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Fit and Collaboration: Crossing Disciplines to
Create Innovative Outcomes
Janet Salmons, Ph.D.
First Global e-Conference on Fit
What happens when partnerships, teams and projects require us to work with people who come from disciplines different from our own? What factors support productive fit in collaborative projects? How do individuals fit with other people (PP), with groups (PG) or other organizations (PO) when the collaborative project involves multiple disciplines? This workshop presentation will provide an opportunity to explore topics related to Fit and Collaboration drawn from both theory and practice.
What is collaboration? We'll define it as: "an interactive process that engages two or more participants who work together to achieve outcomes they could not accomplish independently." Collaborative advantage refers to the synergistic outcomes that could not have been achieved by any player acting alone. Achieving collaborative advantage means: new ideas and innovation; shared ideas and learning. To achieve collaborative advantage, participants need to do more than work together—they need to think together. They need to find some level of fit with cultural and disciplinary epistomologies, approaches and methods, norms, and values. This is particularly challenging when the project involves people and/or organizations from different disciplines
We will discuss:
- What distinguishes inter-disciplinary, cross-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary collaboration? Definitions and perspectives from the literature.
- What considerations are important when collaborations involve the individual, organizational and societal levels? We will share our model.
We will invite participants to discuss their own experiences, including questions such as these:
- In what circumstances have you crossed disciplinary lines?
- How and why did you learn to fit successfully with interdisciplinary collaboration?
- What did you learn that others might apply?
- Are there circumstances in which you find it preferable to remain within a single discipline?
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