Communication 491-02 Group Communication Support Systems Virtual Team Communication & Collaboration in Computer-mediated Environments

Group Communication Support Systems: Tools  for Online Collaboration

A virtual team is a task-oriented group which can collaborate across time, space, and organizational boundaries by harnessing the power of computer-mediated communication and group communication support systems. Theorizing and research exploring the nature of computer-mediated communication in groups has been the focus of study in a number of different fields, such as communication, social psychology, organizational behavior, and computer-science. A number of different topologies have been developed in order to define virtual team environments and the ways in which technology is used to support group communication. Given that the defining characteristic of virtual teams is reliance on computer-mediated communication, a common way of classifying virtual team environments is in terms of the type of technology that supports the group communication process. Perhaps the most common way in which group communication support systems (GCSS) have been classified is in terms of “place” and “time” (Bostrom, Watson, and Kinney 1992;  McGrath & Hollingshead 1994 (http://infolab.kub.nl/pub/theses/w3thesis/Groupwork/enabling_technology.html). GCSS systems can be classified in terms of whether they are "space-spanning" (different place/same time) or both "time and space bridging" (different place/different time). Temporally communication takes place synchronously (at the same time) or asynchronously (at different times).  Spatially, communication may take place with all group members in the same place or with dispersed group members (proximal or distal).  Without question, there is a movement from personal computing to collaborative computing. New communication technologies and internet connectivity are changing the communication landscape and the ways in which we collaborate and work together (Scott, 2002) Increasingly effective team and organizational communication will depend on the effective management of technology  (http://www.lotus.com/services/institute.nsf/550137bfe37d25a18525653a005e8462/0000218a).  Group communication support systems cannot only be classified according to the opportunities and requirements regarding the spatial and temporal distribution of group members, but also in terms of the communication tools which support cooperative work (McGrath and Hollingshead 1994).  The matrix presented in Table 1.2 is adapted from the one developed by Nikerson (1997), who classified virtual team environments in terms of the spatial and temporal distributions of group members and including the dominant medium or mode of communication, text/document/image, audio, or video.

Table 1-2 Group Communication Support Systems

E-Mail

Calendaring

Scheduling

 

Digital Workspaces

  

  

Instant Messaging

  

  

Video-Conferencing

GROUP COMMUNIATION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Asynchronous Discussion Forums    

Discussion boards, discussion forums, bulletin boards and message boards typically refer to the same type of system. A discussion board is an asynchronous communication tool that allows one individual to post a comment or question online, including file attachments and embedded web URLs.  Other individuals, who are members of the same discussion group, may read that comment/question, and respond to the “thread” with their own remarks over time.  Discussion boards are frequently public but can be private, where contributions can be made only by invited members or members of a particular group project team, or organization. Many of you may already use the asynchronous discussion boards in your courses that are part of eLearning environments, such as Blackboard (http://www.blackboard.com/) and WebCT (http://www.webct.com/customer).  When you are assigned group projects in your courses, you might consider creating your own discussion board in order to collaborate more effectively. Web-based services such as Yahoo Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/) and or ezboard.com (http://www.ezboard.com/) furnish no-cost infrastructures for the creation of discussion boards.  The benefits of discussion groups over e-mail messages and listservs include the following:  1) team members can view the entire discussion thread in one spot; 2) anyone can view the information in the discussion forum at any time, not just people officially and continuously involved for example, your instructor can become a defacto member of you team); and 3) information can be easily stored for future use.

Electronic Mail    

Email has changed the way we communicate; it has been called the “pencil that is rewriting the history of the world.”  In less than two decades it has gone from obscurity to a universal business application.  According to IDC, (http://www.idcresearch.com/) a market intelligence firm, email usage is still growing.   Despite challenges from instant messaging and virtual workspaces, email is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 138% from 505 million in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2005. The number of person-to-person emails sent on an average day is expected to exceed 36 billion worldwide by 2005.   Email usage is expected to be driven by the widening usage of Web browsers as the primary method for accessing email which (expected to surpass 50% for all email mailboxes worldwide in 2005),   the increasing numbers of “deskless” and mobile workers, and the increased use of wireless devices to access email.

eRooms or Digital Workspaces

 The group communication tools that create different-time-different place environments may likely become the lifeblood for virtual teams.  Digital workspaces, sometimes called e-rooms, furnish virtual teams the tools to collaborate across time and space. .  Digital workspace such as the web-based application found at eProject.com (http://eproject.com/) and the downloadable software developed by Groove Networks (http://www.groove.net/) might be used to facilitate collaboration in the project teams that have been formed in your own courses.  Other digital workspaces such as eRoom (http://www.eroom.com/) developed by eRoom Technologies and SameTime (http://www.lotus.com/products/lotussametime.nsf/wdocs/homepage) developed by IBM  are enterprise-wide systems which integrate multiple collaborative applications such as instant messaging, white boarding, screen sharing, online project management, audio and video conferencing and instant multilingual translations. Historically, digital workspaces were broken down into two segments: asynchronous and real-time; however, this distinction is beginning to erode.  In the future, teams will harness the power of integrated applications that simulate face-to-face discussion, augmented by the range of different group support tools.

Group Process Facilitation Tools   

Process facilitation refers to the activities carried out before, during, and after a meeting to help the group maximize outcomes such as productivity, quality, member satisfaction and consensus.  These tools are utilized to help teams visually model group processes; for example, orientation, establishing and clarifying goals, building relationships and meeting management (see Grove Consultants-- http://www.grove.com/).  These tools are designed to fuse together an understanding of process theory with graphic facilitation and strategic illustration. They are designed to help team members understand the ways in which interpersonal processes, team processes and larger organizational processes have similar dynamics.   For example Mindmanager  (http://www.mindjet.com/index.html) is a tool that enables users to develop “mind maps” that link visual imagery and keywords to foster a shared understanding of group processes and strategic concepts.  Groups use tools such as these to organize complex projects and visualize group processes and outcomes.
 Group Decision-Support Systems  

Group-decision support systems or cyborg decision-making groups are part human and part machine. When using a Group Decision Support System (http://www.groupsystems.com/) generally each team member has a computer workstation, a leader (facilitator) who coordinates the meeting, a room with  a display screen that all participants can view, computers which are networked  and specialized software is available to all participants     These systems attempt to improve decision-management by facilitating the exchange of information among group members (for example, use of an electronic white board as a memory to record and structure information) furnish decision-modeling and group decision-techniques (Nominal Group technique, brainstorming, idea synthesis and prioritizing), and to introduce computer-generated decision rules, patterns, and structures into the decision-making process(Poole and DeSanctis 1992; Poole and Jackson 1993; Seibold, Heller, and Contractor 1994).  Researchers are examining the impact of technology on group processes such as argumentations Brashers, Adkins, and Meyers 1994; Meyers, Seibold, and Brashers 1991). 

The cyborg group has become a generic type of group because computer-mediated communication fundamentally changes the culture of organizational groups that use it. Project and long-standing work groups become demonstrably different when they become cyborg decision-making groups.  One feature that can distinguish a cyborg decision-making group from a traditional group is the anonymity of group member contributions. Members can contribute ideas and criticize ideas anonymously. In traditional groups, rank and status differences may influence the nature of the decision-making process; that is, the vice-president’s idea could be more important than the floor supervisor’s. In a cyborg group, no one knows who said what. Thus, in a cyborg group, the ownership of an idea is transferred from an individual to the group. Electronic information processing makes it possible to automate complex tasks such as summarizing group votes and ratings of issues. To see how this works, imagine that your classroom group generates a list of important group skills that are needed for you to be productive. Once you create this list, each member rates each of the items on a scale of 1 to 9, first in terms of importance, and then on his or her ability to perform that skill. After much calculation, your group could summarize its rating of each issue in terms of importance and performance. A table could then be created that plots each issue and shows the issues you think are very important but on which your performance is very low. Without the aid of groupware, your group might spend an hour completing this task, whereas a cyborg group could do it in much less time because the cyborg group can simultaneously input their ideas, and input the rankings according to importance and performance. The calculations and graph construction are done instantaneously by the computer and displayed on the group’s screen. Thus, Group Decision Support Systems can take away much of the drudgery and frustration that often bog down work teams.

     One cautionary note needs to be added about cyborg groups. We should not allow the technology part of the group to control the human part. As Poole and Jackson (1993, 287) have pointed out, “An effective group must maintain a balance between independent thinking and structured, coordinated work. Too much independence shatters group cohesion and may encourage members to focus on individual needs.  Too much synchronous, structured work is likely to regiment group thinking and stifle novel ideas.”

Instant Messaging  

Most everyone is familiar with the text-based instant messaging (http://www.research.att.com/~stevew/outeraction_cscw2000.pdf) services furnished by Yahoo, AOL and MSN Messengers. However, audio and video IMs are just some of the services that could run on the same underlying IM technology.  Additionally, there will be increased connectivity as instant messaging will not only be used on PCs  but also on other IP enabled devices,  including cellular telephones, television set-top boxes and personal digital assistants.  Although email is likely to remain the lifeblood of corporate communication, increasingly teams will rely on communication tools that realize the vision of any place, anywhere, anytime communication and collaboration.

Web Conferencing     

Web conferencing allows individuals to collaborate and share information with two or more meeting participants in real-time.  Web-conferencing applications allow team members to engage in voice and text-based interactivity.   While engaged in a webconference, team members have access to a range of data conferencing tools.   One can share information from one or more applications on the computer, exchange graphics, listen to the same PowerPoint presentation, share a common whiteboard and view and work on the same documents at the same time, from different locations; for example,. Placeware.com--http://main.placeware.com/index.cfm).

Video-Conferencing       

During the last decade, the idea of desktop videoconferencing as a tool for collaboration was an idea that was imagined but not widely utilized.  However, Instant Messengers by Yahoo and MSN create the possibility of point-to-point video-conferencing.  The development and refinement of tools such as Microsoft’s NetMeeting is making the fusion of web-conferencing and video conferencing a reality.  In addition to the web conferencing tools, video conferencing software enables one to share information and applications using video or audio, and to receive real time video images and even to send audio and video to users to do not have the video hardware.  With increasing access to high-speed Internet services and continued increase in computer processing power, multi-point desktop video conferencing may become one of the dominant ways in which teams communicate.  Increasingly, corporations are deploying enterprise-wide servers such as Microsoft Exchange (http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/features/default.asp), and Intraspect  (http://www.intraspect.com/) that can furnish desktop video capability and multi-point conferencing.  In other words, you will be able to see and interact with all of your team members simultaneously from your desktop, in real time.  A resource directory for searching for Groupware solutions can be found at KnowledgeStorm (http://www.knowledgestorm.com/search/keyword/groupware/GAW/groupware).

Table 1.3       Group Communication Support Systems

 Asynchronous Discussion Forums

EzBoard                                    http://www.ezboard.com/

Blogger                                     http://www.blogger.com

Quick Topic                               http://www.quicktopic.com/

Yahoo                                       http:/www.yahoogroups.com

Electronic Messaging

Novell GroupWise                      http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/gwmag/

Microsoft Outlook                       http://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook/default.htm

eRooms and Digital Workspaces

Communispace                                  http://www.communispace.com/

eRoom                                                  http://www.documentum.com/solutions/eroom/dctm_eroom.htm  

eProject                                                 http://www.eproject.com

Groove Networks                                 http://www.groove.net

onProject                                               http://www.onproject.com/

Lotus Web Conferencing                   http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/sametime

Infinite Conferencing                   http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/webconf.html                                    

Group Decision Support Systems

Group Systems.com                  http://www.groupsystems.com/

Expert Systems                         http://www.expertchoice.com/

Resolver                                    http://www.barrettsaunders.com/products/Resolver.asp

Facilitate.com                            http://www.facilitate.com/

Group Process Facilitation and Visual Representation

            Grove. Inc.                                 http://grove.com/index.html

           The Brain                                   http://www.thebrain.com/

Instant Messaging

AIM                                          http://www.aim.com/help_faq/starting_out/getstarted.adp

Yahoo                                       http://messenger.yahoo.com/

MSN                                         http://messenger.msn.com/download/download.asp

Trillian                                       http://www.trillian.cc/trillian/index.html

 Instant Messaging (Enterprise)

WiredRed                                  http://www.wiredred.com/news.html

Planet Exchange                       http://www.planetexchange.com/

Video-Conferencing

      Net Meeting                         http://www.microsoft.com/windows/NetMeeting/Corp/default.ASP),

      WireOne                             http://www.videoconference.com/            

      Click to Meet                       http://www.fvc.com/       

Web Conferencing/Multipoint Data Conferencing

     Placeware.com                                 http://placeware.com/

     Meeting Place                                  http://www.meetingplace.net/

     SGImeeting                                      http://www.sgi.com/software/sgimeeting/

Almost inevitably, the pace of technological development outpaces the ability to research the nature, function, and effectiveness of group communication supports systems.  For example, McGrath and Hollingshead (1994) offer a task/media fit hypothesis which is based on information richness in terms of social clues: the more complex the task in terms of interdependency of participants, the richer the information transmitted by the technology should be. Less complex tasks are, for example, brainstorming, which can be done collaboratively through text.  More complex tasks involve coordination, conflict, or negotiation and require communication of more socially rich information in order to enhance the chances of creating shared meanings. Providing a group with too “lean” technology which would not be able to transmit sufficiently rich information to carry out the task would lead to a loss of productivity and effectiveness.  Conversely, relying on a medium that was too “rich” would distract the group by transmitting meaning that is non-essential for effective task performance, and thus lead to efficiency or process losses.

      In their  1978 seminal book  entitled "The Network Nation: Human Communication Via Computer," Starr Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff predicted that by the mid-1990's computer-conferencing would be as widely used in society as the telephone today, that it would have dramatic psychological and sociological impacts on group communication objectives and processes, that it would have significant impact on the degree of centralization or decentralization possible in organizations, and that it would become a fundamental mechanism for individuals to form groups having common concerns, interests or purposes (http://www.stevens-tech.edu/~dbelson/thesis/thesis.html) As we become the Network nation, the task of enhancing our literacy by understanding the ways in which computer mediation shape the process and structure of small group communication and collaboration has never been more necessary, nor the possibilities more exciting.