Groupware: Enhancing Team Collaboration for Better Organization Performance - Research Paper

Introduction

Groupware technology is an innovative step that facilitates the interaction, cooperation, communication, negotiations, and problem-solving among organization teams within and outside the organization (Haruna and Mohammed, 2015). Organization teams and departments function better when there is a seamless flow of information and other relevant data. The development of internet infrastructure and ICT systems enable the improvement of team collaboration software to meet the needs of both localized and multinational corporations. Oracle Beehive is popular groupware that both local and multinational corporations are using to facilitate team interactions and improve companies' overall performance. Oracle is an established software provider, and it facilitates collaborations among company stakeholders through Oracle Beehive groupware. In addition to being popular and secure groupware, Oracle Beehive facilitates effective teamwork through seamless information sharing among different teams.

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Oracle Beehive is a software that provides workspaces for organizational teams where team members interact and share crucial operational information. The team workspaces are virtual platforms that the groupware provides for corporate groups, which are accessible through computer networks. The organizational teams collaborate through the virtual workspaces that link team members in different locations through key functionalities that support the retrieval and sharing of information in the databases. According to "Oracle Beehive Team Collaboration Software" (2019), Oracle Beehive groupware facilitates the collaboration of company teams by providing team workspaces where teams share information to improve productivity. Oracle Beehive groupware promotes team activities through functionalities like a document library, team Wiki for information retrieval, discussion forums for idea-sharing, task assignment, and customized searches for teams. It also links teams in different geographical and time zones through computer networks.

Oracle Beehive groupware sustains efficient collaboration of teams and seamless flow of information based on its infrastructure and software functionalities. First, Oracle groupware provides a document library that creates a database of documents, files, and folders that team members edit and share among themselves. In support of the effectiveness of Oracle Beehive, Arteaga (2019) opines, the Oracle database provides for the centralization of data, which facilitates proper exchanges among team members through adding, assigning, modifying, and deleting of team's data. Similarly, Oracle groupware provides discussion forums in the workspaces, where team members post inquiries, suggestions, and announcements that help to improve the cumulative performance of company teams ("Oracle Beehive Team Collaboration Software", 2019). Oracle Beehive can support the assignment of tasks to different team members regardless of their time zones and geographical locations. The assignment of tasks to various members is through computer systems, and team members receive instantaneous email notifications regarding the duties. Finally, Oracle Beehive can contextualize searches where the system is tailored to lead team members to relevant information and their favourite workspaces. In support, "Some Pros & Cons of Selecting Oracle as your Database Platform | Diamond Technology" (2015) notes that Oracle groupware is ideal for workgroups because it allows for customization of database applications and functionalities. The personalisation helps to ease the process of gathering information and support teams' decision-making.

The effectiveness of Oracle groupware is evident in multinational companies that adopt Oracle as the software provider for team collaboration activities. Coca Cola FEMSA is a popular sizeable multinational cooperation that uses Oracle groupware in its team collaboration to improve the company's productivity. Coca Cola FEMSA is the leading bottler of Coca Cola line of beverages across the Latin American countries ("Coca-Cola Femsa, S.A. de C.V. Achieves High Performance with Oracle Database", 2006). The company involves many workgroups and, therefore, finds the installation of groupware necessary in sustaining company operations. According to "Oracle Beehive Team Collaboration Software" (2019), Oracle Beehive promotes efficient collaboration and seamless information-sharing by being compatible with different IT infrastructure. Oracle groupware is compatible with various IT infrastructure and works with standard directory services like Microsoft Active Directory. Oracle franchise enjoys a significant market share, and it provides the right platform for Oracle Beehive to ride on. Coca Cola FEMSA is a large corporation and prefers Oracle because of its large market share and efficient groupware infrastructure. In support, "Oracle Beehive Team Collaboration Software" (2019) outlines that Oracle groupware is efficient among a majority of organizational teams because Oracle brand enjoys flexibility, scalability, and power advantage, and these factors lay a conducive environment for Oracle groupware to thrive and enhance efficient operations.

On the other hand, numerous arguments negate the view that Oracle groupware is efficient and ideal for organizational teams. Opposing arguments hold the view that there are negative factors that make Oracle groupware unsuitable pick for organizations. According to Arteaga (2019), Oracle groupware is inappropriate and inefficient in maximizing business productivity because of the fluctuating cost of operating the system. He also argues that Oracle is expensive because the price of Oracle licensing keeps changing depending on policies and the company's updates. The inconsistency in the pricing of the groupware increases the cost of operation and affect a team's productivity through high operation costs. In support of Oracle groupware being uneconomical, Jackson (2008) opines that Oracle groupware suffers from overlap where future updates provide functionalities that exists in superior software. The new features in updated Oracle groupware purchase superior groupware uneconomical for companies. Opponents of Oracle Beehive software argue that the reliance on the company's infrastructure and brand for future installations lock out new organizations. According to Jackson (2008), Oracle groupware best works in companies that already have Oracle infrastructure installed. Jackson argues that this negatively impacts teams' performance because organizations without prior Oracle infrastructure experience shortcomings compared to their counterparts with well-established infrastructure.

The counterarguments try to negate the primary argument, which holds that Oracle groupware is efficient in enabling seamless information-sharing. Opponents stress on the points that Oracle groupware is inefficient based on being uneconomical for organizations and favouring only companies with prior Oracle infrastructure. On being uneconomical, opponents argue that the groupware is unsuitable because of shifting costs. Indeed, the costs vary with updates, but the opposing views do not include the benefits that come with system updates which include additional software functionalities. On favouring prior Oracle users, opponents argue that Oracle groupware work best for people with prior Oracle infrastructure and disadvantage new users. The counterargument is not enough to invalidate the main point because many ICT systems provide an added advantage for existing customers compared to users on different infrastructure. Both opposing arguments fail to prove the way Oracle groupware is inefficient in the dissemination of information among team members in the same or different countries and time zones. These arguments, therefore, are inadequate to refute the original position, and Oracle groupware is ideal for teams because it is efficient in seamless dissemination of information.

Conclusion

Teamwork is essential in organizations because the overall performance directly relies on the way teams relate. Groupware support team collaboration through computer-supported software that eases interactions. Oracle Beehive groupware is efficient in disseminating information among teams through favourable and customizable functionalities. Coca Cola FEMSA is a proud user of Oracle because customization improves sharing data.

Reference

Arteaga, A. (2019). Oracle definition, functions, advantages and disadvantages | Symantec connect. Retrieved from https://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/oracle-definition-functions-advantages-and-disadvantages

Coca-Cola Femsa, S.A. de C.V. Achieves High Performance with Oracle Database | Oracle Customer Snapshot. (2006). [PDF File] Retrieved from http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/custstory-cocacola-en-177613.pdf

Haruna, U., & Mohammed, A. (2015). Groupware applications as a tool for organizational development. International Journal of Advanced Studies in Business Strategies and Management, 3(1). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308611505_groupware_applications_as_a_tool_for_organizational_development_1_2

Jackson, B. (2008). Pro and con: The buzz about Oracle Beehive. Retrieved from https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/pro-and-con-the-buzz-about-oracle-beehive/4519

Oracle Beehive Team Collaboration Software (2019). [PDF File] Retrieved from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/beehive/overview/oracle-beehive-team-collaboration-d-128848.pdf

Some Pros & Cons of Selecting Oracle as your Database Platform | Diamond Technology. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.itconsultantsinbayarea.com/some-pros-cons-of-selecting-oracle-as-your-database-platform/