Coordinating Work with Groupware (original) (raw)

COORDINATING WORK WITH GROUPWARE The Challenge of Integrating Protocol and Artefact

Organizational Information Systems in the Context of Globalization, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp.53-68, 2003

One important goal of employing groupware is to make possible complex collaboration between geographically distributed groups. This requires a dual transformation of both technology and work practice. The challenge is to reduce the complexity of the coordination work by successfully integrating the protocol stipulating the collaboration and the artefact, in form of the groupware application, mediating the collaboration. This paper analyses a generic groupware application that was deployed in a large financial organisation in order to support working groups distributed throughout four countries. Using the CSCW framework of coordination mechanisms, we have elicited six general factors influencing the integration of the groupware application in two situations.

Implementation of Groupware Technology in a Large Distributed Organization-Lessons Learned

2003

This paper deals with implementation of groupware technology. Based upon an extensive empirical study of the introduction and use of a groupware application – Lotus QuickPlaceTM – in a large Scandinavian financial organization we discuss implementation issues of groupware. Lotus QuickPlace was introduced to support collaboration between geographically dispersed organizational units and groups working together in a newly merged company (called Summa in this paper).

Work Practice Characteristics: a Framework for Understanding Complex Issues of Groupware Integration

Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS'2003: New Paradigms in Organizations, Markets and Society, 19.- 21. June 2003, Naples, Italy., 2003

Integrating groupware in work practices poses a range of interrelated problems comprising organisational and technological issues. These are complex issues, since they derive from the combined influence of a range of heterogeneous elements and emergent phenomena in the intersection of groupware and work practice. To understand these issues a framework of characteristics is identified and termed work practice characteristics to describe important aspects of the hybrid configuration of groupware and situated work practices. Drawing on concepts and work practice studies in the field of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) the paper argues that the interrelations of heterogeneous elements and emergent phenomena arising from the integration of groupware in practice should be made visible from a perspective encompassing both the social and the technical. Two cases from an empirical investigation of how groupware is employed to support new ways of working in a large European financial organisation are analysed to illustrate situations with high and low integration of groupware. The framework of work practice characteristics is discussed in the light of these findings and implications for further work practice research are drawn.

Groupware: a strategic analysis and implementation

Industrial Management & Data Systems, 1999

The term groupware is widely used but not clearly defined. Owing to ongoing rapid developments, a consistent definition of the term has proved elusive. However, there is a good reason to view groupware as a technology that addresses the vast areas of collaboration, human‐computer interaction, and human‐human interaction through digital media to bring substantial improvement and transformation to organizations. This paper analyzes the definitions, implementation, and management of groupware. The focus is on the strategic considerations rather than technical solutions. Factors that contribute to the future development of groupware are also discussed.

Groupware in Practice: An Interpretation of Work Experience

1990

Observers have identified a potential for major improvements in organizational productivity made possible through the use of personal computers serving as a means to link people into task-oriented teams. The study we conducted, given in overview form here, offers an early examination of how people are using personal computers for such electronic exchanges via networking. Our interviews of 223 people who were using several "groupware " systems in a sample of 25 enterprises indicate how they employ these software tools to support their group work. We conclude that complex interactions of social and technical factors affect the use of groupware systems in organizations. We outline issues which both the developers of systems and the managers implementing groupware systems must understand in order to facilitate the design, introduction, and use of these systems. Acknowledgements: The authors wish to acknowledge the many individuals who agreed to be interviewed, and interacted w...

Collaborative Development of Groupware Applications

2004

Groupware aimed at coordinating the actions of people is faced with a dilemma. In order to support a group at work, the groupware must be configured into applications that accurately reflect how the group works. Yet, organizations are constantly changing both their structure and the way they work, leaving the groupware application inaccurate, or at least out of date. Implementers of groupware applications are finding that the cost of implementation comes not from the hardware or the software, but the effort needed to capture and codify their organizational processes, and then to maintain the applications to keep them up to date. This paper explores how the implementation of groupware is a collaborative activity. Methods to define processes, such as BPR, are group activities. A powerful way to solve this is to develop the groupware applications collaboratively. In a sense, this is groupware to help in the development of groupware. Four key capabilities are described that are needed t...

Conditions for Change Related to Groupware in a Distributed Organization: a Case Study

2003

Groupware is often used in distributed organizations to support communication and coordination. Managers direct resources and set up goals for the deployment of groupware. It is however difficult to foresee the effect of groupware and many cases report that groupware is either hardly used or does not produce the intended effects. We have analyzed the deployment and use of the web-based groupware application Lotus QuickPlace TM in a large financial distributed organization that has just emerged as the result of a major merger. Based on interviews, survey, and http log-analysis, we have identified four general types of settings where the groupware has been used: Newly established organizational units, special interest groups, short term projects, and teams handling recurrent tasks. We characterize these settings and present the overall conditions that have proven to be critical to the deployment of groupware in the case. Challenges and expectations are discussed and ideas concerning strategies for change are suggested. It is concluded that change related to groupware faces conditions that challenge ambitious goals in three of the settings, while conditions in general favour successful change related to recurrent tasks.

Strategies for Interweaving Groupware and Organizational Structure

Many authors contend that realizing benefits of new information technologies requires adjusting such technologies to fit with the organization's context or, alternatively, they suggest adjusting organizational practices to accord with the new technologies (Rifkin, 1995). However, Orlikowski and Yates (2006) pointed out that the ways these prescriptions are applied in practice are yet ill defined. Our research yields practice-based suggestions for developing groupware, organizational processes, procedures, and organizational culture needed for successful implementation of information technology.