ROADMENDER is 100% about collaboration. It is normal then that it continuously builds a case for businesses to adopt the practice as a vital element of competitive and sustainable enterprise. This particular site, with appreciation to the ROADMENDER community for its input, has accumulated a possibly unprecedented amount of information to support our case. However, we are not simply about blindly promoting collaboration. We are more about ensuring that collaboration is accepted as a realistic practice, and that the challenges it brings are also very clear to anyone already relying on it as a strategy, as well as to emerging practitioners. This week’s recommended list includes a few articles worth reading carefully as they explore issues such as the potential impact on gender differences in the workplace, security issues and so on.

Sincere thanks to those who have suggested articles for this edition of Roadmender Recommends.

Is Being Collaborative Really an Advantage for Women at Work?

We know that a body of research shows women to be more nurturing, team-oriented, and collaborative. This is expected of us. And so, it’s lately been recommended that women consider couching their disagreements, negotiations and suggestions in collaborative ways — essentially playing to their strengths. When seeking a raise, for example, you might talk about your salary being a signal to the whole team of their value or mention how your concern is one that benefits the entire project…READ ON

The Enemies of Data Security: Convenience and Collaboration

It is natural to view IT as both the cause and the cure for cyber security problems. After all, attackers typically steal information by exploiting a technology-related vulnerability. In addition, IT networks are usually the scene of the crime, and their inner workings are a mystery to most users and therefore a focus of suspicion. It is also tempting to believe that using sophisticated security devices alone will offer protection from cyber threats. However, such a view ignores fundamental drivers of information security risk: organizational culture and the behaviours that result from it…READ ON

The Power of Ideas and Collaboration

image source: http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/2013/11/taking-a-collaborative-approach-to-writing-marketing-copy/

Ad man David Berkowitz is Chief Marketing Officer at Publicis Groupe’s MRY, a New York City-based digital marketing and technology agency. He heads up marketing operations, directs the agency’s communication strategy and tries to gain visibility for clients such as Visa, Coca-Cola and Adobe. MRY, formerly known as Mr. Youth, was founded in 2002. The agency was acquired in 2011 by LBI, which in turn was purchased by Publicis a year later. MRY absorbed LBI’s North American operations when LBI combined with another Publicis digital agency, Digitas, in 2013…READ ON

Leading through change: Fostering collaboration to promote innovation

The challenges facing the health care industry threaten to spiral out of control. The high and rising cost of health care; the convoluted, disjointed medical care system; the massive and growing burden of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer; difficult ethical questions about what constitutes appropriate care; incentives to provide more care instead of better care. This potent mix of challenges keeps a lot of very smart people awake at night. Sleep, by the way, is a pretty important aspect of good health and well being…READ ON

Google Enters the Collaborative Economy in a Big Way

Here comes Google, with a series of five market moves injecting them as a central player for the collaborative economy. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information. But it doesn’t just start and stop there. They also want to organize the world’s logistics, commerce, local transportation, service economy, and even how people obtain and receive loans. In the past, our perspective of the Collaborative Economy has been through startups, like Airbnb, oDesk, Lyft, Uber and Lending Club, that enable people to get what they need from each other, using commonly available technologies like online marketplaces and mobile apps…READ ON

6 ways governments can encourage entrepreneurship

The final communique of the 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit called for enhanced economic growth that could be achieved by the “promotion of competition, entrepreneurship and innovation”. There was also a call for strategies to reduce unemployment, particularly amongst youth, through the “encouragement of entrepreneurship”. This desire to stimulate economic and job growth via the application of entrepreneurship and innovation has been a common theme in government policy since at least the 1970s. The origins of this interest can be traced back to the report produced by Professor David Birch of MIT “The Job Generation Process” that was published in 1979…READ ON

CityNext: How video collaboration will make tomorrow’s cities safer

Polycom’s partnership with Microsoft’s CityNext initiative is designed to facilitate the transition to next-generation cities by equipping city leaders with comprehensive technology solutions, such as video and voice collaboration. Next-generation cities have four major characteristics; they’re modern, safer, healthier, and more educated than current cities. But what makes a city safer than another? Can city leaders leverage existing technology to start the transition?…READ ON

Incentive opens its social-collaboration doors to SharePoint

Targeting the legions of SharePoint users in organizations around the globe, Incentive on Monday updated its namesake enterprise collaboration product to provide tight integration with Microsoft’s platform. All SharePoint files and folders are now indexed and natively searchable within Incentive, allowing users to find and access them without the need for mirroring, copying or importing. Users can also share, like, comment and collaborate on them, and get notifications when edits or changes are made. In addition, users can include SharePoint folders as visual apps within Incentive, enabling access to the knowledge and content they contain…READ ON

…and now for something completely different…

How To Relax Fast

Scientific Ways To Destress Within 5 Minutes..READ ON