Supporting collaboration: Impacts of using a group editor.

Abstract

Groups or teams are the inevitable work unit in modern organizations. Working in a group setting is, however, not always as productive as it could be. Individuals often feel constrained because they are prohibited from participating as much as they potentially could, and their performance suffers. An emerging body of research in group support systems (GSS) provides evidence that computer technology effects the quality of the group product. However, GSS researchers do not fully understand how groups interact, how their work process influences the quality of what they do, and how technology of different designs might affect different aspects of group behavior. This research builds on and extends the analysis of an experimental study which examines differences in behavior and the quality of the outcome of groups using a group editor compared to groups using conventional meeting tools such as whiteboard, paper and pencil. The group editor allows all participants to see and edit the same document at the same time. The design task used in this study, like many tasks carried out by groups, requires close collaboration among the group members. Findings from research on collaboration, group communication, human information processing and idea generation are combined to identify requirements for systems aimed at supporting this type of collaboration. The group editor used in this study is shown to be better suited to support collaboration than tools such as whiteboard and paper. The supported groups produced higher quality design documents than did the unsupported groups. One explanation for this difference is their increased ability to collaborate by seeing what everybody writes and being able to edit the text. This helped them communicate through their work instead of having to verbally discuss or tell other group members about their contributions. Supported groups also participated more equally because they were not prohibited from contributing while other members wrote or spoke. Combining several literatures starts building a foundation of knowledge about the interaction between task, support system and group behavior. Neither of the literatures used alone can explain group behavior in a more complex task such as design.