Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
external organizations can all influence the effectiveness of the virtual collaborative
process (Duncan, 1972) (Mescon, Albert, & Khedouri, 1988).
2.
Collaborative Tasks - this component highlights key activities in the collaborative
process. Collaboration is a means of producing something joined and new, from the
interactions of people or organizations, their knowledge and resources. These
interactions are facilitated by relationships—the personal bonds or 'connections'—that
are established and maintained by the people and organizations participating in the
collaboration. Relationships give collaboration strength, allowing it to form and
function effectively. The quality of those relationships is determined by three primary
factors: trust, reciprocity and mutuality (Miller & Ahmad, 1981) (Davis, Murphy,
Owens, Khazanchi, & Zigurs, 2009) (Schmeil & Eppler, 2010).
3.
End-Users - this component focuses on modeling user needs, values, skills, perceived
challenges and their capabilities in decision making. End users are those who directly
interact with the virtual collaborative workspace. Other users or stakeholders may also
require consideration including those who are not directly involved in the use but
whose inputs and decisions may have influence on the features of use. Other
stakeholders may include those involved in the development of the workspace and/or
those whose participation and input are needed for the development of the workspace.
(Geumacs, 2009) (Koehne, Redmiles, & Fischer, 2011).
4.
Encompassing Technologies - this component outlines the collaborative media that are
required to support virtual collaborative processes. The media consists of
communication tools, shared business intelligence data, and shared virtual workspaces.
These media allow the end-users to explore both synchronous and asynchronous
collaborative experience across a common solution (Lim & Khalid, 2003) (Robidoux &
Andersen, 2011) (Montoya, Massey, & Lockwood, 2011).
The characteristics of each of these components is unique to the level of virtual workspace
integration within a given business scenerio. These four components can be used to more
clearly understand the technological level of functionality experienced by businesses that
integrate collaborative medium virtual workspaces with in their business processes.
4. Proposing a collaborative virtual workspace framework
The ROTATOR model describes seven stages of virtualization/augmentation that do or will
characterize virtual workdspaces at varying different stages of development and capability.
The model presumes fluidity and that actual business use may swing back and forth
between different stages much the way a pendulum glides back and forth depending on the
outside forces impacting the particular business need or use at any given time. The focus of
the ROTATOR model is to provide businesses with a common framework for analyzing
their needs for and processes related to implementing collaborative virtual workspaces.
The purpose of the ROTATOR model is to:
Provide a practical model for describing various levels of virtual verses real
presentation end-users might have immersed in any given virtual workspace solution.
Assist in identifying what level of virtual world/augmentation implementation is
needed to achieve the business's described, desired business outcomes.
Create a practical framework that represents the varying levels of both functionality
and capability for planning, establishing and maintaining virtual workspaces.
