Hello Steve,
regarding your question:
>I'm looking for input on the subject of cooperation, specifically: >What
>are the top two or three physical and psychological barriers to
>cooperation and collaboration in organizations today, and what are >some
>effective strategies and tactics for breaking them down.
Well, this is my mental model about this issue. I tried to send you a
systemic model in a text format:
* "Individual personal values" Plus "Antipathy"
* "Assumptions of others being driven by opposite values" Plus "Antipathy"
* "Antipathy" Minus "Desire for cooperation"
* "Communication time" Minus "Desire for cooperation"
* "Desire for cooperation" Plus "Cooperation"
* "Cooperation" Plus "Common achievements" Plus "Improvements in projects
status" Minus "Common perceived gap" Plus "Cooperation" (Balancing
cycle)
"Common achievements" Plus "Divided recognition" Minus "Desire for
cooperation" (3/4 of a B cycle)
"Individual goals" Plus "Common perceived gap"
If you'll have 1 minute to draw it on a piece of paper you'll see what I
consider to be the top barriers for cooperation.
First, the divided recognition, and again an assumption of mine is that,
in not-LO with little Shared Vision discipline, the main motivation is the
recognition in diverse form (salary, promotion, congratulations,...);
second, the antipathy between individuals starting from incompatibility of
values (at least, and that's what my models says, assumptions, not valid
in fact, about an opposition in personal values);
and the third one that cooperation requires a lot of time to communicate
and decide things and sometimes adds more pressure to the work for the
specific project.
The solutions I see, come pretty clear from the model:
If you are one of the recognition givers in all the forms it's needed,
make sure that everybody will get the full credit about his achievements,
sometimes words recognition makes miracles.
Create opportunities for members to interact more informal and find more
about their personal values, this means checking the assumptions made so
far about the others in a more relaxed environment.
If the cooperation is started, try to facilitate the communication between
and raise the efficiency of it, here there are a lot of "Effective
meetings" tips and tricks that I suppose you know or find easily.
I hope it was helpful for you and if you have time I would appreciate any
feedback,
Demostene Iva
--"Demostene ?!" <demostene_@hotmail.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>