CHAPTER 12 – Applying Social Psychological Theory to the Problems of Group Work

In the work arena, groups are a major mechanism for organizations to tackle problems that are too large or complex for individuals to solve alone. For example, modern software packages, like Microsoft's Excel tm , consist of million of lines of computer code, while a good programmer typically writes a few thousand lines of code a year (Somerville, 2001; see Boehm et al, 1995, for more precise estimates of productivity in software engineering). To construct these massive applications, companies bring together individuals with skill in such disparate topics as interviewing, requirements skills in each of these areas. Thus, both the scale and the scope involved in building large software applications demand group effort of some sort. The sub-field of Human-Computer Interaction known as Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) attempts to build tools to help groups of people to more effectively accomplish their work, as well as their learning and play. It also examines how groups incorporate these tools into their routines and the impact that various technologies have on group processes and outcomes. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, as a sub-field, grew out of dissatisfaction with the individualistic emphasis in early research in Human-Computer Interaction, with its overwhelming concern with single individuals using computers to perform routine tasks. This individualistic emphasis contrasts with the everyday observation that much paid work is done by interdependent individuals who collaborate (or compete) on ill-structured tasks. We try to create technology to support groups for two primary reasons—to support distributed groups and to make traditional, collocated groups more effective. First, we want to get the benefit of groups in settings and for tasks where they had not previously been practical. Distributed work has existed since at least the days of the numbers of interdependent teams whose members are located in different locations is a modern phenomenon, brought about by consolidation, acquisition, and globalization in corporations and enabled by improvements in telecommunication and computing 2 Groups chapter 8/5/03 Page 3 technology. For example, engineering teams building modern aircraft have designers in multiple locations around the world. (Argyres, 1999). Teams building large telecommunications software systems have members in North American, Europe and Asia. Large consulting firms are likely to draw upon experts drawn from multiple offices scattered around the globe to get advice. These are not isolated examples. A recent study of a large telecommunication corporation showed that about 50% of the project teams in this company …