/Collaborating/

What is Collaboration?
Many professional writers collaborate on the documents they write. Newspaper reporters, novelists, and magazine writers collaborate extensively with their editors. Scholars collaborate with other scholars to review and add insight to their work. Business writers work closely with colleagues, administrators, and consultants to ensure their work meets the highest possible standards set by their company. Even poets meet to discuss their ideas and techniques.

There will come a time in your life, whether during your college or professional career, when you will work with others to create a document. Professors frequently create "group projects" and require that you participate. Perhaps you will be assigned a task at school or on the job that is simply too large for one person to accomplish. As the effects of globalization continue to resonate through every level of the workforce, collaboration takes on ever-more prominent roles in the day-to-day lives of employees. If you wish to succeed as a writer, you must have an effective social process while working with others. You may prefer to work alone and resist collaborating with others. However, effective collaboration skills can make a powerful difference in the scope and quality of your work.

This chapter introduces some helpful strategies for successful collaboration. It also discusses some of the common pitfalls that can wreck an otherwise promising collaborative opportunity. There are several different types of collaboration. Cooperation entails a joint operation or action involving individuals working together towards a similar objective. Coordination is an organized and synchronized effort towards a similar goal between individuals. Teamwork is a joint effort.

Individuals will collaborate in writing everything from memos to books, proposals to annual reports, and even Web sites- such as this Wiki Book. Peer review would also fall under this category. Peer review happens when others are asked to critique or give constructive criticism to an individual writing assignment. Although the project still remains an individual one, by asking and allowing others to give feedback collaboration is taking place. Another reason this is considered collaboration is because all members in the peer review group have the same assignment and are working toward the same goal "together".

Advantages to Collaboration
Writers who collaborate can often produce more detailed, thorough documents; this is because collaborators have greater pool of knowledge to access. Combining knowledge not only produces a fine product, it also can be a valuable learning experience to the collaborators involved.

Brainstorming with more than one person can lead to more comprehensive and accurate information. In a group, there are more skills available to be used. The strength of all the members add to the overall product, just as the strengths of some group members can cancel out the weaknesses of others.

When individuals collaborate, there is the opportunity to find specialties in different areas: managing, writing, editing, designing, and producing. When a group works together, there can be more discussion of ideas regarding how the audience will interpret a document. They can work together and share techniques to to create the outcome desired.

Each group member is like a different part of the audience. Every individual offers more questions and suggestions to explore. As members share ideas or ask questions, the communication will increase.

Group members can learn about others in the group or organization. New employees will be acclimated in an organization and can learn how things work in that organization. Others can teach them what is necessary to ensure a productive, flowing work space.

Perhaps the most important part of collaboration is respecting what other people have to say. In a collaboration, your work no longer is an individual piece; it will be the work of two (or more) individuals all of whom have something to say. While it is a challenge to have all the voices in a collaboration be heard, the product is oftentimes rewarding. If you are writing a collaborative work, make sure to ask your fellow collaborator(s) questions that will allow their voices to be heard. Try not to dominate a piece, such so your individual ideas are not the only ones heard. One of the biggest advantages of collaboration is hearing other people's ideas.

Disadvantages

 * Collaboration takes more time than individual writing.
 * A disjointed document may be produced.
 * There are unequal work loads for individuals involved.
 * Some individuals may lose motivation.
 * Interpersonal conflicts can occur.

Overcoming these Disadvantages

 * Meet early on in your project to decide its direction.
 * Devise a way to evenly split up the work between members.
 * Create a time line for when the various sections are due.
 * Set up meetings where members can gather and share progress or obstacles.
 * Meet near the end of the project to make revisions.

Conducting Meetings
In order to have a successful meeting, it is important to set a group agenda. More will be covered if you stick to an outline or plan. Setting up efficient face-to-face meetings is a good idea. When everyone gets together and communicates openly with one another more can be accomplished. Additionally, individuals should communicate diplomatically and be sensitive when critiquing a group member's draft. You still have to work with this person and you probably wouldn't like it if they said bad things about one of your drafts. Successful meetings and good group cooperation will result with a better project.

Communicating Away from Meetings
If you need to communicate with other members, but putting together a meeting is not possible, there are other ways to communicate. E-mail is probably the most effective, since you can reach more people with one document and the recipients can respond when they have the time. The telephone works great if you only have to call a small number of people and the conversation will be short. Memos are a lot like e-mail, but will take more effort to send. A fax will also work to communicate information to other group members. All you need to do is decide which form of communication will work best for the respective message.

Strategies for Effective Collaboration
The two most important aspects of effective collaboration are discussion and planning.

If group members participate in an active, open discussion, they all should walk away with a clearer understanding of the assignment. Important decisions must be made from the start. The assignment may be divided up among the group members or all aspects of the assignment may be worked on collaboratively. Open discussion can also aid an individual in overcoming obstacles. For many students, it is easier to tackle obstacles as a team than it is to do so alone.

It is very important to schedule group meetings when all members are able to attend. Committing to these scheduled times will help the group to meet the required deadline in a timely manner. It is most useful to meet with the group in person. Group meetings can also take place with the group online simultaneously.

Practical Guidelines for Good Group Work

 * Be honest about your abilities. If you know you aren't good at something specific, let your group members know. They'll respect you for your honesty.
 * If you're unhappy with the way a project is going, say so. This is your grade and you have a right to let your instructor know when things aren't going the way you think they should.
 * Respect your group members. Everyone has unique abilities and backgrounds to contribute to the project. You may not agree on everything, but being kind is sometimes the most important ingredient in getting things accomplished.
 * Have fun. Although it's homework, this is an opportunity to get to know new people you haven't met before.
 * Be responsible for your part. Do the work that's expected but don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it.