Group Dynamics in “Working Together with IT”

Notes by John Cross

for LBST 499, Spring 2002

Course Concerns

• Collaboration: IT and Methods

l Examples: Email; Web; WebCT; MS Office; NetMeeting

• Human factors in collaboration

l Example: Group Dynamics

• Task selection and interaction

• Designs for procedures and tools for collaborating using IT

l Example: Cole’s article

Group Dynamics, IT, and Working Together

• The term "group dynamics" means how people interact in groups. The theory of stages of group maturity provides helpful insight.

• In a workgroup, this includes task-oriented behaviors and group maintenance.

• Concepts of group dynamics apply to synthesizing ways to work together.

• You can learn a lot about a process by watching it happen. Hence, after basic theories and concerns are established, a case study is a good place to develop practical knowledge.

Stages of group development

• Forming

• Storming

• Norming

• Performing

• Adjourning

Group dynamics and groupware technology

• Everything can be affected by context.

• Leadership is a key variable.

• Communication and group norms interact.

• Maintenance issues must be considered.

• Group development must be planned for and concerns must be responded to.

Understanding Group Behavior (p. 50)

• Important perspectives: individual, interpersonal, and group.

• Common purpose and communication define a group.

• Content and process interact.

• Task and maintenance activities support different needs; both are needed.

• Roles: mover, follower, opposer, supporter, bystander, facilitator.

• Norms affect process and outcomes.

• Leadership is a key variable.

Groups in organizations (p. 52)

• There are many subgroups in an organization

• Group memberships and responsibilities have overlap, inclusion, redundancy, communications, record keeping, and information needs.

Term:
Computer Conference

• Threaded, asynchronous discussion, usually with a record that is visible to the group.

• Chat is synchronous, unorganized non-colocated speaking.

• Examples: Bulletin board in WebCT;
post-its on a refrigerator or annotations (graffiti?) on posted bulletins.

Usability Factors

• Startup

• Learning (speed, difficulty, retention)

• Responsiveness (timing, accuracy, consistency, reliability)

• Interface modes (multimedia, control devices)

• Interface design (completeness, complexity, detection and responses to errors, )

• Context (users, physical environment, stress)

Functionality

• Synch / Asynch

• Colocated / distance

• Record keeping

• Searching

• Import / export (e.g., cut and paste)

• Organizing (e.g., threading)

• Multiple users (e.g., whiteboard, file editing)

A Case Study

• The application is an integrated set of groupware products for a newly formed group of engineers. This includes email, computer conferencing, an electronic meeting room for F2F meetings.

• Engineers may focus on elegant products; other concerns include marketable products and profitability.

• Pertinent quote: “Cleverness is applicable to many products, but sufficient for none.”

Using Groupware

People may confuse the use of sophisticated technology with productivity. (Or they may be reluctant to change.)

The groupware in the case study

• Electronic meeting support (EMS)

• Email

• Computer conferencing

What was observed?

• EMS worked best

• Managers reluctant to post on the computer conference

• Some things left unsaid or discussed outside of meetings

Summary

• Group dynamics impacts the effectiveness of information technology.

• Norms and readiness to change influence the acceptance of groupware.

• Phasing in technology and providing successful experiences enhance the benefits and speed of adoption for IT.

• (There is a “critical mass” factor for networked people and appropriate technology that influences the success of IT in an organization.)

Note for quizzes (2002)!

You are also responsible for:

l Class link on stages of group development.

l General knowledge of netiquette.

l Drill like what is found in “Understanding Group Behavior” (see references).

l Class link on groupware (Usability First).

Jargon

• Jargon - the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group.

• Groupware – IT that supports collaborative groups.

• Ethnographic study – Systematic observation of how people do things.

• Usability – The ease (or difficulty) of learning and using IT to do work without error. Effectiveness and productivity are related concerns.

References

• 5 Stages of Group Development. www.gmu.edu/student/csl/5stages.html The Center for Service and Leadership. George Mason University.

• Cole, Paul, Nast-Cole, Judith. A Primer on Group Dynamics for Groupware Developers. © 1992 IEEE. In …

• Understanding Group Behavior. Southern Regional High School's Corps of Cadets. 2001. 33 pages.