ABSTRACT
Collaboration is the collective work of individuals and groups undertaken with a sense of common purpose and direction within a shared environment that combines physical, digital and virtual resources. In collaborative work relationships, awareness of and familiarity with the environment develop through interaction with other stakeholders and access to information and knowledge. The collaboration process is characterised by the way it affects individuals and groups who manage their work so that it meets the collective needs through the coordination of their efforts to create positive changes and achieve common goals that become primary forces for generating commitment. The following standard definition of collaboration will be used in this book:
Collaboration is an activity in which a shared task is achievable only when the collective resources of a team are assembled. Contributions to the work are coordinated through communications and the sharing of information and knowledge.
