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Abstract
The extant literature on groupware, mainly found in Computer Science and Management Information Systems journals, has been almost completely ignored by Industrial-Organizational Psychology. The lack of integration of this information into research on "traditional" organizational team performance is surprising. This paper brings the groupware literature to the attention of researchers and practitioners. Additionally, the theoretical frameworks used in the groupware research do not reflect recent developments in Industrial-Organizational Psychology (e.g., groupware research does not generally include critical contextual variables). Based on this review, we propose a comprehensive and integrated research agenda for future work in this area.
While there is ample recognition in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behaviour disciplines of the importance of groups and teams in the workplace (e.g., Drucker, 1959; Er & Ng, 1995; Guzzo, 1995; Guzzo & Shea, 1992; Nadler & Ancona, 1992; Peters & Waterman, 1982; Sundstrom, DeMeuse, & Futrell, 1990), the majority of the research in these fields has focused on teams that operate in the same geographical location where the members meet face-to-face (e.g., Levine & Mooreland, 1990; Wall, Kemp, Jackson, & Clegg, 1986). There is, however, a burgeoning literature in the area of "computer-supported cooperative work" (CSCW). The focus of this field is how technology affects groups that work together -- often with groups located in different places and time zones -- with the goal of enhancing that work. One well-accepted definition of CSCW is the "study and theory of how people work together, and how the computer-related technologies affect group behavior" (Greenberg, 1991, p. 133).
CSCW is clearly multidisciplinary with researchers from psychology, sociology, communication, computer science, engineering, and management all having a stake in the research outcomes. "Groupware" is a particular aspect of CSCW pertaining to the computer technologies that actively facilitate groups of collaborating users (Krasner, McInroy, & Walz, 1991). Groupware is supposed to enable groups of individuals that are geographically and temporally distributed, to interact effectively. Groupware can take many forms, including electronic mail, electronic bulletin boards, collaborative authoring tools, screen-sharing software, tele-conferencing systems, video-conferencing systems, and Group Decision Support Systems (Greenberg, 1991).
Claims for the potential use of groupware are many and glowing. Valacich, Dennis, and Nunamaker (1991) say that group tasks such as communication, planning, idea generation, problem solving, issue...