THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEAMWORK EFFECTIVENESS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Even organizations that are better served by a team model find disadvantages. These include an increase in time to communicate, poor communication between members and groups, poor coordination between group members, and competing objectives. Some self�managed teams never reach their full potential or fail to be functional altogether, because they were not set up correctly and the other aforementioned negative results occur. Other teams increase productivity and quality in organization. In this article the authors have investigated how information technology can increase teamwork effectiveness.teamwork, organization, information technology, development

Groups of Agents with a Leader

We describe simulations of groups of agents that have to reach a target in a two dimensional environment, the performance criterion being the time taken by the last agent to reach the target. If the target is within a given distance from the agent, the agent moves towards the target; otherwise it moves randomly. The simulations contrast groups with and without a leader, where a leader is a member of the group which other members of the group follow as it moves through the environment. We investigate three factors that affect group performance: (1) group size; (2) the presence or absence of an individual agent with the ability to detect targets at a greater distance than those \'visible\' to its companions; (3) the existence of a communication network among group members. The results show that, in groups without communication, leaders have a beneficial effect on group performance, especially in large groups and if the individual with better than average sensory capabilities is the leader of the group. However, in situations where group members can communicate, these results are reversed, with leaders being detrimental, rather than beneficial, to group performanceAgent Based Models, Leaders, Social Simulation, Social Structure, Communication Topologies

SimKnowledge - Multi agent-based simulation of knowledge sharing

Even though there is abundant literature on successful cases of organizations applying knowledge management (KM) instruments, many KM initiatives have failed to achieve their knowledge and business goals. In order to foster decisions about the design of such initiatives, information is required on success factors and barriers when selecting KM instruments. Multi-agent based simulation (MABS) is suggested as an instrument to investigate potential effects of KM instruments on dependent variables such as knowledge goals, e.g., sharing of knowledge in organizations, or business goals, e.g., business performance. For such a simulation, the concept of knowledge sharing, influencing factors and their impact on business and knowledge goals have to be operationalized. This paper presents such a model which is based on an extensive multidisciplinary literature survey. The model is implemented in a MABS tool used for a series of experiments contrasting results with/without KM instruments. Finally, the paper discusses results, limitations, further enhancements and practical implications of the simulation