Learning from Notes: Organizational Issues in Groupware Implementation
Name
MIT_CISR_WP_241_Learning_from_Notes_Organizational_Issues_in_Groupware_Implementation_Orlikowski.pdf
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592.69 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
524465b8ced907450a9b7a5d705038c8
Author(s)
Orlikowski, Wanda
Date Issued
May 1, 1992
Publisher
Cambridge, Mass.: Center for Information Systems Research, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Citation
Orlikowski, Wanda. “Learning from Notes: Organizational Issues in Groupware Implementation.” Working paper 241, Center for Information Systems Research, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1992. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/175292.
Series/Report no.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper 3428-92
CISR Working Paper 241
Abstract
This paper explores the introduction of a groupware technology--Lotus Corporation's Notes--into one office of a large organization to understand the changes in work practices and social interaction facilitated by the technology. The results reveal that a number of organizational elements such as mental models (which affect how people understand and appropriate groupware) and structural properties (reward systems and workplace norms), significantly influence how groupware technology is implemented and used. Specifically, the findings suggest that in the absence of mental models that appreciate the collaborative nature of groupware, such technologies will be interpreted in terms of more familiar personal and stand-alone technologies such as spreadsheets. Further, in competitive and individualistic organizational cultures--where there are few incentives or norms for cooprating or sharing expertise--groupware on its own is unlikely to engender collaboration. Such products will be interpreted as counter-cultural, and to the extent that they are used they will promote individual not group aims. Recognizing the significant influence of these organizational elements appears critical to both researchs and practitioners of groupware technologies.
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