Collaboration
Collaboration (from
Structured methods of collaboration encourage
Historical examples
Trade
Trade began in
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire used collaboration through ruling with visible control, which lasted from 31BC until (in the east) 1453CE, across around fifty countries. The growth of trade was supported by the stable administration of the Romans.[6] Evidence shows that the Roman Empire and Julius Caesar were influenced by the Greek writer Xenophon's The Education of Cyrus on leadership.[6] This says that 'social bonds, not command and control, were to be the primary mechanisms of governance'. Classics professor Emma Dench notes that the Roman Empire extended its citizenship "to enemies, former enemies of state, to people who'd helped them. The Romans were incredibly good at co-opting people and ideas."[7] The Romans created a stable empire that benefitted both ruled and allied countries. Gold and silver were currencies created by the Romans which supported a market economy, leading to trading within the Roman Empire and taxes.[clarification needed]
Hutterite, Austria (founded 16th century)
In Hutterite communities housing units are built and assigned to individual families, but belong to the colony with little personal property. Meals are taken by the entire colony in a common long room.[8]
Oneida Community, Oneida, New York (1848)
The Oneida Community practiced Communalism (in the sense of communal property and possessions) and Mutual Criticism, where every member of the community was subject to criticism by committee or the community as a whole, during a general meeting. The goal was to remove bad character traits.[9]
Kibbutzim (1890)
A
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a collaborative project during World War II among the Allies that developed the first atomic bomb . It was a collaborative effort by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
The value of this project as an influence on organized collaboration is attributed to Vannevar Bush. In early 1940, Bush lobbied for the creation of the National Defense Research Committee. Frustrated by previous bureaucratic failures in implementing technology in World War I, Bush sought to organize the scientific power of the United States for greater success.[11]
The project succeeded in developing and detonating three nuclear weapons in 1945: a
Contemporary examples
Community organization: intentional communities
The members of an intentional community typically hold a common
Indigenous collaboration
Collaboration in indigenous communities, particularly in the Americas, often involves the entire community working toward a common goal in a horizontal structure with flexible leadership.[13] Children in some indigenous American communities collaborate with the adults. Children can be contributors in the process of meeting objectives by taking on tasks that suit their skills.[14]
Indigenous learning techniques comprise Learning by Observing and Pitching In. For example, a study of Mayan fathers and children with traditional Indigenous ways of learning worked together in collaboration more frequently when building a 3D model puzzle than Mayan fathers with western schooling.[14] Also, Chillihuani people of the Andes value work and create work parties in which members of each household in the community participate.[15] Children from indigenous-heritage communities want to help around the house voluntarily.[16]
In the Mazahua Indigenous community of Mexico, school children show initiative and autonomy by contributing in their classroom, completing activities as a whole, assisting and correcting their teacher during lectures when a mistake is made.[17] Fifth and sixth graders in the community work with the teacher installing a classroom window; the installation becomes a class project in which the students participate in the process alongside the teacher. They all work together without needing leadership, and their movements are all in sync and flowing. It is not a process of instruction, but rather a hands-on experience in which students work together as a synchronous group with the teacher, switching roles and sharing tasks. In these communities, collaboration is emphasized, and learners are trusted to take initiative. While one works, the other watches intently and all are allowed to attempt tasks with the more experienced stepping in to complete more complex parts, while others pay close attention.[18]
Collaboration in the free market
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Ayn Rand said that one way people pursue their rational self-interest is by building strong relationships with other people. According to Rand, participants in capitalism are connected through the voluntary division of labor in the free market, where value is exchanged always for value. Rand's theory of rational egoism claims that acting in one's self-interest entails looking out for others in order to protect the innocent from injustice, and to aid friends, allies, and loved ones.[19][non-primary source needed]
Game theory
Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics, computer science, and economics that looks at situations where multiple players make decisions in an attempt to maximize their returns. The first documented discussion of game theory is in a letter written by James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave in 1713. Antoine Augustin Cournot's Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth in 1838 provided the first general theory. In 1928 it became a recognized field when John von Neumann published a series of papers. Von Neumann's work in game theory culminated in the 1944 book The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.[20]
Military-industrial complex
The term
Skunk Works
Skunk Works is a term used in engineering and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy unhampered by bureaucracy, tasked with advanced or secret projects. One such group was created at Lockheed in 1943. The team developed highly innovative aircraft in short time frames, notably beating its first deadline by 37 days.[11]
Project management
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As a discipline, project management developed from different fields including construction, engineering and defense. In the United States, the forefather of project management is Henry Gantt, who is known for his use of the "bar" chart as a project management tool, for being an associate of Frederick Winslow Taylor's theories of scientific management, and for his study of the management of Navy ship building. His work is the forerunner to many modern project management tools including the work breakdown structure (WBS) and resource allocation.
The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management era. Again, in the United States, prior to the 1950s, projects were managed on an
In 1969, the
However, the exorbitant cost overruns and missed deadlines of large-scale infrastructure, military R&D/procurement and utility projects in the US demonstrates that these advances have not been able to overcome the challenges of such projects.[23]
Academia
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Black Mountain College
Founded in 1933 by
Operating in a relatively isolated rural location with little budget, Black Mountain fostered an informal and collaborative spirit. Innovations, relationships and unexpected connections formed at Black Mountain had a lasting influence on the postwar American art scene, high culture and eventually pop culture. Buckminster Fuller met student Kenneth Snelson at Black Mountain, and the result was the first geodesic dome (improvised out of slats in the school's back yard); Merce Cunningham formed his dance company; and John Cage staged his first happening.
Black Mountain College was a consciously directed
Learning
Dr. Wolff-Michael Roth and Stuart Lee of the University of Victoria assert[24] that until the early 1990s the individual was the 'unit of instruction' and the focus of research. The two observed that researchers and practitioners switched[25][26] to the idea that "knowing" is better thought of as a cultural practice.[27][28][29][30] Roth and Lee also claim[24] that this led to changes in learning and teaching design in which students were encouraged to share their ways of doing mathematics, history, science, with each other. In other words, that children take part in the construction of consensual domains, and 'participate in the negotiation and institutionalization of ... meaning'. In effect, they are participating in learning communities.
This analysis does not consider the appearance of Learning communities in the United States in the early 1980s. For example,
Occupational examples
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Arts
Figurative arts
The romanticized notion of a lone, genius artist has existed since the time of
Collaborative art groups
- Dada (1913)
- Fluxus (1957)
- Situationist International (1957)
- Experiments in Art and Technology (1967)
- Mujeres Muralistas (1973)
- Colab (1977)
- Guerrilla Girls (1985)
- SITO (1993)
Ballet
Music
Musical collaboration occurs when musicians in different places or groups work on the piece. Typically, multiple parties are involved (singers, songwriters, lyricists, composers, and producers) and come together to create one work. For example, one specific collaboration from recent times (2015) was the song "FourFiveSeconds". This single represents a type of collaboration because it was developed by pop idol Rihanna, Paul McCartney (former bassist, composer and vocalist for The Beatles), and rapper/composer Kanye West. Websites and software facilitate musical collaboration over the Internet, resulting in the emergence of online bands.
Several awards exist specifically for collaboration in music:
- Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals—awarded since 1988
- Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals—awarded since 1995
- Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration—awarded since 2002
Collaboration has been a constant feature of electroacoustic music, due to the technology's complexity. Embedding technological tools into the process stimulated the emergence of new agents with new expertise: the musical assistant, the technician, the computer music designer, the music mediator (a profession that has been described and defined in different ways over the years) – aiding with writing, creating new instruments, recording and/or performance. The musical assistant explains developments in musical research and translates artistic ideas into programming languages. Finally, he or she transforms those ideas into a score or a computer program and often performs the musical piece during the concerts.[34] Examples of collaboration include Pierre Boulez and Andrew Gerzso, Alvise Vidolin and Luigi Nono, Jonathan Harvey and Gilbert Nouno.
Music
Musical collaboration occurs when musicians in different places or groups work on the piece. Typically, multiple parties are involved (singers, songwriters, lyricists, composers, and producers) and come together to create one work. For example, one specific collaboration from recent times (2015) was the song "FourFiveSeconds". This single represents a type of collaboration because it was developed by pop idol Rihanna, Paul McCartney (former bassist, composer and vocalist for The Beatles), and rapper/composer Kanye West. Websites and software facilitate musical collaboration over the Internet, resulting in the emergence of online bands.
Several awards exist specifically for collaboration in music:
- Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals—awarded since 1988
- Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals—awarded since 1995
- Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration—awarded since 2002
Collaboration has been a constant feature of electroacoustic music, due to the technology's complexity. Embedding technological tools into the process stimulated the emergence of new agents with new expertise: the musical assistant, the technician, the computer music designer, the music mediator (a profession that has been described and defined in different ways over the years) – aiding with writing, creating new instruments, recording and/or performance. The musical assistant explains developments in musical research and translates artistic ideas into programming languages. Finally, he or she transforms those ideas into a score or a computer program and often performs the musical piece during the concerts.[35] Examples of collaboration include Pierre Boulez and Andrew Gerzso, Alvise Vidolin and Luigi Nono, Jonathan Harvey and Gilbert Nouno.
Classical music
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Although relatively rare compared with collaboration in popular music, there have been some notable examples of music written collaboratively by classical composers. Perhaps the best-known examples are:
- Hexameron, a set of variations for solo piano on a theme from Vincenzo Bellini's opera I puritani. It was written and first performed in 1837. The contributors were Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Carl Czerny, Sigismond Thalberg, Johann Peter Pixis, and Henri Herz.
- The F-A-E Sonata, a sonata for violin and piano, written in 1853 as a gift for the violinist Joseph Joachim. The composers were Albert Dietrich (first movement), Robert Schumann (second and fourth movements), and Johannes Brahms (third movement).[36]
Entertainment
Collaboration in entertainment dates from the origin of theatrical productions, millennia ago. It takes the form of writers, directors, actors, producers and other individuals or groups work on the same production. In the twenty-first century, new technology has enhanced collaboration. A system developed by Will Wright for the TV series title Bar Karma on CurrentTV facilitates plot collaboration over the Internet. Screenwriter organizations bring together professional and amateur writers and filmmakers.
Business
Collaboration in business can be found both within and across organizations,
Technology has provided the internet, wireless connectivity and collaboration tools such as blogs and wikis, and has as such created the possibility of "mass collaboration". People are able to rapidly communicate and share ideas, crossing longstanding geographical and cultural boundaries. Social networks permeate business culture where collaborative uses include file sharing and knowledge transfer. According to author Evan Rosen command-and-control organizational structures inhibit collaboration and replacing such structures allows collaboration to flourish.[45]
Studies have found that collaboration can increase achievement and productivity. From a perception that the buyer was in a win-win situation, it soon became apparent that it was either close to a lose-win or at best a partial win-win situation favouring the supplier.[49]
A four-year study of interorganizational collaboration in a mental health setting found that successful collaboration can be rapidly derailed through external policy steering, particularly where it undermines relations built on trust.[50][51] Collaboration is also threatened by opportunism from the business partners and the possibility of coordination failures that can derail the efforts of even well-intentioned parties.
Education
In recent years, co-teaching has become more common, found in US classrooms across all grade levels and content areas.[52] Once regarded as connecting special education and general education teachers, it is now more generally defined as "…two professionals delivering substantive instruction to a diverse group of students in a single physical space."[53]
As American classrooms have become increasingly diverse, so have the challenges for educators. Due to the diverse needs of students with designated special needs, English language learners (ELL), and students of varied academic levels, teachers have developed new approaches that provide additional student support.[54][55] In practice, students remain in the classroom and receive instruction by both their general teacher and special education teachers.[52]
In the 1996 report "What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future" economic success could be enhanced if students developed the capacity to learn how to "manage teams… and…work together successfully in teams".[56]
Teachers increasingly use collaborative software to establish virtual learning environments (VLEs). This allows them to share learning materials and feedback with both students and in some cases, parents. Approaches include:[57]
- 21st century skills
- Collaborative partnerships
- Collaborative Partnerships: Business/Industry-Education
- Learning circle
Publishing
Collaboration in publishing can be as simple as dual-authorship or as complex as
Technical communication
Collaboration in technical communication (also commonly referred to as technical writing) has become increasingly important in the creation and dissemination of technical documents in multiple technical and occupational fields, including: computer hardware and software, medicine, engineering, robotics, aeronautics, biotechnology, information technology, and finance. Collaboration in technical communication allows for greater flexibility, productivity and innovation for technical writers and the companies they work for, resulting in technical documents that are more comprehensive and accurate than documents produced by individuals. Technical communication collaboration typically occurs on shared document work-spaces (such as Google Docs), through social media sites, videoconferencing, SMS and IM, and on cloud-based authoring platforms.