Group Support Systems“Decisions in organisations involve an ecology

of actors trying to act rationally with limited knowledge and preference coherence trying to discover and execute proper behaviour in ambiguous situations and trying to discover, construct and communicate interpretations of a confusing world.”

(March 1991 cited in Bannon)

What types of technology can best support this process?

What does group work involve and how can it be made more effective?

How can technology can best support this?

What does group work involve? Group Decision-Making

1. ecology of actors trying to act rationallywith limited knowledge1. trying to discover and execute proper

behaviour in ambiguous situations 2. trying to discover, construct and

communicate interpretations of a confusing world

To make a decision…Actors with limited knowledge

• Actors with limited knowledge : need to learn about the situation : facts, opinions, positions

• How can IT help them do this ? – find out more – from people, from information sources,

• From people: through meetings, private contact, emails, phone calls, discussions, public forums …. online forums and discussions, blog posts

• Searching, links, portals etc.

To make a decision… ambiguous situations• trying to discover and execute proper behaviour in

ambiguous situations • Might need more information to resolve ambiguity• Ask someone ( social networks- who do I ask-post a

question to a forum)• Find an expert (search- intelligent search- how do I

know who is an expert?)• Research (Has someone done this before? Have they

done something like this? How did they go about it? Search- engines, directories,google, google scholar,google)

• Experiment – try something small and see if it works

To make a decision… trying to discover, construct and communicate interpretations of a confusing world

• Need ways that groups can work together to • Find out• Interpret- explain, listen• Communicate – share information, documents• Deliberate – listen, think, learn, debate

• Learn as groups• Put themselves in each others shoes

Making decisions – examples- who would be involved and how?

• Whether or not to grant planning permission• Deciding which computer equipment to

purchase• What mark to give a borderline students• Whether to go to war or not.• Which product to develop?

• Stakeholders- what is important to each stakeholder? How do they communicate this?

What does group work involve? Developing a product or process..

Brainstorming/debating and refining ideas/finding out things/ consulting experts/research/ planning /task allocation/ evaluation/criticism

Includes making decisions at different stages

Involves communications of different types e.g. meetings, discussions, documents,

Involves structured workflows, shared documents, drafts and revisions of documents, reports

• Decide?• Communicate, deliberate, persuade …• Vote?

Characteristics of group work• A group performs a task• Group members may be in different places,work at

different times, work for different organisations• Group can be permanent or temporary and at any

managerial level in the organisation.• There can be synergy or conflict within groups,

and gains or losses in productivity• The expertise of nonteam members may be

needed• Necessary information may be located in many

sources and may be in many formats.• People need to communicate and access a diverse

set of information sources.

Example types of Group

• Multidisciplinary team – each group member has expertise in a different field.

• Project team – group is together for the duration of a particular project. Members may have differing levels of expertise and commitment.

• Course board, academic council, exam board• Peer review group

Group Tasks and Activities• Communication, information sharing• Planning• Idea generation• Problem solving• Issue discussion• Negotiation• Conflict resolution/ consensus generation• System analysis• Document preparation • Meetings

What do meetings involve?• A meeting is a joint activity engaged in by a

group of people • Outcome depends on – knowledge, opinions and judgements of participants – the composition of the group and the decision-

making process used by the group.– the preparation done by the members of the group– how effectively the meeting was chaired

• Differences of opinion are settled either by the ranking person present or, more often by negotiation or arbitration.

What can happen when a group works well?- advantages of collaborative working

• Learning• Accountability• Support• Better error catching• More information, information synthesis• Synergy• Stimulates creativity, creates momentum• Better and more precise communication• More commitment to decision • Risk propensity is balanced

Problems with Group Work• Dominating individuals/ fear of contributing• Slow and time consuming, Slow feedback• Bad coordinating and planning• Freeriding• Poor compromises• Timewasting, Repetition of tasks• Cost• Incomplete, inappropriate use of information• Too much info• Incomplete task analysis• Attention /concentration blocking

Collaborative intelligence-“Collaborative intelligence is a measure of the collaborative ability of a group or entity.” (Wikipedia)

Groupthink- conformity of group to dominant opinion – happens when the outside world & environment is considered less and less , &tends to overestimate its own power. The members striving for unanimity overrides their motivation to realistically appraise alternative course of action.

Clear Communication is essential for effective group work • Groups of decision-makers must communicate,

collaborate and negotiate in their work. • They need access to data, information and

knowledge, possibly from many locations• Need formal and informal communication processes.

• Sensemaking –how do we know that we’ve understood?

• How do I know that you’ve understood?– Face to face?– At a meeting?– On the phone?– Using skype?– Using email– Using facebook– Texting– Using twitter?

• How can behaviour differ online?

• Electronic communication methods may not transfer nonverbal cues which are important in establishing the richer meaning of our message by adding context.

• The effectiveness of a collaborative computing technology depends on the location of the group members and on the time information is sent and received.

Different types of Group Work

Time /place framework (Desanctis and Gallupe 1985,1987)

Same time

Same placeDifferent time

Different place

Common Group Activities Supported• Information retrieval• Information sharing• Information use : Application of software

technology or group problem solving techniques for reaching a group decision (e.g. GSS with structured decision-making process)

• Structuring meetings

How can computer systems support Group Work?

World Wide WebSkype, NetMeeting, WebEx, Thinktank

Blogs, wikis, social networks, sharepoint…

Capabilities needed

• Brainstorming – e.g blogs, forums etc.• Messaging –(messaging systems, email etc.)• Voting – online voting, polling features

(like?, polling, commenting)• Group scheduling & planning (e.g. workflow

management systems like MS Project)• Conflict resolution• Model Building ( e.g Thinktank)• Online conferencing• Electronic document sharing (e.g. Google

groups, docs)

TechnologiesWWW – web 3.0?• Intranets – shared documents and procedures,

email, address lists, tool access, software distribution. Protected by firewall. Portals, document management systems, e.g. sharepoint.

• Extranets – links work group from many organisations.

• Email, egroups, instant messaging, chat, newsgroups, email lists, forums, social networks, blogs, wikis, microblogs(twitter, yammer),webcasts

• Electronic meeting systems, electronic conferencing systems

Source: Dion Hinchcliff blog

Example : Microsoft Sharepoint

Sites-single infrastructure for all your business Web sites. Share documents with colleagues, manage projects with partners, and publish information to customers.

Communities- collaboration easy for people to share ideas and work together

Search - relevance, refinement, and social cues helps people find the information and contacts

Content management .Set up compliance measures ”behind the scenes”—with features like document types, retention polices, and automatic content

Insights-access to information in databases, reports, and business applications. Help people locate the information they need to make good decisions.

(sharepoint.microsoft.com)

Example: Thinktank

• web conferencing and document sharing capabilities

• workflow• anonymous polling • no-bad-suggestions-brainstorming -idea

generation• summarize and organize documentation• summarize team discussions and outcomes

Example GSS Process for same time meeting

Planning– group facilitator and leader set agenda and select software & resources

Meeting: question or problem posed to the group• Idea Generation (30-45 minutes) ->list of ideas

brainstorming with comments• Idea organisation – key ideas 45-90 minutes –

common themes and topics• Discussion – real or electronic• Prioritisation – voting tool• Idea Generation – comment on topics, work on

key ideas and generate more • Repeat above until final vote

Anytime Anyplace Meetings

• Information about participants is necessary• Planning is critical• Task completion times must be assigned. • Deadlines must be imposed so that the next

phase of the meeting may be entered.• Need to let people know where they are and

focus them on tasks.• Security• Universal access

Advantages of electronic meeting systems • Parallelism of information processing, idea

generation• Larger groups enabled• Rapid and easy information access• Multiple participation methods e.g. anonymous

voting.• Provides structure to keep the group on track.• Records information (organisational memory)

Disadvantages

• Information overload• Narrow definition of the meeting process – less

emphasis on information collation and planning, and development of alternatives.

• Talk is important, and easier without the machine• Different professionals use different languages.• Anonymity ?• Information is not neutral