A conceptual foundation of the thinkLet concept for Collaboration Engineering

  • Authors:

  • Gwendolyn L. Kolfschoten;Robert O. Briggs;Gert-Jan de Vreede;Peter H. M. Jacobs;Jaco H. Appelman

  • Affiliations:

  • Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015 - 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands;Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015 - 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands and Center for Distance Education, College of Rural and Community Devel ...;Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015 - 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands and College of Information Science & Technology, University of Nebraska ...;Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015 - 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands;Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015 - 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

Organizations increasingly use collaborative teams in order to create value for their stakeholders. This trend has given rise to a new research field: Collaboration Engineering. The goal of Collaboration Engineering is to design and deploy processes for high-value recurring collaborative tasks, and to design these processes such that practitioners can execute them successfully without the intervention of professional facilitators. One of the key concepts in Collaboration Engineering is the thinkLet-a codified facilitation technique that creates a predictable pattern of collaboration. Because thinkLets produce a predictable pattern of interactions among people working together toward a goal they can be used as snap-together building blocks for team process designs. This paper presents an analysis of the thinkLet concept and proposes a conceptual object model of a thinkLet that may inform further developments in Collaboration Engineering.