Benefits & Costs of Collaboration in IT Workplace

Two or more people or organisations ing together for a mon goal is a collaboration (Schuman, 2006). It is a joint effort (Rouse, 2016) and by definition excludes individual work. Information Technology (IT) is the use of puters, networks, storage and other infrastructure to store, retrieve, process, and share electronic data and is often employed in the context of business as opposed to personal use (Bigelow, 2015). This short paper discusses the benefits and costs of collaboration in an IT workplace. Collaboration promotes a superior quality of work by supporting the division of labour on which our present-day society is based. The ever-increasing specialisation in technology, processes, and customer requirements mean that an individual in an organisation can specialise and thus excel in one or just a handful of domains to be adding value to the entity's mission (Belcher, n.d.). This requirement implies we need to bring together people of different skills to achieve goals, thus, collaboration. Multiple minds working together leads to that many ideas and leads to achieve the task at hand. Collaboration helps build team morale and helps increase job satisfaction (Boyer, n.d.). It increases the chances of interaction among the team members which may aid in honing resilient teams which will care about the quality of work they produce. Collaboration requires the participation of multiple people, and thus the need to keep them on the same page, and thus meetings. It leads to meetings which are often inefficient and result in wasting time (Harmon & Cullinan, 2016). Collaboration may lead to useless power struggles (Belcher, n.d.). In the absence of a real authority figure, some individuals may attempt to gain power rather than concentrate on the task at hand. It may also lead to covert conflicts in working styles of individuals (Belcher, n.d.) who would rather like to work solo. Some of these people of these employees may take out their tension on the work, thus being detrimental to the organisation's goals. Belcher, L. Advantages & Disadvantages of Collaboration in the Workplace. Chron. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://smallbusiness.chron /advantages-disadvantages-collaboration-workplace-20965.html Bigelow, S. (2015). What is Information Technology (IT)? - Definition from WhatIs . TechTarget. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://searchdatacenter.techtarget /definition/IT Boyer, S. The Importance of Collaboration in the Workplace. Nutcache. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://www.nutcache /blog/the-importance-of-collaboration-in-the-workplace/ Harmon, S. & Cullinan, R. (2016). The Dark Side of Collaboration. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost /shani-harmon/the-dark-side-of-collabor_b_9825020.html Rouse, M. (2016). What is collaboration? - Definition from WhatIs . TechTarget. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://whatis.techtarget /definition/collaboration Schuman, S. (2006). Creating a culture of collaboration (1st ed.). San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.

Land Desertification in China ( only climatic factor) Essay

Land Desertification in China ( only climatic factor) - Essay Example So China’s arid climate through its consequences of overflows and droughts constitutes a menace to the full-fledged life support of the Chinese and their future generations. In this regard one of the primary concerns is the functioning of the appropriate technologies aiming at recovery of the degraded soils. In the point of the discussed theme there are two key terms, namely: degradation and desertification. Degradation is the steady deterioration of soil characteristics as a habitat of biota, and reduction of its fertility as a result of the influence of natural or anthropogenic factors. Desertification is a process of irreversible changes in soil and vegetation, and reduction of biological productivity, which in extreme cases can lead to the complete destruction of the biospheric potential and turning of the territory into desert. The primary concern of desertification in China is a food crisis, as the issue is the main cause of aggrieving the country’s stores of wheat and rice, which form the basis of China’s agriculture. â€Å"According to a general survey of the country, the total area of †¦ regions vulnerable to desertification has reached †¦ 34.6 percent of the entire territory† (Longjun). In the context of the most grounds intended for sowing of the seeds, the percentage of the lands under desertification is critical. Moreover, it rises with the demographic problem of China or the top-priority challenge for survival of the Chinese. Overpopulation of the country is a well-known issue, and desertification in this respect is extremely hazardous for the great number of people whose needs don’t decrease with the degradation of soils. As for the secondary concern of the issue, it deals with the dwindling water supply as well as groundwater decrement. It goes without question that the consumption of water for China’s agricultural needs, human wants, and for the artificial irrigation of the arid lands substantially wreaks havoc on the