45 research outputs found

    The effectiveness of virtual facilitation in supporting GDSS appropriation and structured group decision making

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    Since their introduction a quarter of a century ago, group decision support systems (GDSS) have evolved from applications designed primarily to support decision making for groups in face-to-face settings, to their growing use for “web conferencing,” online collaboration, and distributed group decision-making. Indeed, it is only recently that such groupware applications for conducting face-to-face, as well as “virtual meetings” among dispersed workgroups have achieved mainstream status, as evidenced by Microsoft’s ubiquitous advertising campaign promoting its “Live Meeting” electronic meeting systems (EMS) software. As these applications become more widely adopted, issues relating to their effective utilization are becoming increasingly relevant. This research addresses an area of growing interest in the study of group decision support systems, and one which holds promise for improving the effective utilization of advanced information technologies in general: the feasibility of using virtual facilitation (system-directed multi-modal user support) for supporting the GDSS appropriation process and for improving structured group decision-making efficiency and effectiveness. A multi-modal application for automating the GDSS facilitation process is used to compare conventional GDSS-supported groups with groups using virtual facilitation, as well as groups interacting without computerized decision-making support. A hidden-profile task designed to compare GDSS appropriation levels, user satisfaction, and decision-making efficiency and effectiveness is utilized in an experiment employing auditors, accountants, and IT security professionals as participants. The results of the experiment are analyzed and possible directions for future research efforts are discussed

    A Gaming Laboratory to Study Distributed Collaboration Processes.

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    Current events present many examples of situations where a fast and coordinated response is required from many and diverse organizations and stakeholders. Technology-mediated communication and collaboration may be the only option for getting things done in situations like these. There is a real need for research on the kinds of environments and processes that best support fast response on urgent tasks for virtual teams. The paper presents the development and initial test of a gaming laboratory to study such processes. The laboratory is adaptable to different kinds of situations. We discuss the design principles and implementation of the laboratory environment, along with lessons learned from the first experiences with it

    Collaborative Decision Making Tools : A Comparative Study Based on Functionalities

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    International audienceThis paper is on collaborative decision making issues. The study is on collaborative decision making tools. To do that, a state of the art of these tools supporting collaborative work in general and especially the tools supporting collaborative decision making process GDSS (Group Decision Support System) has been realized. A comparative study of these systems is made in order to highlight their strengths and their weaknesses. That aims to be a kind of tools selection guide, useful for mediated decision makers, in particular the facilitator

    Does Size Matter? An Investigation of Collaborative Information Technology Adoption by US Firms

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    We explore the adoption pattern of seven IT innovations to support taskoriented collaboration between group members working asynchronously or synchronously and the impact of two size-related variables, organization size and the size of the internal IT function, on the adoption of these seven IT innovations. IT adoption is viewed as a transition from the state of non-adoption to adoption (adoption status) and then to the extent of accessibility of the IT to organizational end-users (adoption level). Analysis of data collected from one hundred and eighteen U.S. organizations suggests that adoption patterns of the seven IT clusters vary considerably and that size (organization and IT function) is associated with the aggregate adoption status of the ITs investigated. Larger organizations with larger IT functions had adopted more of the ITs than their smaller counterparts. However, when exploring effects of size-related variables on adoption status of individual IT clusters, our findings suggest that size is associated with adoption of only those IT clusters that may require large resource infusions for acquisition, are fairly complex to use, and require substantial technical support. Size was not found to be associated with the adoption level of the majority of individual IT clusters. However, interestingly, at the aggregate level, our results suggest that once adopted, the IT clusters had higher adoption level in smaller organizations than their larger counterparts. Implications of these findings are discussed along with some directions for practice and research

    Social Loafing Impact on Collaboration in 3D Virtual Worlds: An Empirical Study

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    Collaboration is increasingly distributed and influenced by the technologies involved in the workspace. 3D Virtual Worlds (VWs) are rich and promising collaboration tools that provide highly interactive environments. Several researchers and practitioners are particularly interested in the potential of these new media to support collaborative practices. However, the literature does not provide yet satisfactory and accurate response to companies about impacts of these technologies’ use for professional collaboration purposes. The present research attempts to address this gap and looks at this effect more closely. This research in progress presents the research model and research methodology used. The research model hypothesizes social loafing as substantial factor that determines team members’ involvement in knowledge sharing and application processes. In the future, this empirical study suggests quantitative assessment of the impact of 3D virtual world use in workspace on knowledge sharing and knowledge application

    Engineering E-Collaboration Processes to Obtain Innovative End-User Feedback on Advanced Web-Based Information Systems

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    In recent years, web-based information systems (WIS) and services have proliferated in all sectors of the economy. Unlike traditional IS, the development of WIS is evolutionary due to unceasing changes in the technological environment, regulation, and user needs. A new discipline, Web Engineering (WE), has emerged to promote systematic and disciplined approaches toward successful development of high-quality and ubiquitously usable WIS. User involvement is also a must for all organizations that aim to stay competitive and provide superior services for their customers. We have designed two structured e-collaboration processes for obtaining innovative end-user feedback on an advanced WIS under continuous evolution. Our feedback processes are purported for the perfective maintenance of WIS, where enhancements such as new functionality or increased efficiency are introduced continuously. We reflect on our experiences of two action research cycles through a Collaboration Engineering (CE) lens, and analyze the usefulness and suitability of the designed processes in these and other contexts. Our study contributes to the WE and CE streams of research by adding to the discussion of user-centered development and WIS evolution employing disciplined methods. For organizations, the developed e-collaboration processes offer novel means to involve end-users in their WIS development process. We believe that the designed processes may be applied in various WIS as well as in traditional IS contexts in different industries

    Customer Relations Management in Information Systems Research

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    Customer Relations Management (CRM) involves attracting and keeping “Economically Valuable” customers while repelling and eliminating “Economically Invaluable” ones. CRM involves changing relationships and improving return-on-investment from customer relationships (ROI-CR.) We are experiencing a shift from a transaction-based economy to a relationship-based one (Keen 1999.) Two important business relationship types exist: those between enterprises and customers; and those between and among enterprises (Kalakota 1996.) This paper addresses the former. However, a there is a significant amount of research into traditional “Market Channels” (See (Bowersox 1990; Ganesan 1994; Syed Saad 1996; Cannon 1999; Geyskens 1999) for examples) as well as into eCommerce (EC) Market Channels (See (Kim 1999; Menon 1999; Son 1999)) Recent and upcoming scholarship and professional activities illustrate the importance the IS Research Community places on CRM. This paper presents a framework for IS CRM Research Topics, a discussion of IS CRM scholarly and professional research directions and activities

    Collaborative problem solving and program development model

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    A model to enhance collaborative problem solving and program development is presented. The collaborative model is a detailed cognitive model that takes into consideration the cognitive and social activities that occur during collaborative problem solving and program development. The cognitive activities required for collaborative problem solving and program development are identified and integrated into a six-stage model. An extensive literature review in the associated fields is presented to show the need for the model described in this dissertation. In addition, a comprehensive study of tools to support collaboration during problem solving and program development was also performed as well as a critique of these tools. A detailed statistical experiment to study the effect of this model on subjects, collaboratively solving a software problem was designed and executed. The experiment included testing the collaborative problem solving and program development model with and without assistance from groupware tools. The subject teams each constructed a software design and this design was evaluated based on, research hypotheses. This experiment produced results indicating the positive effect the Collaborative Model has on problem understanding and the quality of solution planning during collaborative problem solving and program development efforts

    A case study of effective practices for the management of global software development projects

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    Global software development has proliferated in recent years because of rapid globalization, development of telecommunication and information technologies, and maturing of the software development processes. This thesis synthesizes available research on the global software development paradigm into an integrated model. The theoretical study analyzes different aspects of dispersion, their effect on traditional group processes of communication, coordination and control, and the recommendations in the literature for addressing some of these issues. The model developed in the theoretical study was then used to perform a detailed case study of a CMM Level 5 software company that specializes in global software development. A comparison of findings from the literature survey with these insights from a practitioner organization was used to draw inferences about how closely the theoretical model follows the real issues faced by industry, the practices and methodologies actually being used, and some areas of concern that available research does not address adequately. This case study revealed overlaps as well as differences between academic research and practice. Recommendations are made to managers of global software projects and areas of future research are identified
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