An autocratic system

For most of the last century, it was possible for competent film directors to have a pretty good grasp of all the main technological aspects of film making and to know where the frontiers of the industry were. This allowed them to work with most technicians at their own level of expertise and be able to direct them in their functional activities and take an active part in any innovations or breakthroughs.

This is not the case with e-business solutions today, where even the best auteurs and entrepreneurs are unlikely to have any clear idea as to where the frontiers of e-business lie or be able to become involved at the specialist level of many of the technological niches of the creations they are responsible for.

The inference that collaboration rather than cooperation might provide a solution to this problem points to a method of working where there is no authoritative leader, or, even worse, a situation where there may be several leaders. This presents a paradox because any e-business solution has to have some kind of leadership to provide guidance and direction. Yet, as we have seen, the role of the type of leader favoured in the corporate world will be greatly compromised in the fast changing, technological environment of e-businesses.

From the paradigm of a cooperative project, the idea of a group without a leader and everyone with a different perspective seems a sure recipe for anarchy. How can you get everyone to agree on a course of action when everyone has a different viewpoint and there is no leader to unify the thinking? But, this is where a paradigm shift is needed - away from the perspective of a cooperational environment and into one of collaboration - because with collaboration, agreement is not necessary, neither is a common understanding.