When Ideas Short-Circuit: A Study Reveals How Digital Collaboration Sparks Innovation
Different professions have divergent views on integrating new digital tools, but these tensions can help multi-disciplinary teams become more innovative and agile, finds research from NEOMA Business School.
Elise Berlinski, Assistant Professor at NEOMA, examines the frictions that emerge as a result of cross-disciplinary collaboration between accountants and IT specialists.
She finds that both fields have different priorities when introducing new technologies, for example. Accountants look for practical solutions to automate repetitive tasks and enhance decision-making; IT specialists see them as flexible, scalable systems designed to meet future, yet-to-be-identified needs.
“Divergences between professions are inevitable when they rely on fundamentally different visions of work. It’s precisely in these moments of confrontation that new practices can emerge,” says Berlinski.
According to the study, these divergent viewpoints stem from different organizational structures. Accountants favour more hierarchical structures, whereas IT professionals often adopt a more decentralized, collaborative approach.
Tensions created by these different approaches to work, and thus different ideas for integrating new digital tools, can be fertile ground for innovation, says Berlinski. This is because teams can integrate diverse perspectives within a single project.
The study shows this kind of collaboration can enable organizational structures to become more decentralized, embracing flexibility and modularity. The result is a more agile team that can respond to future challenges with greater adaptability.
This study was published in the academic journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting.
