Tutorial: Theories in Collaboration (half-day)
Leaders: Robert Briggs, Gwendolyn Kolfschoten, and Gert-Jan DeVreede

Collaboration is a mixed blessing, as organizations struggle to benefit from the full range of skills and expertise in their organization, especially when those need to be combined. Researchers now seek to understand the cognitive underpinnings of collaboration, and to apply those understandings to changing both collaborative technologies and work methods in ways that are more likely to produce predictable, useful results. It is therefore interesting and challenging to see that while collaboration is considered one of the most important factors to determine organizational performance, no general theory of collaboration exists.

In this tutorial we will present and discuss the recent advances in theory on collaboration and its role in the productivity of organizations and the satisfaction of its participants. In this light we will explore theories on commitment, satisfaction and productivity. We will also discuss collaboration engineerability. i.e. the ability to predict the effect of interventions in collaboration processes.

We will cover theories on different aspects of collaboration and the phenomenon collaboration itself, particularly:
* Collaborative productivity
* Satisfaction in collaborative effort
* Commitment in collaborative setting
* Collaboration Engineerability

Collaboration has been a key theme at HICSS for decades and theories in collaboration have been presented and discussed in the yearly minitrack's, workshops and tutorials organized by the chairs of this tutorial. This tutorial will provide an overview on the theoretical work that has been developed in the last 5 years. Such overview will offer a step-stone for a next cycle in theory building for collaboration.

Robert O. Briggs (rbriggs@mail.unomaha.edu) is Professor in the Management and Marketing department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he is also the director of academic affairs for the Institute for Collaboration Science. He researches the theoretical foundations of collaboration and learning, and applies his findings to the design and deployment of new collaboration technologies and concepts of operation. He has published more than 100 scholarly works on team productivity, technology-supported learning, creativity, satisfaction, and technology transition. He is co-founder of the Collaboration Engineering field and co-inventor of the thinkLets concept. He lectures worldwide on collaboration theory and practice, and on the philosophy of science. He earned his doctorate Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona in 1994.

Gwendolyn L. Kolfschoten (g.l.kolfschoten@tudelft.nl) is an assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She is an experienced facilitator of thinkLets-based Group Support Systems workshop having worked with numerous public and private organizations. Her research focuses on the quality of thinkLet-based collaboration process design for complex tasks. She developed the first example of Computer Supported Collaboration Engineering (CACE) technology - an integrated support suite to assist collaboration engineers in process design. Her research has been presented at HICSS and CRIWG, AMCIS and GDN conferences and has been published in the International Journal of Computer Application in Technology, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies and Group Decision and Negotiation.

Gert-Jan de Vreede (gdevreede@mail.unomaha.edu) is a Kayser Distinguished Professor at the Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he the director of the Institute for Collaboration Science. He is also affiliated with the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands from where he received his PhD. His research focuses on the design of transferable practitioner-driven collaboration processes, the facilitation of group meetings, and the application, adoption, and diffusion of collaboration technology in organizations. He is co-founder of the Collaboration Engineering field and co-inventor of the thinkLets concept. His articles have appeared in various journals, including Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Small Group Research, DataBase , Group Decision and Negotiation , International Journal of e-Collaboration, Group Facilitation, Journal of Creativity and Innovation Management, Journal of Decision Systems, Simulation & Gaming, Simulation, and Journal of Simulation Practice and Theory.