What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration in group work?

Mike Kaechele offered some great pushback on my last post. Mike is a highly respected project-based learning teacher who often leads PBL trainings in his spare time. So, when he pushes back, I’m quick to listen. I wish I could play back the entire conversation, because there was so much depth and nuance to what he brought up. He mentioned his time working construction, when groups were rarely self-selected and you simply had to figure out how to work together.

So, it has me wondering, “Can you force collaboration in groups?”

Collaboration begins with trust and a shared vision for what you want to accomplish. Those are two things that you simply can’t force on people. However, I’ve been a part of groups that were not self-selected and in the process of working together, we developed trust and eventually we shifted into a collaborative team. Yet, despite the group being “forced,” the collaboration remained voluntary. We hit that place where we wanted to work together.

In most cases, we started out as a cooperative group and we shifted into a collaborative group over time. Cooperative groups are more like networks built on respect and shared norms. The work shifts between independence and dependence where the members remain autonomous but agree to share information, tasks, and ideas. By contrast, a collaborative group is interdependent, with a shared vision and values. The mutual respect evolves into trust and the transparency eventually leads to vulnerability.

I’ve seen leaders who want to push groups into that place of collaboration but if it moves too quickly, things fall apart. Fake trust is worse than respect. Vulnerability without trust just feels risky. Interdependence can’t happen when members haven’t had the chance to explore roles and shared tasks.

Both Are Necessary

It’s easy to look at the chart and assume that collaboration is better than cooperation. Part of that is my fault. The word “versus” implies an opposition. However, cooperation and collaboration should compliment each other — along with truly independent, autonomous work time.

There are some flaws to collaborative grouping. These groups tend to grow insular and fall into groupthink. Well-functioning teams can be too slow to change because they are already working so well together that they miss the fact that they aren’t innovating. This kind of work can also be emotionally draining. Even in a healthy, functioning collaborative team, conflict can arise and it feels more personal because people know one another at a deeper level.

This is why cooperative grouping is vital. When using design thinking, I encourage collaborative grouping on certain projects. However, in each of the phases, I encourage members to move to other cooperative groups to provide feedback and share ideas. Groups will often meet with one another to look at their work from another angle. This shorter, networked style of interaction helps keep things fresh. It provides a positive disruption that pushes collaborative groups to think differently.

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Collaboration vs Cooperation - two terms which are largely used interchangeably but differ fundamentally. Read more about the difference with examples.

It often happens that the two words, cooperation and collaboration get mixed up and are used to talk about the same thing. However, there is a difference in these two terms. Though these could often be confused to define the same thing, the fact that they actually imply different things will be made clear with the help of the examples given in the following. We will see in detail how cooperation vs collaboration differ and also the places where they could be used to mean the same thing, focusing in particular on how it happens in a remote work setting.

The Cambridge English dictionary puts these two words in a vastly similar set of words. Cooperation is given as 'the act of working together with someone or doing what they ask you.' Collaboration, on the other hand is given as 'the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing.' It is tough making sense of where the two differ since they have a similar use of words. We will try a simpler approach to this.

What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration?

Consider the goal and the steps taken to achieve it. Here, in any team, you will follow a set of steps, have shared resources, and also share info with your team members. This does not mean that you are working for the exact same thing. It simply means that you have to work in the same setting and get to your own goal. On the other hand, there will be a smaller group or a team with whom you have to achieve the same goal and complete the exact same task. This is to a large extent because the project you are working on is the same and the task has to be achieved as a team. With this understanding of the process and the goal, we will see in detail the differences between cooperation and collaboration.

What is the meaning of Cooperation?

This is the process. The steps you take to get to your own goal and how you work with the rest of the people in your office comes under this. For example, you might want to print a copy of an important document. For this, you will ask a member also in your office if the printer is available. Then you will go and stand beside the printer and if it's in use by another person, you will wait for the person to finish. You are here cooperating with this person. Shared tools and ideas, but not a common goal. In a way, cooperation can be thought of as 'putting up.'

What is the meaing of Collaboration?

This is the result. When you work with people in your design team and all put together ideas, that is collaboration. The team works towards getting the same project done. A combination of ideas given by various members of the team. Every member has a role in this. This is more in line with the words 'working with.' Collaboration is of various forms. While we talk about giving ideas for a particular thing, this can be simply communicating, too. Even talking about the work on a particular project will count as collaborating.

What is the importance of good collaboration and cooperation practises?

When working remotely, you are very dependent on the team for every bit of info. And given the team not being colocated, it is often a task to get anything you may need. To get the best out of this, your team needs to have a good set of collaboration practices in place. At an individual level, you would have to cooperate with the members of your team for the use of resources.

Consider document collaboration for example. You and a teammate may be working on the same doc. There are tools that could make this simpler, but you would also have to understand each other's work. It will then avoid all sort of rework and other errors. Constant coordination between the two of you is a must.

Your team's leader is responsible to plan good cooperation and collaboration practices. Form the team in a way that the coordination between the members is smooth. This cooperation is necessary for easy and efficient functioning of the team.

Does the above take on collaboration vs communication make sense? Do let us know your suggestions. Also, check out our other blogs:

Are cooperative and collaborative the same?

What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration and coordination?

What is the difference between teamwork and cooperation?

What is cooperation in a group?