video conferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

Collaborative workspace Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, an ...

document management A document management system (DMS) is usually a computerized system used to store, share, track and manage files or documents. Some systems include history tracking where a log of the various versions created and modified by different users is r ...

and version control system * Task and

workflow A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence o ...

management *

Wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

group or community effort to edit wiki pages. (e.g. wiki pages describing concepts to enable a common understanding within a group or community) *

Blogging A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

where entries are categorized by groups or communities or other concepts supporting collaboration

Overview

The concept of CWE is derived from the idea of virtual work-spaces, and is related to the concept of remote work. It extends the traditional concept of the

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

to include any type of

knowledge worker Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is ...

who intensively uses

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

(ICT) environments and tools in their working practices. Typically, a group of e-professionals conduct their collaborative work through the use of collaborative working environments (CWE). CWE refers to online collaboration (such as

virtual team A virtual team (also known as a geographically dispersed team, distributed team, or remote team) usually refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology such as email, ins ...

mass collaboration Mass collaboration is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature. Such projects typically take place on the internet using social software and computer-s ...

, and massively distributed collaboration); online communities of practice (such as the open source community); and

open innovation Open innovation is a term used to promote an information age mindset toward innovation that runs counter to the secrecy and silo mentality of traditional corporate research labs. The benefits and driving forces behind increased openness have bee ...

principles.

Collaborative work systems

A collaborative working system (CWS) is an organizational unit that emerges any time when collaboration takes place, whether it is formal or informal, intentional or unintentional.Beyerlein, M; Freedman, S.; McGee, G.; Moran, L. (2002). ''Beyond Teams: Building the Collaborative Organization''. The Collaborative Work Systems series. Wiley. Collaborative work systems are those in which conscious efforts have been made to create strategies, policies, and structures in order to institutionalize values, behaviors, and practices that promote cooperation among different parties in an organization so as to achieve organizational goals. A high level of collaborative capacity will enable more effective work both at the local and daily levels, and at the global and long-term levels. Beyerlein et al. define collaboration as the collective work of two or more individuals where the work is undertaken with a sense of shared purpose and direction, that is attentive and responsive to the environment. In most organizations collaboration occurs naturally, but ill-defined work practices may create barriers to natural collaboration. The result is a loss of both decision-making quality and valuable time. Well-designed collaborative working systems not only overcome these natural barriers to communication, they also establish a cooperative work culture that becomes an integral part of the organization's structure.

Differences from CWS

A collaborative work system is related to the collaborative working environment. The latter notion is more focused on technology and was issued from the concept of

collaborative workspace Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, an ...

s,Hans Schaffers, Torsten Brodt, Marc Pallot, Wolfgang Prinz (ed.) (March 2006)
''The Future Workspace: Perspectives on Mobile and Collaborative Working''
; AMI Communities at The Netherlands: Telematica Instituut.; retrieved ? driven from research within the MOSAIC Project. The concept of 'system' in 'collaborative work system' has a self-explanatory power that is different from ' environment'. The former pertains to an integrated whole, including collaborative work conceived as a purposeful activity, whilst the later stresses the surroundings of an object – the collaborative working practices. A collaborative work system generally includes a collaborative working environment, but it should be conceived primarily as a set of human activities, intentional or not, that emerge every time a collaboration occurs. This enables focus on the work practices that are necessary for human collaboration and draws attention to important behavioral variables such as

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

and motivation that are not considered within the CWE definition.

CWS and collaborative software (or groupware)

Besides participatory leadership, another key element of a successful collaborative work system is the availability of group collaboration technology or groupware – hardware and software tools that help groups to access and share the information the professionals need to meet, train or teach. However, a collaborative work system (CWS) does not necessarily require groupware support. A simple way to conceptualize the relation between the two concepts is to consider

computer supported cooperative work Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) is the study of how people utilize technology collaboratively, often towards a shared goal. CSCW addresses how computer systems can support collaborative activity and coordination. More specifically, the ...

(CSCW) as a whole consisting of a collaborative work system (CWS) supported by

collaborative software Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them". As re ...

or groupware. On the other hand, a collaborative working environment which supports people in both their ''individual'' and ''cooperative'' work, whatever their geographical location transcends the notion of CSCW which deals specifically with cooperative work.

References

{{reflist, 2 Telecommuting Collaboration Groupware Multimodal interaction Meetings