Collaborative crowdsourcing has become a popular way to advance a technology idea or to spin it off for new uses, but U-M research shows when faced with extreme interest, team leaders must often rely on traditional organizational management structure to get the work done. When a collaborative crowdsourced project is thrust into the limelight, the impact—or shock—of so much attention forces the original creators to carefully manage community engagement or risk stalling progress.
The research from the School of Information shows that often the core team members find themselves in somewhat traditional management roles as they seek to move the work forward, sometimes by enlisting members of the crowd for more involved assignments. “They struggle with staffing and response. This forces them to carry on as before or open up and accept outside help,” said Danaja Maldeniya, doctoral candidate at the School of Information and first author of the paper .
