Gigi G. Kelly

Breaking the rules: success and failure in groupware-supported business process reengineering

In the information economy, businesses are changing more often and more rapidly than ever before. The lessons learned from a decade of business process reengineering (BPR) research may provide insights to researchers and managers trying to understand and successfully navigate these changes. This paper examines the successes and failures of groupware-supported BPR processes in four organizations. Two were successful and two were failures. Groupware allowed certain tasks to be performed faster, added structure to the BPR process and facilitated participation by more people. The key difference between the successful and the unsuccessful cases was when and how senior management was involved.

A facilitator's general model for managing socioemotional issues in group support systems meeting environments

This paper addresses the socioemotional dimension in group support systems (GSS) meeting environments from the perspective of the facilitator. A model is presented and discussed. This model represents how facilitators perceive and manage socioemotional issues in a GSS environment. The role of GSS in the model is also explored. The research methodology for gathering and analyzing the data in this paper was based on critical incident technique and semistructured interviews with twenty-six experienced facilitators. The research found that GSS provides a very useful tool for managing socioemotional issues; however, GSS also creates new issues. The implications of this research studys findings for facilitators and future research issues are posited.

INCLUDING SOFT INFORMATION IN EISs

Although much of executive decision making is based on soft information—opinions, predictions, news, and even rumors—executive information systems (EISs) have only recently begun to augment factual data with such information. A study of current use of soft information in EISs yields 15 propositions designed to help EIS developers determine what kinds of soft information are most valuable and how best to capture and deliver this information.

Business process re-engineering with groupware

This paper presents a groupware-supported approach business process re-engineering. Effective re-engineering must balance data gathering, study, creativity exercises, problem solving, resource allocation, and design, so there is a need for a variety of tools and techniques to be productive. Our experiences in a series of three case studies show the use of groupware saved money in the re-engineering project itself and the resulting re-engineered processes continue to save money over the years. Groupware enabled widespread participation in a very rapid redesign process, enabling senior and middle managers to redesign their own cross-functional and cross-business unit processes, leading a greater acceptance of the changes. The methods and tools have been successfully transferred to these organizations, who continue to use them with little assistance of external consultants.<<ETX>>

Facilitating the socio-emotional dimension in group support systems environments

This paper addresses the socio-emotional dimension that exists in Group Support Systems (GSS) meeting environments from the perspective of the facilitator. A theoretical framework and justitlcation for research related to this topic is presented. The relevant literature is reviewed and a set of socio-emotional issues and behaviors is developed based on the integration and synthesis of this literature. Our current research project that focuses on facilitating the socio-emotionat dimension in GSS environments is presented and some of our initial findings are introduced. This includes presenting a model representing how facilitators perceive and manage socio-emotional issues in a GSS environment. Finally, future research issues are posited.

Facilitating Research with Group Support Systems

Group Support Systems (GSS) and their effects on group processes and outcomes have been an object of intense study for 10 years. This article takes a different perspective on the involvement of GSS in research. The authors address how GSS tools canfacilitate the process of developing and implementing research. A generic model of the research process is used to describe specific suggestions and examples-including three scenarios-for improving researcher efficiency and effectiveness. GSS can provide a variety of benefits to researchers, including basic meeting support for multiple researchers in developing elements of a research project; electronic recording of data from subjects; data analysis; and integration of information and data across the entire research process. Benefits of using GSS to facilitate/support the research process, the limitations of this approach, and the use of GSS to extend the research process beyond its current boundaries are reviewed.

A facilitator's general model for managing socio-emotional issues in group support systems meeting environments

This paper addresses the socio-emotional dimension that exists in group support systems (GSS) meeting environments from the perspective of the facilitator. A model is presented and discussed that represents how facilitators perceive and manage socio-emotional issues in a GSS environment. The role of GSS in the model is also explored. The research methodology for gathering and analyzing the data was based on the critical incident technique and semi-structured interviews. The findings presented in this paper represent one facet of a larger research project. In conclusion, the implication of this papers findings for facilitators and future research issues are posited.

Facilitating and Coordinating Distributed Joint Applications Development

Virtual teams have become a fixture of organizations in the 90s. Part of the reason for the creation of virtual teams is the existence of limited resources or need for people to share knowledge concurrently over long distances. Software development is not an exception to this problem, and it is likely to become even more of a distributed process in the near future. In this paper we address the problems that are likely to be found in distributed Joint Application Design (JAD) efforts. We then propose an interpretivistic study to perform a more complete analysis of the key issues in distributed JAD. Important applications to practice are raised.

The changing nature of relationships in a connected world (panel)

Connectivity in electronic environments provides many new opportunities as well as many new challenges for IS personnel as well as users of computer technology. Being able to share information, solve problems, develop plans, build relationships, and make decisions are all actions that can occur through the use of computer technology. In this panel, we propose to address in depth the issues that arise around the building, maintaining, and changing nature of relationships and the role of technology.

Facilitating teamwork with computer technology (panel): supporting group task or group process?

As more organizations and teams adopt various forms of automated support for group work, computt:r professionals must be concerned not only about the technical issues involved in implementing group support systems (GSS), which are complex and considerable, but also about the human aspects of designing and implementing GSS in groups and organizations. One of the primary features of GSS is that they tend to force groups to formalize and structure their approach to accomplishment of tasks and projects. Task structuring is one important aspect of teamwork, and has been the primary focus in the design and implementation of GSS. However, another critical ingredient in any successful team is the ability of the group to surface and confront socioemotional issues, i.e., to understand the group dynamics and to maintain the “teamness” of the te~m. Although external professional facilitators are sometimes hired for their expertise in managing group processes, in many organizations the facilitation task falls to team leaders and project leaders, who, particularly in computer-related and other technical fields, may have little understanding of the importance of socio-emotional issues, nor hiive the training and tools needed to deal with group processes. GSS researchers and designers may also lack knowledge and understanding of group process, such that GSS tools may provide only limited if any support for managing group processes, in contrast to more extensive support for the group task. Permission to co y without fee all or part of this material is I granted provided t at the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Association of Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. SIGCPR ’95, Nashville, TN, USA O 1995 ACM 0-89791 -712-x19510004...