Business Case Studies, Executive Interviews, Jonathan Hughes on Collaboration

Help
Bookmark
Tell A Friend

Executive Interviews: Interview with Jonathan Hughes on Collaboration
March 2008 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary


Jonathan Hughes
Partner at Vantage Partners, a consulting firm.


Download this interview
  • What are the benefits of getting collaboration right? What does it take to realize these benefits?
    The fundamental benefit of collaboration with external partners is leverage being able to derive benefit fromthe assets, capabilities, and expertise of partners. The benefits of internal collaboration are myriad. One, as I indicated earlier, is to enable successful external collaboration. Moreover, effective internal collaboration allows companies to better leverage the range of assets and expertise they have within their own walls, to make better decisions faster, and to execute more efficiently and effectively.

    To realize these benefits, groups and individuals across the enterprise must be willing to confront their differences, and able to creatively and constructively address the conflict that results.

    Consider a company where marketing, R&D, and procurement all work seamlessly together to design and bring new products to market. At every step of theway they have different ideas and recommendations. Marketing says customerswon't value a new feature enough to pay for it. Engineering insists that customers don't always know what they want sometimes you need to allow them to experience a truly innovative feature before they realize they can't livewithout it. Procurement says the best way to develop the feature is to involve suppliers in creating the specifications and design. Engineering is worried about the time that will take. However, at every step, the conflict among these groups is directly and respectfully engaged. Creative solutions and wise decisions result. Unfortunately, this is not the way things work at most companies. Instead, different groups often try to defend their turf and work around each other, missing many opportunities to leverage different expertise to develop optimal solutions. Moreover, when people from different functional groups or business units do work together, they get bogged down in conflict, such that making and implementing decisions is significantly slowed.

  • Why is it that despite the billions of dollars spent on initiatives to improve the collaboration, few companies are happy with the results? From your extensive research and consulting experience, what do you think are the reasons?
    Very few companies, and very few executives have really examined and come to an accurate understanding of what makes collaboration so difficult, namely, the ability to engage and deal with differences and conflict, and to do so constructively. Most people are significantly more comfortable dealing with similarity rather than difference. Moreover, most companies are organized for control. As indicated by an ever-growing academic literature that touts the benefits of the "extended enterprise" collaboration between and among companies requires ceding a certain amount of control in order to leverage the expertise and capabilities of partners. It turns out to be a fundamentally unnatural act for most companies. Their business processes, incentives, and culture all militate against effective collaboration and constructive management of differences. Much of my work is focused on addressing the current lack of practical advice for leaders and organizations on how to manage differences and conflict to enable more effective collaboration.

  • What are the "three myths of collaboration"? How often are they mistaken for truths?
    One that focusing on equipping people with skills for good teamwork is sufficient to enable effective collaboration; two that engineering the right formal incentives for people will guarantee effective collaboration; and three that the ideal organizational structure will, in and of itself, enable successful collaboration. These myths are pervasive. All overlook the central role of conflict in collaboration the fact that collaboration requires actively engaging differences, that differences generate conflict, and that unless people and organizations are equipped to deal constrictively with conflict, collaboration will break down.

1. From Competition to Collaboration Case Study
2. ICMR Case Collection
3. Case Study Volumes

Previous 1 2  3  4 5 6 7  Next

Contact us: IBS Case Development Centre (IBSCDC), IFHE Campus, Donthanapally, Sankarapally Road, Hyderabad-501203, Telangana, INDIA.
Mob: +91- 9640901313,
E-mail: casehelpdesk@ibsindia.org

©2020-2025 IBS Case Development Centre. All rights reserved. | Careers | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Disclosure | Site Map xml sitemap