‘collaboration’ is one of those buzz words, one of those management concepts, that have been flung at us so many times we just nod and agree it’s a wonderful thing we should all participate in. but is it? and how do we learn to collaborate?

the latest issue of the M/C journal focuses on collaboration. i have only read the editor’s notes and the titles of the articles look very intriguing. i expect to comment more on the journal.

i am a fan of collaboration. sure i’m brilliant (laugh now – meant to be a joke) but i can’t know everything going on in the world. i can’t be an expert on teams as well as code perfect php, speak fluent german and know every intricate detail on tax law but if i had aspirations of building a financial software package for the german market I would need those skills plus more (i’m not btw). of course collaborating with a team who had those skills would allow me to develop such a product.

during my research, i looked at conflict management styles (of which collaboration is one). in 1964, blake & mouton wrote ‘ the managerial grid ‘ and developed 5 management styles based on how much you care about people & production. the 2 dimensional framework still persists and was made even more famous in 1976 with the thomas-kilmann instrument measuring conflict styles (Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument ).

it’s unclear as to the effects of collaboration in conflict. brown (1992) thought it was best to use collaboration in all situations. some reports found using collaboration in conflict increased promotability (blake & mouton, 1964; thomas, 1971) while others linked it to negative team functioning and effectiveness (de dreu & van vianen, 2001). when administering the ‘dealing with conflict instrument’ (hiam, 1999) to my research participants:

collaboration was the dominant preferred style for handling conflict!

in fact, 89% said they preferred to use collaboration. while testing the instrument, hiam’s research also showed collaboration was the primary style but at 47% – no where near as high as my 89%. i wonder if this is because of the push towards teamwork or the influence of the buzzword? could it be industry specific (i don’t know those details of his study but mine were heavy IT)? is it a virtual vs face-to-face team difference?

my gut feeling is collaboration should not always be used during conflict. how well each style works was beyond the scope of my research but maybe there will be something in this journal that further explores the issue.