| |
|
| |
|
|
Adoption and Diffusion of Group Support Systems
|
Satisfaction in problem solving meetings
|
Value Analysis of Group Support Systems
|
Participant Perceptions on GSS Facilitation
|
The Role of Facilitation in Communities of Practice
|
thinkLets: Building blocks for Collaboration Engineering
(Move the cursor to the projects for more details)
|
Adaption and Diffusion of Group Support Systems
In order to investigate the added value of Group Support Systems (GSS) for Capacity Building efforts in East and South Africa, various electronic meetings were organized and executed. These meetings took place in various organizations in Tanzania and South Africa. Based on the experiences with these meetings, theories and meeting guidelines have been developed with respect to the successful application of GSS in East and South Africa.
Colleague researchers: Rabson J.S. Mgaya (University of Dar es Salaam)
|
Satisfaction in Problem Solving Meetings
In 2002/2003 a causal model (theory) was developed describing what makes participants satisfied in creative problem solving meetings. Based on this model, a satisfaction questionnaire was designed that could be filled in by meeting participants after a meeting. In 2002/2003, this model has been validated by collecting over 230 questionnaires from the Netherlands . Results indicated that more work was needed regarding instrument development and data collection. Therefore, a new instrument was developed and current efforts focus on using this to collect more data in different socio-cultural environments.
Main researchers : Dr. Gert-Jan de Vreede, Dr. Robert O. Briggs, Dr. Bruce Reinig ( San Diego State University ). |
Value Analysis of Group Support Systems
Ongoing research at Nationale-Nederlanden Insurances (part of the ING Group) has focused on collecting data about the application and diffusion of GSS in this organization. Variables such as meeting participant satisfaction, perceived efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity have been measured. In 2001, similar research efforts were carried out at British Petroleum in Tanzania, at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards, and at EADS in Germany. The results of these investigations are compared to similar research that was carried out at IBM and Boeing in the United States a decade ago to study the effects of socio-economical context, participant culture, and perceived GSS usefulness over time.
Colleague researchers: Gwendolyn Kolfschoten (Delft University of Technology), Jeroen Wien (Delft University of Technology), Deogratias Fuli (University of Dar es Salaam)
|
Participants Perceptions on GSS Facilitation
A lot of research in the area of Group Support Systems has focused on facilitation. This research has looked at the tasks of a facilitators and the effects of particular facilitation interventions. This study is looking at facilitation from the participant's perspective. It is important to understand what a participant perceives as (in)effective facilitation, since this perception was found to explain up to 60% of participants' satisfaction with electronic meetings. A research design was prepared and pilot questionnaire instruments were developed and tested. Also, a number of interviews with electronic meeting participants were conducted, transcribed and analyzed. The study resulted in insights on effective and ineffective facilitation approaches that inform the training of facilitator and the preparation and moderation of electronic meetings.
Main researchers: Ilse Paarlberg (TNO - NL), ir. Jessica Boonstra (Delft University of Technology), dr. Fred Niederman (St. Louis University)
|
The Role of Facilitation in Communities of Practice
Communities of Practices (COP) can provide multiple benefits to organizations. To enable these benefits, communication and collaboration in a COP has to be enabled, stimulated, and moderated. COP facilitators hold this responsibility. An taxonomy of COP facilitation tasks has been developed. Current research efforts focus on collecting expert feedback on this taxonomy and deriving technology support requirements from them.
Main researchers : Halbana Tarmizi, dr. Gert-Jan de Vreede |
thinkLets: Building blocks for Collaboration Engineering
Through case studies on self-sustaining GSS communities, with the Rotterdam Port Authority and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Through the development of a description of collaboration engineering as a design methodology.
Main researchers : dr.ir. Gert-Jan de Vreede, dr. Ann Fruhling, dr. Robert O. Briggs ( University of Arizona ), Gwendolyn Kolfschoten ( Delft University of Technology).
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. In this research project, the thinkLet concept is introduced as 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 about 50 thinkLets have been documented that map to five basic patterns of thinking: Diverge, Converge, Organize, Evaluate, and Build Consensus. Each thinkLet creates some unique variation on its basic pattern. ThinkLets will provide the building blocks for facilitators to prepare and moderate concerted collaborative efforts. The use of thinkLets to support the design of collaborative processes is investigated in a number of ways:
• Through action research studies on collaboration engineering, among which First National Bank, the Lewis and Clark project, STATPack (part of NRI), and the ING Group. |
|
