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      Leading and Creating Collaboration in Decentralized Organizations
      05 Jun 2007Working Paper Summaries

      Leading and Creating Collaboration in Decentralized Organizations

      by Heather M. Caruso, Todd Rogers and Max Bazerman
      No matter how a multi-divisional organization is designed, it will need to find effective ways for its units to spontaneously and responsively cross boundaries. This paper discusses 3 key barriers to collaboration and information-sharing within an organization, and offers 3 strategies to overcome them. Key concepts include:
      • The first barrier is intergroup bias: the systematic tendency to treat one's own group or its members better than another group and its members. Company funding, access to markets, intellectual property rights, and other organizational assets are all potentially scarce resources over which groups may have to, or feel they have to, compete. Recommendation to counteract this barrier: Link group interests to overarching interests.
      • The second barrier is group territoriality expressed through behavior and physical symbols that separate "us" from "them." Territoriality stems from a group's needs for identity, efficacy, and security. Recommendation: Frame collaboration as the solution to group needs.
      • The third barrier consists of poor strategies that members of different organizational divisions use when they negotiate with each other. Errors include the belief in a "fixed pie" in negotiations, the failure to carefully consider the decision processes of one's negotiation partner, and the failure to recognize opportunities for negotiation in the first place. Recommendation: Enable and encourage effective negotiation skills.
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      Author Abstract

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      Paper Information

      • Full Working Paper Text
      • Working Paper Publication Date: May 2007
      • HBS Working Paper Number: 07-090
      • Faculty Unit(s): Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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      Max H. Bazerman
      Max H. Bazerman
      Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration
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