Emergent Use-Patterns: Studying the Integration of Groupware in a Networked Organisation (original) (raw)
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Computer mediated communication in organizations today is characterized by the introduction of packaged, generic computer media based on Internet technology to support communication and collaboration. This challenges conventional views and theories on how technology is related to the context (i.e. social structures) in which it is embedded. One type of technology introduced in organizations is virtual workspaces, a specific type of web-based groupware. This thesis investigates the adoption and use of a virtual workspace technology in an organization. It studies how the technology is adopted and integrated in the organization and in specific work practices. The theory of genres of organizational communication is used as a framework for specifying the context relevant for understanding the adoption of the technology.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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This case study discusses variation and formalization strategies for managing technology-use mediation of Web-based groupware technologies in an organizational context. Research and development projects of a multi-national pharmaceutical company entail a close collaboration between many geographically distributed actors. The use of a groupware technology in long term, cross-disciplinary and distributed development projects has been investigated in order to understand how Web-based technologies for collaboration become part of organizational work practices. In this paper, the work of project assistants in setting up and promoting the technology is described and analyzed as technology-use mediation. The ways in which the project assistants position themselves as system administrators by delegating access rights, providing content, and advocating use among development project members are identified as crucial to the integration of the groupware technology in work practices. Two configurations of the groupware technology and the cooperation within the development projects are compared under the metaphors of "the ultimate communication tool" and "a set of private and safe workspaces" respectively. The differences between them are brought forth to discuss the roles of the project assistants and the variety of ongoing meta-structuring activities. In conclusion, formalizing the technology-use mediations is discussed as beneficial if it renders the position of the project assistants more visible within the organization. This need not induce uniformity of configurations across the development projects, but might strengthen the mediating position of the project assistant and how well the groupware technology is suited to the local work practices.
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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.