As work has spread to multi-localities, the nature of and methods for collaboration and team work have also changed. Collaboration in the traditional, single office setting is vastly different from collaboration across a modern, global, multi-local organization. Work performed on-premise at Corporate and Regional Headquarters locations is largely of a tangible, physical nature in contrast to work done off-premise in Satellite Offices and Offshore Centers which requires more intangible and virtual cooperation. The figure below shows how work across the continua of Location and Collaboration can be grouped into four broad categories.

Local (On-premise and Tangible)–Collaboration in the local setting is personal and visible. Meetings take place face-to-face, and teamwork (or the lack thereof) is real and apparent. Individuals bond easily in tight-knit groups, sharing a common history and company culture. Much communication takes place in face-to-face meetings and conferences, as well as in hallways, lunch rooms, and around the water cooler.

Remote (Off-premise and Tangible)–Collaboration in the remote setting is also personal, but disconnected and therefore much less visible. Telephones (land and cellular) and conference calls facilitate communication and collaboration tying remote locations and offsite workers to corporate and regional offices.

Digital (On-premise and Intangible)–Digital collaboration grew out of the computer era, leveraging the Internet, LAN/WAN technologies, and electronic media such as intranets, email and PowerPoint. Communication in the digital era has shifted to the Internet with email, websites, online newsletters, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, and so on.

Virtual (Off-premise and Intangible)–Virtual collaboration takes the digital age one step further by removing the constraints on time and allowing individuals to work not only anywhere, but anytime, even separate time zones, but connected via tools and software such as wikis, blogs, social networking software, and more.

My next post will explore in more detail the communication and collaboration tools and technologies that have evolved over the last decade to support and connect the global, disparate, multi-local workforce.