A Qualitative Analysis of Structural Emergence and Ascendant Leadership in Technological Appropriation

Recent scholarship on the appropriation of advanced information technology in professional settings has utilized adaptive structuration theory (AST) to move beyond voluntaristic and deterministic perspectives on workplace interaction. Our study seeks to advance the paradigm of adaptive structuration in both theoretical and empirical terms. First, we make a case for a reconceptualization of the duality of structure in AST by integrating insights from William Sewell’ s (1992) perspective on this important facet of structuration. Sewell suggests that structures are composed of both schemata (transposable recipes for social action) and resources (animate or inanimate objects actors use to exercise power). Second, we reveal how this reconceptualization of the duality of structure can open up new avenues for research on the appropriation of group decision support systems (GDSS) among work teams. To this end, we analyze interaction fragments—i.e., conversational and gestural exchanges—observed in a sample (N = 10) of over 60 video recorded sessions of GDSS appropriation in quasi-experimental workgroups. In five of the workgroups, the technology was introduced by a facilitator (restrictive treatment); the other five groups were introduced to the GDSS by a chauffeur (non-restrictive treatment). Preliminary results, which we will continue to pursue with an analysis of the full slate of 60 video recordings, reveal how participants transpose culturally meaningful interaction strategies—schemata—to consolidate animate and inanimate resources in the GDSS environment. We term this process “ascendant leadership” and provide rich descriptions of the ways in which such power is exercised and contested across these two different treatment contexts

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

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

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OFTHE EFFECT OF A GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM ON NORMATME INFLUENCE IN SMALL GROUPS

This research represents an attempt to determine the impact of a group decision support system (GDSS) on the ability of groups to influence the judgments of individual group members. The power of groups to influence individuals has been well documented in the social psychological literature. For organizations interested in promoting innovation and creative problem solving in group settings, this tendency can be quite troubling. In the past, researchers have looked at how certain types of GDSSs might lessen these types of group pressures in the generation of creative ideas. This research may be viewed as an extension of this work to the choice phase of decision making. In an experimental setting forty-eight subjects were combined on an individual basis with groups of confederates to test the normative influence of the groups on the choices made by the individuals. Three different communication modality configurations were employed to test the effect which this had on the influence of the group. Whereas negative group effects in the idea-generating phase may lead to good ideas not being considered, group effects in the choice stage can to lead poor decisions being adopted, perhaps with even more unfortunate results. Obviously, both of these effects represent serious threats to the effectiveness of decision-making groups; consequently, both represent areas for potential contribution of improved versions of GDSSs

The impact of technological support on groups: An assessment of the empirical research

In this paper we analyze the empirical findings on the impacts of technological support on group. We define and differentiate two broad technological support systems for group processes: Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS), and Group Communication Support Systems (GCSS). We then present a framework and method for analyzing the impacts of such information systems on groups. We develop the framework from the literature of organization behavior and group psychology and apply it to literature of MIS. We then review the empirical research and findings concerned with the impacts of GDSS and GCSS on groups, and we compare and contrast these findings. Finally, we conclude by discussing the implications of our analysis on the focus of attention and design of future research. Five Major implications stem from our analysis: (1) there is lack of research on some important "formal" factors of groups, (2) there is a paucity of research on the impacts of GDSS and GCSS on the informal dimension of groups, (3) there is a need to move away from laboratory settings to field study in organization settings, with "real" manager, (4) more research is needed on stages of group development and on how they affect the impacts of GDSS and GCSS on groups, and (5) more research is needed to understand how the structure imposed by the technological supports affect group processes. © 1989

Social Influence In Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects On Group Meeting Outcomes

Studies of managers and knowledge workers reveal that they spend a significant amount of their time in meetings, suggesting that meetings are an important part of one's working life. Findings in Group Support Systems research suggest that using computer-mediated communication enhances idea production in group meetings. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to how the communication medium, in electronic brainstorming, influences group meeting performance. Using a laboratory experiment, 259 subjects were randomly assigned to 51 groups. Three different treatment conditions were used: no public screen, public screen presented at the end of the meeting session, and public screen provided throughout. The results show that there is a significant performance difference between groups under the three treatment conditions. The findings of this study offer striking evidence that there are social group processes that may account for these performance differences including the self-evaluation potential, social loafing and performance matching effects. Implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed

The value and structuring role of web APIs in digital innovation ecosystems: the case of the online travel ecosystem

Interfaces play a key role in facilitating the integration of external sources of innovation and structuring ecosystems. They have been conceptualized as design rules that ensure the interoperability of independently produced modules, with important strategic value for lead firms to attract and control access to complementary assets in platform ecosystems. While meaningful, these theorizations do not fully capture the value and structuring role of web APIs in digital innovation ecosystems. We show this with an empirical study of the online travel ecosystem in the 26 years (1995–2021) after the first Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) were launched. Our findings reveal that web APIs foster a dynamic digital innovation ecosystem with a distributed networked structure in which multiple actors design and use them. We provide evidence of an ecosystem where decentralized interfaces enable decentralized governance and where interfaces establish not only cooperative relationships, but also competitive ones. Instead of locking in complementors, web APIs enable the integration of capabilities from multiple organizations for the co-production of services and products, by interfacing their information systems. Web APIs are important sources of value creation and capture, increasingly being used to offer or sell services, constituting important sources of revenue

An Examination into How Group Performance is Influenced by Various Communication Channels

This purpose of this research was to look at the how group performance is influenced by various communication channels. Specifically, this research sought to determine what communication factors are affected when groups are forced to use different communications channels. The three communications channels tested were face-to-face communications, audio conferencing, and computer-mediated communications through an Internet chat program. Each channel was measured on accuracy, efficiency, and total number of ideas generated. The research found that the groups using computer-mediated communications had a difficult time completing the exercises in the allotted time. Additionally, the computer-mediated produced significantly fewer total words and total inputs during the experiment. This research produced no statistical difference between any of the groups in total number of ideas generated and no statistical difference in any of the three categories between the face-to-face and audio conference groups

Cognition Matters: Enduring Questions in Cognitive IS Research

We explore the history of cognitive research in information systems (IS) across three major research streams in which cognitive processes are of paramount importance: developing software, decision support, and human-computer interaction. Through our historical analysis, we identify “enduring questions” in each area. The enduring questions motivated long-standing areas of inquiry within a particular research stream. These questions, while perhaps unapparent to the authors cited, become evident when one adopts an historical perspective. While research in all three areas was influenced by changes in technologies, research techniques, and the contexts of use, these enduring questions remain fundamental to our understanding of how to develop, reason with, and interact with IS. In synthesizing common themes across the three streams, we draw out four cognitive qualities of information technology: interactivity, fit, cooperativity, and affordances. Together these cognitive qualities reflect IT’s ability to influence cognitive processes and ultimately task performance. Extrapolating from our historical analysis and looking at the operation of these cognitive qualities in concert, we envisage a bright future for cognitive research in IS: a future in which the study of cognition in IS extends beyond the individual to consider cognition distributed across teams, communities and systems, and a future involving the study of rich and dynamic social and organizational contexts in which the interplay between cognition, emotion, and attitudes provides a deeper explanation of behavior with IS