Stephen C. Hayne

The Changing Face of Information System Issues in Small Firms

CAROL E. POLLARD IS WITH THE FACULTY OF Management, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Stephen C. Hayne is with the School of Management, Arizona State University West, Phoenix, USA. This study provides insights into the information technology concerns of small firms and indicates ways in which small firms are managing technological challenges and opportunities. A national survey of small Canadian firms was conducted using a modified Delphi technique and follow-up telephone interviews. (ritical information systems issuies identified include 1) using IS for competitive advantages; 2) improving IS project management practices; 3) improving the effectiveness of software development. A comparison with recent sttudies to identify recent trends in IS issues reveals that the issues faced by small Caniadian firms have changed. Small firms are lagging large firms where the technology is concerned but are similar on conceptual issues. We believe that small firms will continue to desire more internal control over operations ancl consequently adopt more technology. Hardware and software qualitx and reliability will stay at the forefront of their worries. Furthermore, as conmmunications become more mission critical, i.e. electronic mail and electronic data interchanige, small firms will embrace network technologx. Managing communications max become a very critical problem for small business.

A comparative analysis of critical issues facing Canadian information systems personnel: a national and global perspective

A survey was conducted of 157 Canadian Information Systems (IS) personnel in organizations throughout Canada using a modified Delphi technique and follow-up interviews to identify the perceived critical issues in IS during the following 5 years. The important issues included: (1) building a responsive IT infrastructure; (2) improving IS project management practices and (3) planning and managing communication networks. Significant differences in the rating of the importance of these issues were reported between IS executives and non-management IS personnel. Qualitative data collected in 35 follow-up interviews provided some interesting insights into the rationale behind the ratings. The top 10 issues were compared to rankings previously reported in Canada and to data collected internationally in a comparable time period. The trend in Canada has been towards technological issues. From a global perspective, Canada currently appears to lead in management issues and lag in technological issues.

Implementing gesturing with cursors in group support systems

Gesturing from one human to another appears to span all cultural boundaries; one could possibly call it a universal means of communication. Group work studies have shown that gesturing makes up over 35 percent of all interactions. Participants use hand gestures to enact ideas, to focus the attention of the group, to signal turn-taking, and to reference objects on the work surface. Specifically, this paper explores gesturing as applied to users of group support systems. We address practical issues such as: at what level of interaction might gesturing be supported, how large and what shape should gesture pointers be, how they should move, network and processor throughput requirements, and group size effects. Our results show that while full motion computer gesturing can be supported on PC-LAN systems for small groups, gesturing for medium and large groups requires the use of special techniques such as regulating transmission rates, motion smoothing, and point and quiver cursors. These techniques could also be applied to wide area network implementations to reduce network traffic and latency problems.

The facilitators perspective on meetings and implications for group support systems design

Based on research into group process facilitation, a meeting model is proposed that defines the many activities comprising group work and highlights the critical facilitator actions. Facilitating group work is a dynamic process that involves managing relationships among people, tasks and technology, as well as structuring the interactions contributing to an effective meeting. By examining existing group support systems (GSS), it is shown that assistance for facilitation is low. With this information, methods are proposed to improve facilitation support (and therefore the meeting process) in GSS for face-to-face or dispersed environments.

The effect of a telepointer on student performance and preference

While the telepointer has been widely accepted in the Computer Supported Collaborative Work community, little work has been done to quantify its effect on performance and perception. We present preliminary results quantifying the telepointers effect on knowledge retention and satisfaction in an online collaboration. In experiments, a remote expert communicated with small student groups to explain an online scanning probe microscope (SPM) interface. The expert used two-way audio-video plus a telepointer to describe the interface to half of the participants, and only two-way audio-video (no telepointer) with the other half. The data show that use of a telepointer improved task completion time tenfold and long-term knowledge test performance by 30-40% on specific concepts. The telepointer group was also more likely to rate the online SPM as a substitute for a local SPM and felt the expert was significantly less distant than did the non-telepointer group.

Who Wins on eBay: An Analysis of Bidders and Their Bid Behaviours

Online auctioning is one of the more successful business innovations on the Web. The auction format at eBay, the leading online auctioneer, has some unique characteristics including a fixed closing time for the bids and the use of a proxy bidding system that that is capable of acting as a bidders agent. These features, coupled with third party products such as sniping software, have introduced novel bidder behaviours that may not occur in more traditional auction formats. In an attempt to study these behaviours, we collected and analysed data from over 11,000 eBay auctions. This paper presents the results of the analyses including descriptive information about the auctions and the classification of bids and bidders based on bid timing, frequency and strategy employed. The different types of bidders and their success rates offer insights into the nature of bidder participation in eBay auctions. In addition, chi‐square analyses reveal significant differences among the bidding strategies with respect to auc...

Introduction to Darwinian Perspectives on Electronic Communication

This article provides an introduction to the Special Section on Darwinian Perspectives on Electronic Communication. It starts with a discussion of the motivation for the Special Section, followed by several sections written by the Guest Editor (Ned Kock) and the Guest Associate Editors (Donald Hantula, Stephen Hayne, Gad Saad, Peter Todd, and Richard Watson). In those sections, the Guest Editor and Associate Editors put forth several provocative ideas that hopefully will provide a roadmap for future inquiry in areas related to the main topic of the Special Section. Toward its end, this article provides a discussion on how biological theories of electronic communication can bridge the current gap between technological and social theories. The article concludes with an answer to an intriguing question: Are we as a species currently evolving to become better at using electronic communication technologies?

The effectiveness of groups recognizing patterns

An experiment was conducted in which groups made resource allocation decisions while physically dispersed and supported with a shared virtual work surface (What You See Is What I See--WYSIWIS). The task required groups to recognize patterns of information and collaborate to allocate their resources appropriately. The experimental treatment involved the use of a tool specifically designed to minimize the cognitive effort required to recognize and share patterns among group members. Dependent measures included outcome quality, time-to-decision, consensus of pattern recognition, and the number of resource allocation moves required to reach consensus. All groups received significant financial rewards in direct proportion to their outcome quality. Groups supported with the patternsharing tool had significantly higher outcome quality and significantly less resource movements. These results extend the theory of Recognition-Primed Decision-Making by applying it to groups.

Experiences with object-oriented group support software development

This paper describes practical design and implementation experiences gained when creating Group Support Systems (GSS) in a networked personal computer environment. Examples of GSS based on the shared context model and implemented using C, C++, and Actor languages are presented. Graphical user interfaces and multitasking extend traditional methods for supporting group work. An object-oriented communication system is introduced comprised of objects that provide support for all inter- and intraprocessor communications between the GSS applications. Multiple levels of data service are provided to maintain shared data, coordinate user views, and transmit cursor positions in a convenient and efficient manner. The applications presented not only demonstrate the viability of implementing GSS on personal computer-based systems, but also show the ability to develop complex applications in different programming environments that make use of common routines. The unique properties of the object-oriented paradigm greatly facilitate the creation and use of Group Support Systems.

A comparative analysis of information systems issues facing Canadian business

A national survey of 158 Canadian IS personnel at various organizational levels was conducted using a modified Delphi technique and follow-up interviews to identify the critical issues in information systems during the next three to five years. Critical information systems issues were identified including: building a responsive IT infrastructure; improving IS project management practices; and planning and managing communication networks. Significant differences in the rating of the importance of these issues were reported between small and large firms, private and public sector firms, IS executives and lower levels of IS personnel. A comparison of the current results with previous US and Canadian studies revealed that Canadian IS personnel are placing a stronger emphasis on the need to address technology-related issues rather than managerial issues.