G.-J. de Vreede

Collaboration Engineering: Designing Repeatable Processes for High-Value Collaborative Tasks

By collaborating people can accomplish more than they could as separate individuals. Yet, achieving effective team collaboration remains a challenge. Organizations struggle to make collaboration work. They often resort to implementing technologies, while experiences show that technology alone seldom is the answer. Collaboration processes need to be explicitly designed structured and managed to maximize the focus of purposeful effort. This is at the heart of a new area of research: Collaboration Engineering - designing recurring collaboration processes that can be transferred to groups that can be self-sustaining in these processes using collaboration techniques and technology. Through a number of action research studies with a host of organizations we developed a Collaboration Engineering design approach. This paper presents and illustrates this approach in terms of its way of thinking, working, modeling and controlling. Finally, an agenda for future research is defined.

ThinkLets: achieving predictable, repeatable patterns of group interaction with group support systems (GSS)

Over the past decade, Group Support Systems (GSS) has shown that, under certain circumstances, teams using GSS can be far more productive than teams who do not use GSS. However, research results are not unequivocal; they have been ambiguous, and sometimes conflicting which makes it difficult for GSS research to inform GSS practice. One cause of the conflict and ambiguity in GSS research results may be the result of focusing on a less-than-useful level of abstraction: GSS itself. This paper argues that in GSS research, the thinkLet may be a more useful unit of comparison than the GSS. A thinkLet encapsulates three components of a GSS stimulus: The tool, its configuration, and the script. Field experience shows that thinkLets may be used to create repeatable, predictable patterns of thinking among people making an effort toward a goal. To date we have documented about 60 thinkLets that map to seven basic patterns of thinking: Diverge, Converge, Organize, Elaborate, Abstract, Evaluate, and Build Consensus. Each thinkLet creates some unique variation on its basic pattern. By focusing research on thinkLets, rather than GSS, field and laboratory research may be more controllable, more replicable, and better able to inform GSS development and use.

A theory and measurement of meeting satisfaction

For many years, meeting satisfaction has been a key outcome variable in experimental group support systems (GSS) research. GSS research results on meeting satisfaction are conflicting, reporting positive, negative, or no effects. Unfortunately, no causal model of meeting satisfaction has been developed that could explain these effects. This paper derives satisfaction attainment theory (SAT), a causal model of meeting satisfaction. It further presents a survey instrument for measuring the constructs in the model. This instrument was statistically validated with a field study involving 156 working professionals. Furthermore, the field study provided support for the hypotheses that were derived from SATs propositions. A number of implications for future GSS research on meeting satisfaction are identified.

The cognitive network model of creativity: a new causal model of creativity and a new brainstorming technique

Creativity is a vital component of problem solving, yet despite decades of creativity research, many of the techniques for increasing creative production still lack compelling theoretical and causal foundations. This paper defines a Cognitive Network Model, a causal model of creative solution generation for problem solving domains. This model is grounded in mechanisms of human cognition which are hypothesized to exist within all individuals, regardless of their intelligence level, socio-economic status, or other variable, personal attributes. Guided by the model, we outline a new Group Support System (GSS) based technique called directed brainstorming. We propose the Cognitive Network Model is useful for explaining the effectiveness of existing creativity techniques, and may represent a basis from which new techniques and technologies for enhancing the creative output of problem-solvers can be developed.

Fifteen years of GSS in the field: a comparison across time and national boundaries

It has been over two decades since group support systems (GSS) emerged on the information technology (IT) scene. GSS have now been commercialized and are present in an increasing number of domestic and international contexts but only lightly studied in real organizational settings. A criticism of studies has been that many of the organizations involved had a vested interest in the outcome that extended beyond that which would normally occur in a typical organization. An additional challenge has been made with respect to the generalizability of field study results across corporate and national cultures. This paper compares and contrasts findings from International Business Machines (IBM) and Boeing Aircraft Corporation in the US with those from two European companies: Nationale-Nederlanden (NN), the largest insurance firm in the Netherlands and European Aeronautic Defense and Space company, Military division (EADS-M). Attention is given to aspects of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction as well as group dynamics.

Athletics in electronic brainstorming: asynchronous electronic brainstorming in very large groups

When very large groups have to brainstorm in smaller subgroups, meeting organizers have a choice between two options: (1) Let every subgroup start from scratch, or (2) Let every next subgroup build on the results from the previous subgroup. We refer to these options as the Decathlon and Relay modes of brainstorming respectively. During a case study we investigated which brainstorming mode would be move productive and result in higher levels of participant satisfaction. Consistent with the hypotheses, Relay groups appeared to be more productive than Decathlon groups, in particular in terms of elaborations to previous contributions. Relay groups were also found to be more satisfied. This study also introduced the elaboration coefficient, an indicator to quantify the amount of task relevant discussion in brainstorming groups. The results of this study hint at a number of meeting design guidelines for very large brainstorming groups.

A tale of two cities: case studies of GSS transition in two organizations

Research shows that, under certain circumstances, people using GSS can be substantially more productive than people who do not. However GSS has been slow to transition into the workplace. This paper argues that the technology transition model (TTM) may be a useful way to explain this seeming paradox. The paper presents a comparison of GSS transition case studies in two organizations - one where a self-sustaining and growing community of users emerged, and one where it did not. Following TTM, it explores the frequency with which users perceived cognitive, economic, affective, political, social, and physical value from using the system. Comparison of the cases reveals differences in perceptions of value along several of these dimensions that are consistent with TTM. The findings suggest the model may be a useful way to explain organizational change, but much more research is required to test the model more rigorously.

The illusion of effective management information: a critical perspective

The availability of effective management information is essential when coping with todays complexity and dynamism, both within and around organizations. Information technology can be used to derive such information. The enormous amount of electronic data currently available, and the development of new technologies like data warehousing and data mining, have intensified efforts to support organizational control. However, the contribution of the management information generated is disappointing. Many projects do not produce the results that organizations expect and the added value of the implemented technology seems to be limited. This paper examines the effectiveness of management information for organizational control. Through literature research and field experiences, we identify important shortcomings of current methods, techniques, and supporting technologies. On this basis, four design guidelines for the specification of effective management information are presented. Their application is illustrated in a case study at the Dutch Internal Revenue Service.

Using soft OR principles for collaborative simulation: a case study in the Dutch airline industry

Collaborative simulation is a method to handle problem situations that are technologically and socially complex. It combines discrete event simulation with methods, techniques and tools designed to help groups progress with their problems. Discrete event simulation and group support both appear to have clear promises in embedding soft OR principles, yet also contain limitations. Furthermore, simulation and group support appear to be complementary, balancing each others limitations. Therefore, the combination of group support and discrete event simulation seems to be a fruitful vehicle for the application of soft OR principles. Through experiences in a case study at the cargo department of a major airline, we examine how collaborative simulation can be applied in practice as problem structuring method. We conclude that collaborative simulation has definite potential as a soft OR technique, but further research is required to speed up different steps of simulation to fully use simulation in interactive decision making sessions with multiple stakeholders.

Identifying Challenges for Facilitation in Communities of Practice

The role of a facilitator is key to the effective establishment and maintenance of communities of practice (COPs). This paper presents challenges faced by facilitators in COPs based on a taxonomy of facilitation tasks inspired by facilitation research in the area of Group Support Systems (GSS). An online survey of the experiences of COP facilitators was conducted to discover which tasks were the most difficult and the most important for COP facilitation. The results show that tasks related to participation are considered by the majority of facilitators to be difficult as well as important. This and other findings can help facilitators in preparing for their role in COPs.