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Journal of Organizational Computing

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Ablex Publishing

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Example publications from this periodical

The following articles are from "Journal of Organizational Computing":

Volume 1

Issue 4

Hiltz, Starr Roxanne and Turoff, Murray (1991): Computer Networking among Executives: A Case Study. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (4) pp. 357-376.

“Group Support Systems may be "distributed" for nonsimultaneous use by being embedded in a Computer-Mediated Communication System (CMCS). In this manner, large groups may use them for complex tasks over an extended period of time. Will executives such systems, and what are their reactions? This case study of elites engaged in formulating recommendations for the White House Conference on Productivity demonstrates that executives can use such systems, given that "critical success factors" are met. Perceived information richness is strongly correlated with perceptions of productivity enhancement as a result of system use.”

Ruhleder, Karen and King, John Leslie (1991): Computer Support for Work Across Space, Time, and Social Worlds. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (4) pp. 341-355.

“Collaboration is at the heart of academic enterprise; proposals for systems such as the National Science Foundation's "National Collaboratory" or Apple Computer's "Knowledge Navigator" seek to support these collaborative efforts by means of a variety of computing technologies. We examine the assumptions of the model of collaborative work behind such proposals and suggest ways to extend that model. We draw on a case study of collaborative efforts in classical scholarship in order to explore more fully the existing modalities of academic collaboration as it actually occurs. The development of a broader understanding of collaborative activities will enable us to address more effectively the challenge of constructings systems to support collaborative work.”

Eriksson, Inger V. and Nurminen, Markku I. (1991): Doing by Learning: Embedded Application Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (4) pp. 323-339.

“We argue that the computerized information system should not look like a system on its own. Rather, it should be conceived as an inherent part of the work of its users. We therefore introduce the concept of an embedded system, which describes work tasks and organization. Computer-supported information tasks are embedded in this environment: They are not parts of a system separated from other activities. This concept is based on the experiences gained during the development of a user-interface prototype, derived from a theoretical frame of reference, called act orientation, to information systems, in which all computerized tasks are interpreted as acts performed by the actual user. Our suggestion continues the tradition of on-line help and support, reaching radically deeper than usual in related approaches. We expect that our suggestion will, when applied, improve the control, productivity, quality of the outcome of work, and quality of working life, assessed from the user's point of view.”

Issue 3

Brunet, Lesley Williams, Morrissey, Charles T. and Gorry, G. Anthony (1991): Oral History and Information Technology: Human Voices of Assessment. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (3) pp. 251-274.

“Dramatic advances in technology for acquiring, managing, and sharing information promise to reshape the workplace by eliciting new behaviours and introducing new organizational patterns. For academic and medical centers, the integration of information technology into programs of education, research, and patient care is essential for increased organizational effectiveness. At Baylor College of Medicine, we have developed information-sharing and management tools, collectively called the Virtual Management System (VNS). The VNS is a multiuser, workstation-based hypermedia system that serves as a technologically extended analog of the laboratory notebook used in biomedical research. We are deploying the VNS in scientific groups at Baylor, and are applying oral history techniques to assess its impact. This article shows how oral history captures the "human voices" of Baylor's experience and helps us understand the effects of information technology on the processes of biomedical research.”

Gibson, David V. (1991): Executive GDSS: Behavioral Considerations at Individual, Organizational, and Environmental Levels of Analysis. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (3) pp. 303-322.

“This article emphasizes the importance of behavioral considerations at individual, organizational, and environmental levels of analysis when researching and evaluating the design, implementation, and use of group decision support systems (GDSS) within complex organizations. Discussion is based on interview and archival data collected on an executive level GDSS used within a corporate setting. Issues that are considered generalizable to organizational computing, coordination, and collaboration technologies concern (a) viewing organization participants as strategic, intuitive information processors, (b) understanding the importance of organizational power, politics, and situational constraints on decision making, and (c) appreciating the symbolic value of advanced information technologies to an organization's external environment.”

Hashim, Safaa H. (1991): WHAT: An Argumentative Groupware Approach for Organizing and Documenting Research Activities. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (3) pp. 275-302.

“The topic of this paper is a process-vs.-product design method representation called Argumentative Writing (AW). Argumentative writing is a multi-representation approach for conducting and reporting research projects. AW has at least two representations: one for structuring the problem-understanding/solving process and one for communicating its products to others. We discuss WHAT, a hypertext-based tool for AW. In WHAT (Writing with a Hypermedia-based Argumentative Tool), the design process is captured using Rittel's Issue Based Information Systems (IBIS) method (Conklin, 1988; Hashim, 1990a; Rittel, 1980). The product of the design process is represented in WHAT using a general document-representation scheme. In the Introduction we raise four major issues that we explore in the rest of the paper. Also in the Introduction, we show the impact the WHAT approach can have on organizational computing applications such as business education and training (Hashim, Rathnam,&Whinston, 1991) and the design of dialectical organizational information systems. The section "A Methodological Basis for AW Tools" deals with the rationale behind choosing the IBIS method in capturing the design process. The section after that explains WHAT, and the section following it explores its use as a groupware tool. The applicability of WHAT and its pros and cons are discussed in two separate sections. In the Conclusion we outline the potentiality of the approach and present suggestions for further development. Since our first reporting on WHAT (Hashim, 1990b), the AW approach was found applicable to educational, scientific, and business areas. One such application is for structuring case discussions in business schools (Hashim et al., 1991).”

Gorry, G. Anthony, Long, Kevin B., Burger, Andrew M., Jung, Cynthia P. and Meyer, Barry D. (1991): The Virtual Notebook System: An Architecture for Collaborative Work. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (3) pp. 233-250.

“We have developed the Virtual Notebook System (VNS) to facilitate information acquisition, sharing and management in groups. The VNS allows teams to create shared electronic notebooks upon whose pages they can place text and images and, in certain cases audio and video entities. Members of a team can interconnect the pages of a notebook with navigational links, making the notebook shared hypertext. Additionally special links, called action links, can be used to tie pages of a notebook to external programs. Here we discuss the architecture of the VNS and give a number of examples of its use. We also identify those aspects of the VNS development that seems to have been most important in its success.”

Issue 2

Johansen, Robert (1991): Groupware: Future Directions and Wild Cards. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (2) pp. 219-227.

“Groupware is a perspective on telecommunications and computing that emphasizes the business team as "user," rather than the individual. This perspective and its associated products and services are riding a major wave of change: the trend toward business teams (small, cross-organizational, ad hoc, task-focused, time-driven, cohesive work groups) as a primary mode of operation for the organization of the future. In this paper, I will explore future directions for the groupware perspective in the marketplace and the business teams wave. Current product classes will be presented, along with the experiences of early users of groupware. In addition to overall trends and future directions, possible wild cards will be introduced and discussed.”

Marschak, Thomas and Vazirani, Umesh (1991): Communication Costs in the Performance of Unrelated Tasks: Continuum Models and Finite Models. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (2) pp. 205-218.

“We consider two two-person organizations, called A and B. Each organization faces a changing environment; an environment has two components and each of them is privately observed by one of the organization's two members. Each organization's task is to respond to the current environment by taking a correct action; the correct action is a known function of the environment. However, the task of A is totally unrelated to the task of B: if A knew B's current environment and B's current correct action, that would tell A nothing at all about its own current correct action (and vice versa). Now suppose that each organization perform its task by a sequence of message announcements that stop when an "action-taker" has just enough information about the two members' private observations so that he can take the correct action. Suppose we measure the effort this requires by the size of the set of possible message announcements. Then a compelling conjecture says that there can be no saving in total effort if we merge the two organizations into a single four-person organization in which a single action-taker takes both actions. The conjecture turns out to be true when the possible messages form a continuum whose size is measured by its dimension, provided the message-announcing procedure obeys suitable regularity conditions. When we turn to a model in which the number of possible messages is finite, the situation is different. While a certain general proposition about coverings and projections is the main tool in proving the "continuum" conjecture, the finite analog of that proposition is (surprisingly) false. The finite version of the conjecture holds, on the other hand, when one adds a certain regularity requirement ("contiguity") to the message-announcement procedure. The truth of the finite conjecture without such a requirement remains open.”

Busch, Elizabeth, Hamalainen, Matti, Suh, Yongmoo, Whinston, Andrew and Holsapple, Clyde W. (1991): Issues and Obstacles in the Development of Team Support Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (2) pp. 161-186.

“This article presents issues and obstacles important when developing team support systems: information systems designed to support organizational teams. Drawing on the accomplishments of economics, organization theory, artificial intelligence, and computer-supported cooperative work, key issues of interest are discussed. The desirable qualitative properties of a team support system are set forth as well as its generic functional requirements. Several ideas for experimental directions are also described.”

Hiltz, Starr Roxanne, Dufner, Donna, Holmes, Michael and Poole, Scott (1991): Distributed Group Support Systems: Social Dynamics and Design Dilemmas. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (2) pp. 135-159.

“A "distributed group support system" includes decision support tools and structures embedded within a computer-mediated communication system rather than installed in a "decision room." It should support groups who are distributed in space but not time ("synchronous" groups), as well as "asynchronous" groups whose members participate at different times. Pilot studies conducted in preparation for a series of controlled experiments are reviewed in order to identify some of the problems of implementing such a system. Many of the means used by groups meeting in the same place at the same time to coordinate their activities are missing. Embedding decision support tools within a different communications medium and environment changes the way they "work." Speculations are presented about software tools and structuring or facilitation procedures that might replace the "missing" coordination channels.”

Sproull, Lee and Kiesler, Sara (1991): Two-Level Perspective on Electronic Mail in Organizations. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (2) pp. 125-134.

“Organizational computing tools are often developed and managed with an eye toward increasing efficiency. Yet today's most widespread organizational computing tool, electronic mail, has an impact that goes well beyond efficiency effects. This article summarizes a two-level perspective on organizational computing and reviews research results demonstrating strong organizational effects of electronic mail. From these results, we draw some lessons for the next generation of organizational computing.”

Bair, James H. (1991): A Layered Model of Organizations: Communication Process and Performance. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (2) pp. 187-203.

“Modeling organizations is most useful for predicting the outcome of decisions and courses of action. However, the tendency has been to view an organization too narrowly, thus overlooking critical variables. For example, financial models are based on abstract indicators and do not adequately describe human factors. This article offers a five-layer, multidisciplinary model, where each layer defines units of analysis and subsystem boundaries. The layers (behavior-motion, activity, process-procedure, function, mission) define arenas of practical action, ranging from individuals' moment-by-moment behaviors, such as making telephone calls, to broad policy decisions and functional structure of organizations.”

Issue 1

Turoff, Murray (1991): Computer-Mediated Communication Requirements for Group Support. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) pp. 85-113.

“This article presents an overview of the historical evolution of computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems within the context of designing for group support. A number of examples of design features to support specific group tasks are illustrated. The result of this is the synthesis of a number of observations on the assumptions and goals for the design of CMC systems. An emphasis is placed on the advantages offered groups by asynchronous support of the communication process, self-tailoring of communication structures by users and groups, and the integration into the communication system of other computer resources and information systems. The systems that have been developed recently at New Jersey Institute of Technology (EIES2, TEIES, and Personal TEIES) are used to illustrate the translation of design objectives into specific features and functions.”

Applegate, Lynda, Ellis, Clarence, Holsapple, Clyde W., Radermacher, Franz J. and Whinston, Andrew B. (1991): Organizational Computing: Definitions and Issues. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) pp. 1-10.

Applegate, Lynda M. (1991): Technology Support for Cooperative Work: A Framework for Studying Introduction and Assimilation in Organizations. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) pp. 11-39.

“This article draws on published research on the nature of the innovation process and exploratory field research in 10 companies to develop a framework for research on organizations' introduction and assimilation of computer-supported cooperative work technologies. The research reported in this article, part of a much larger study of the general process of innovation in organizations, focuses specifically on the transfer and assimilation of new technology innovations. Technologies to support group process, communication, and coordination in face-to-face group meetings [electronic meeting support systems (EMSS)] were chosen to illustrate the use of the research framework. The article focuses on the transfer of these technologies from R&D units to target organizational units and the alignment of group, technology, and task during assimilation by end-user groups. Research propositions are developed and discussed. Future articles will present the findings from current research that utilizes the frameworks presented in this article to study the introduction, transfer, and assimilation of EMSS in organizations.”

Ledyard, John O. (1991): Coordination in Shared Facilities: A New Methodology. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) pp. 41-59.

“Shared facilities are a good example of the difficulties inherent in coordination problems and the benefits to be derived from creative solutions. Traditional methods employed by engineers and others, because they ignore an important aspect of the problem, can yield solutions that appear successful but which significantly underutilize these facilities. This article is intended to be an introduction to the types of problems that can arise and to a new method for systematically studying these problems. The method is illustrated with the results of a study done for NASA, on the coordination of the use of a Space Station, which produced a new computer-assisted institution that outperforms existing institutions.”

Olson, Gary M. and Olson, Judith S. (1991): User-Centered Design of Collaboration Technology. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) pp. 61-83.

“Groupware, like other forms of information technology, should be designed with the users' needs and capabilities as the focus. User-centered system design consists of observation and analysis of users at work, assistance in design from relevant aspects of theory, and iterative testing with users. We illustrate the various stages of this approach with our development of groupware for software designers. We have extensive studies of designers at work, have developed the beginnings of a theory of distributed cognition, and are at the first stages of iterative testing and redesign of a prototype of a shared editor to support their work.”

Vamos, T. (1991): Cooperative Communication: Computerware and Humanware. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) pp. 115-123.

“This article emphasizes the combined requirements of computer systems and humanistics. In cooperative computing, negotiations can be used as a basic paradigm by which different roles and their requisites can be identified -- the facilitator, the mediator, and the negotiator. The negotiation-cooperation process has a logical sequence of agreements, definition of terms, objectives, mode of operation, common security measures concerning integrity and liability, handling protocols, etc. The cooperation is based on models of the subject and the partners -- i.e., a minimum of three models should be matched. The usual methods of human negotiations supported by metacommunication should have a computer-realizable substitute. All these subjects are outgrowths of recent research in artificial intelligence (knowledge-based systems) and cognitive psychology; some experiences are reported in the field. However, the main task is human-oriented -- education of people for this new powerful means of coexistence.”

Singh, Baldev and Whinston, Andrew B. (1991): Introduction to the Special Issues. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 1 (1) p. iii.

Volume 2

Issue 3

Philippakis, Andrew and Goul, Michael (1992): Concepts and Models of Group Membership in Computer-Supported Knowledge and Decision Tasks. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (3) pp. 243-262.

“Decision groups have assumed new and expanded roles as a result of the application of electronic technologies such as group DSS. The rational selection and assignment of members to a computer-supported group is an important research issue with significant implications for organizational effectiveness. Formal group-composition models are developed for knowledge-based and coalition-formation decision tasks. In the context of these models, group properties of synthesis, redundancy, and synergy are defined and related to concepts for rational selection of group members. Conceptual and operational constructs are presented, providing a practical foundation for initiating detailed analysis of interactions between group-composition and group-decision processes. Implications for future research are discussed.”

Petrovic, Otto (1992): Empirical Research in Electronic Meeting Systems: A Demand Side Approach. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (3) pp. 263-275.

“This study set out to empirically research the time spent by managers in meetings and to identify the requirements of an information technology system for supporting meetings. It does this by investigating the time commitment, efficiency, main problems, and benefits of meetings. In addition, it examines managers' attitudes towards information technology support for meetings. To fulfill this aim, more than 1,000 mainly middle level managers were surveyed. It emerges that a total of 22.4% of working time is spent in meetings; 34% of this time expenditure is rated inefficient. The opportunity for collective decision making and exchange of information are seen as the main benefits whereas the failure to identify critical items and agendas without priorities and targets are seen as the main problems. Analysis of their attitudes towards technological support of meetings shows that managers in principle have a positive attitude toward the idea. They specifically wish to see particular support for the preparatory and follow-up phases and tools to support qualitative-creative tasks.”

Ramanathan, Srinivas, Rangan, P. Venkat and Vin, Harrick M. (1992): Designing Communication Architectures for Interorganizational Multimedia Collaboration. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (3) pp. 277-302.

“Advances in computer and communication technologies have stimulated the integration of digital video and audio with computing, leading to the development of various computer-assisted collaborations. In this article, we propose a multilevel conferencing paradigm called super conference for supporting collaborative interactions between geographically separated groups of users, with each group belonging to possibly a different organization. In a super conference, each participant must receive and display the composite media stream obtained by mixing media streams transmitted by all the other participants. Hierarchical communication architectures are naturally suited for media mixing in super conferences. We present algorithms for designing hierarchical mixing architectures that optimize real-time end-to-end delays of media. In order to improve their real-time performance further, we propose multistage mixing techniques by which mixers can carry out mixing concurrently with communication. Surprisingly, the optimal architectures for multistage mixing are widely different from those of monostage mixing (in which, mixing and media communication sequential as opposed to concurrent). Based on real-time delay constraints of multimedia, we obtain interesting limits on the sizes of both super conferences and groups within super conferences in optimal hierarchical architectures, which go to show their high scalability in terms of both the maximum number of participants and the geographical separation between them. At the Multimedia Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, we have implemented a conferencing system on an environment of Sun SPARCstations equipped with digital multimedia hardware. As an interesting application of the conferencing system, we have developed a telepresenter by which users can remotely attend lectures in progress. We present initial experiences with the system.”

Press, Laurence (1992): Systems for Finding People. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (3) pp. 303-314.

“Finding a previously unknown person with the skills and knowledge to answer a question or perhaps to collaborate with is an effective use of a computer-mediated communication (CMC) system. This article discusses two aspects of systems for finding people, system architectures, and organizational implications. The architectures considered are special interest groups, centralized servers, and decentralized systems. The organizational implications are the value to organizations of people-finding systems, management incentives for individuals to participate in them, and participation in the absence of apparent incentives. The deployment and improvement of people-finding and other CMC systems will bestow a marginal advantage upon cooperative individuals and organizations with cooperative cultures. As a result, CMC may marginally alter organizational and human nature, nudging us in the direction of a time when nice guys finish first.”

Press, Laurence (1992): Lotus Notes (Groupware) in Context. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (3) pp. 315-320.

“Notes is a mail and teleconferencing (bulletin board) system for LAN-based users at locations that are not continuously connected. It supports asynchronous group work in different locations, and has a direct-manipulation user interface.”

Lea, Martin and Spears, Russell (1992): Paralanguage and Social Perception in Computer-Mediated Communication. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (3) pp. 321-341.

“It is widely held that computer-mediated communication (CMC) filters out many of the social and affective cues associated with human interaction with consequent effects on communication outcomes and the medium's suitability for interpersonal tasks. The relationship between paralanguage and social perception in CMC in different social contexts is investigated in two experiments. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in subjects' perceptions of anonymous communicators as a function of the paralinguistic content of the electronic mail messages they received. Subjects read three sets of messages containing different types of paralinguistic cues and a fourth set of control messages. They also completed a set of person-perception rating scales in respect of each message sender. The hypothesis was supported for both novice electronic mail users and for experienced users drawn from a large telecommunications organization. In Study 2, subjects participated in group discussions over a CMCS under four conditions, manipulated in a 2 x 2 between-subjects design. The salience of the task group was either high or low, and subjects were either de-individuated (physically isolated and visually anonymous) or individuated (physically copresent and visually identifiable). From social identity theory, it was hypothesized that de-individuated subjects for whom group identity had been made salient would evaluate users of paralanguage more positively than when group salience was low, in accordance with a social attraction response associated with perceptions of group identity. The hypothesis was supported. The results suggest that paralanguage is one means by which social information is communicated in CMC and that the meaning of paralinguistic marks is dependent on the group or individual context that is pre-established for the communication. The studies, therefore, question earlier assumptions that the social context is dramatically reduced or eliminated in this medium. The implications of contextual effects for the use of CMC by work groups in organizations are discussed.”

Issue 2

Marsden, James R., Pingry, David E. and Wang, Ming-Chian Ken (1992): An Experimental Approach to Intelligent Organizational Design. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (2) pp. 225-242.

“Organizations in competitive markets have no guarantee of continued existence. The intelligent firm in such a setting is the firm that can adapt its structure, the one that has the knowledge necessary to change when change is optimal, and to make enough profit to survive. We argue that the intelligent firm must understand the relationships among its structure, its production inputs (including information technology), and its productivity. When market and technological conditions dictate that a change in structure is optimal, the intelligent firm, the successful firm, will change. We argue that carefully structured and controlled laboratory experiments provide an excellent source for obtaining the knowledge necessary for organizations to adapt strategically. We illustrate how such experiments can be used in determining the relationships between organizational forms and information system constructs, and in analyzing what mixes yield maximum performance in decision-theoretic and game theoretic settings.”

Griggs, Kenneth A. (1992): Visual Agents that Model Organizations. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (2) pp. 203-224.

“The successful use of icons in interface design, games, and simulations to reduce cognitive effort is well established. This article explores an extension of the concept via a prototype implementation in Smalltalk-80 that uses object-oriented programming, AI techniques, and iconic "visual agents" as a means of expanding the scope of the visual model world from narrowly focused metaphors to organizations themselves. Visual agents are icons that encapsulate data and behavior of organizational objects including the user. Just as a desktop metaphor is based on "desktop objects" an organizational model world includes objects found within an organization. These objects are classified using a simple hierarchy composed of persons, things, and processes at the top level and a set of changeable entities at lower levels. This hierarchy provides the basis for the development of systems that accomplish managerial level tasks such as scheduling, reporting, advisement, and assistance. The hierarchical class structure, method inheritance, and message-passing paradigm of Smalltalk-80 offers an environment, which is itself, a good model for the approach. Thus, Smalltalk-80, in conjunction with embedded knowledge bases that provide agents with a limited but functional "intelligence," complete the approach to organizational modeling proposed here.”

Chen, Minder, Liou, Yihwa Irene and Weber, E. Sue (1992): Developing Intelligent Organizations: A Context-Based Approach to Individual and Organizational Effectiveness. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (2) pp. 181-202.

“Organizations interested in intelligent actions in uncertain or equivocal environments must possess or create a common context of interaction for participants in order to coordinate their activities and use information effectively. In a learning situation, the establishment of an intelligible context of interaction is especially important because the learner's assimilation of new information depends on its compatibility with the learner's existing knowledge and skills. Cognitive theory underlies the authors' discussion of the functions, development, and expression of intelligence, and informs their discussion of effective action contexts. Contextual information systems (CIS) are proposed as mechanisms for helping individuals and organizations manage personal and enterprise-wide knowledge systems. A domain analysis methodology, developed to facilitate the creation of appropriate action contexts, is presented. Finally, the contributions CIS can make to human and organizational effectiveness are discussed.”

Carlson, David A. and Ram, Sudha (1992): A Knowledge Representation for Modeling Organizational Productivity. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (2) pp. 155-180.

“The primary objective of effective productivity improvement is to reduce unnecessary and wasteful effort, not simply to speed things up. Constructing an organizational model along these lines might assist a manager in assessing the organization's current state and in moving to a more desirable position. Such models may be construed as managers' mental models. A mental model is not a static set of knowledge, but rather, a dynamic memory that integrates the new information resulting from environmental scanning. Thus, a mental model consists of some internal representation that reflects the essential features and relationships in a corresponding real-world system, for example, the organization. This article proposes an architecture and a representation scheme for implementing computational models that correspond with the mental models in managers' minds. A four-level architecture is outlined that consists of a linguistic layer, an epistemological layer, an object-management layer, and an implementation layer. An iterative, triarchic research method was used that simultaneously developed a theoretical framework, synthesized evidence from an American Express case study, and specified a computational representation. A prototype management support system developed as part of this research, called SPRINT (Strategic Plan and Resource INTegration), is implemented as a frame-based semantic network using a hypertext interface and is programmed in Smalltalk/V286.”

Motiwalla, Luvai F. and Nunamaker, Jr. Jay F. (1992): MAIL-MAN: A Knowledge-Based MAIL Assistant for MANagers. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (2) pp. 131-154.

“Although several collaborative office systems have been developed recently to provide synchronous communication support for managerial work, they have not capitalized on electronic mail (E-mail), an existing asynchronous office communication technology widely used by managers. This is because E-mail technology has yet to incorporate intelligent characteristics and flexibility to support different office functions, which can enable it to adapt to the changing and uncertain environment of managerial work. This article addresses the conceptual and technological issues involved in development of E-mail to support managerial work with MAIL-MAN, a knowledge-based E-mail system unified with other office applications to model and support managerial work.”

Blanning, Robert W., King, David R., Marsden, James R. and Seror, Ann C. (1992): Intelligent Models of Human Organizations: The State of the Art. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (2) pp. 123-130.

“The application of concepts from cognitive science and artificial intelligence to organizational modeling is a new and exciting area of research that may yield useful insights into organization theory and behavior. In this introduction we offer a framework for organizational intelligence, review the literature in the area, and introduce the articles in this special issue.”

Issue 1

Whinston, Andrew B. (1992): Introduction to the Special Issue. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (1) p. i.

Hamalainen, Matti, Hashim, Safaa, Holsapple, Clyde W., Suh, Yongmoo and Whinston, Andrew B. (1992): Structured Discourse for Scientific Collaboration: A Framework for Scientific Collaboration Based on Structured Discourse Analysis. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (1) pp. 1-26.

“This article describes the initial stage of an exploratory research project on improving scientific collaboration. For the purpose of laying conceptual foundations of scientific collaboration, we discuss general requirements of a collaborative system for scientific researchers. With these requirements in mind, we outline the technical design of a prototype system to support scientific collaboration. This design involves a method of structured discourse and is integrated with electronic mail. The prototype system, currently being developed, will be tested by the authors who are collaborating on various research projects in the United States and Finland. Preliminary results will be available in the near term. Further development will include the incorporation of project management, negotiation support, and document production tools into the system.”

Gurbaxani, Vijay and Shi, Edmond (1992): Computers and Coordination in Manufacturing. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (1) pp. 27-46.

“This article examines the role of advanced information technologies, particularly computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), in coordinating manufacturing activities. Our focus is on understanding the nature of changes in organizational structure and processes that are a result of, or are associated with, the introduction of CIM systems. The analysis is premised on the observation that coordination tasks are largely related to the acquisition and processing of information and are, therefore, sensitive to the application of information technology. Economic theories of organization facilitate the development of the relationships between information costs and the attributes of organizations. We use a model of a manufacturing firm, which incorporates elements of these theories, to study the organizational implications of CIM systems.”

Woo, Carson C. and Chang, Man Kit (1992): An Approach to Facilitate the Automation of Semistructured and Recurring Negotiations in Organizations. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (1) pp. 47-76.

“Communication is vital to the running of a distributed organization. To alleviate the amount of time organizational workers spend in communication, some tools should be provided for them. We propose a set of communication tools, based on Ballmer and Brennenstuhl's (1981) speech act classification, which are to be used by organizational workers during negotiations. These tools provide assistance to the organizational workers and can be used to program the structured part of the negotiation. Since the preparation and use of such tools requires additional time and costs, they are only beneficial to the type of negotiation that has other instances occurring in the future.”

Jong, Peter de (1992): A Framework for the Development of Distributed Organizations. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (1) pp. 77-94.

“A system, Ubik, is described that builds, executes, and maintains distributed computer organizations. A computer organization is built using three organizational components: structure, action, and power. The interaction among these three components mirrors some of the complex interactions in the external organization being modeled. The structure of an organization is modeled with semantic nets built of linked-together objects. The action of an organization is represented by an object called a configurator, and initiated by message passing. The power of an organization is maintained by objects, called sponsors, which delegate processing power to other objects. Active messages are used to build specialized objects called constructors, questers, and tapeworms. They build, query, monitor, and constrain applications running within an organization. Ubik is based on the actor concurrent object model. It supports the parallel execution of organizational applications distributed over networked computers. Ubik contains tools for the building of organizational applications by end-users. Programming by example is supported with the use of a pattern-directed language, used within two-dimensional pictures of forms. Distributed rule-based agents are supported using the semantic nets as knowledge bases and the tapeworms as rules.”

Panko, Raymond (1992): Managerial Communication Patterns. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 2 (1) pp. 95-122.

“Use of time studies provide detailed information on organizational communication patterns, offering a rich base of data for identifying promising new targets for "groupwork" support researchers. This article looks at use of time data that provide a detailed picture of communication patterns in the workdays of managers and some other knowledge workers.”

Volume 3

Issue 4

Dubinskas, Frank A. (1993): Virtual Organizations: Computer Conferencing and Organization Design. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (4) pp. 389-416.

“Computer conferencing systems link groups of users who "meet" in the virtual space of a computer and interact around a common purpose or topic. These electronically constituted and mediated groups can mirror, cross-cut, or hive off from existing organizational structures. This article reports a study of organizational structuring processes that accompany the introduction of a computer conferencing system in six industrial organizations. The relationships among technological capabilities and constraints, existing organization structures, managerial intent, and the unanticipated consequences of implementation for structural change are discussed. Employing the same software system in each case, organizational outcomes are radically different. Earlier analysts have focused on a contingency model of the organization-to-technology relationship. Computer conferencing systems, however, confound the distinction between technical and organizational systems; they exist in an overlapping border domain between their two parent systems. This article explores the character of this overlapping domain and proposes the terms "virtual group" and "virtual organization" to evoke the special status of groups created through computer conferencing. Virtual organizations are semiotic entities in Weick's [1] sense of equivoque, and their essentially ambiguous, interpretable character is important in shaping organizational outcomes. Virtual groups become part of the ongoing process of structuration [2], while also providing a new tool for organizational design.”

Goldstein, David K. (1993): Computer-Based Data and Organizational Learning: The Importance of Managers' Stories. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (4) pp. 417-442.

“While many organizations are investing large amounts of money to provide computer-based data to their managers, little is known about how, or even whether, managers use these data to learn about the business environment. This issue is explored by examining how grocery product managers use supermarket scanner data to learn about changes in the marketing environment. Managers' stories play a central role in the four-step process used by one product management organization as it learns from analyzing computer-based data. First, a manager examines the data and looks for unexpected results -- findings that contradict one or more of her stories about the marketing environment. If something is found, the manager carries out a relatively unstructured, multistage process to make sense out of the unexpected result. This process can be viewed as a dialogue between the result and a set of tools at the manager's disposal (including analyses of computer-based data). Next, the manager tells the story to share her insights with peers and superiors, developing a common understanding. Finally, the manager creates an official story, which is used to "sell" new marketing approaches to people outside the product manager organization -- the sales force and supermarket buyers.”

Chidambaram, Laku and Bostrom, Robert (1993): Evolution of Group Performance Over Time: A Repeated Measures Study of GDSS Effects. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (4) pp. 443-469.

“Many studies in the group decision support system (GDSS) literature have reported on the behavior and performance of ad hoc groups meeting for the first, and, in fact, the only time. Such one-time studies of groups may not represent their longer term behavior and performance accurately. Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) conceives of technology use as a social practice that emerges over time. AST suggests that meeting outcomes reflect the extent to which structures offered by the technology (such as GDSS tool sequences, meeting agenda, etc.) are faithfully appropriated by the group. Such faithful appropriation, however, takes time. This article explicitly recognizes the relevance of this appropriation process and reports on a lab study that examined the impact of computer support on group performance over time. In general, results showed that the performance of computer-supported groups improved over time, whereas the performance of non-computer-supported groups stayed the same or declined. The number of alternatives generated by computer-supported groups increased considerably as they became more proficient in incorporating the technology into group processes. However, the quality of decisions made by computer-supported groups began to increase slightly, only during the last session. Both these findings suggest that AST is, in fact, a viable theory for studying group behavior and performance over time. Results from this study also point out the need for conducting more longitudinal studies of group processes in the future.”

Issue 3

Barron, Terry (1993): Impacts of Information Technology on Organizational Size and Shape: Control and Flexibility Effects. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (3) pp. 363-387.

“We argue that the study of information technology (IT) impacts on organizations has been hindered by the shortage of formal models from which empirically testable implications of such impacts can be derived. This article demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of this approach by constructing and analyzing optimization models of the organizational design problem for a restricted class of hierarchical organizations. The literature suggests that two organizational characteristics likely to be affected by IT are organizational "flexibility" and the nature of organizational control problems. Thus, first, a particular concept of flexibility is defined and parameterized. Second, organizational design is formalized as an optimization problem having parameters for flexibility and control effects. Third, probable effects of four broad classes of IT on the model's parameters are spelled out and then analyzed via comparative statics and numerical experiments. One general result is that some types of IT impacts could have significant industry-level effects since large changes in the optimal organizational scale under profit maximization may result. Some specific hypotheses regarding the impacts of monitoring IT are also derived. Fourth, suggestions for the formulation of empirical models are given. The model shows that a careful understanding of the effects of a particular system is vital to predicting its impacts; for example, monitoring systems of different types can have impacts that are the opposite of one another. The model suggests that short, medium, and long-run effects of a given IT type can differ from one another, so that lagged effects of IT investments should be studied carefully, allowing for the possibility of different directions of change for different lags.”

Ang, Soon and Beath, Cynthia Mathis (1993): Hierarchical Elements in Software Contracts. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (3) pp. 329-361.

“Recent literature in information systems notes that software development outsourcing is increasingly prevalent, despite the complexity of managing development across organizational boundaries. Information systems researchers have used transaction cost and agency theories to propose incentive schemes to address this problem. Drawing on legal and organizational theories about contractual relations between firms, this article describes and illustrates a set of contractual elements, essentially hierarchical control mechanisms, that can contribute to the governance of external software development. Software outsourcing contracts using such elements should be viewed as hierarchical, rather than market, organizational forms, in that they are sheltered from the disciplining influence of market forces. Following transaction cost theory, the article proposes that the use of hierarchical elements will vary with transaction characteristics. Actual software contracts are content analyzed to lend empirical support to the propositions. Future research directions and content-analytic research designs appropriate for analyzing software contracts are then elaborated.”

Bakos, J. Yannis and Brynjolfsson, Erik (1993): From Vendors to Partners: Information Technology and Incomplete Contracts in Buyer-Supplier Relationships. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (3) pp. 301-328.

“As search costs and other coordination costs decline, theory predicts that firms should optimally increase the number of suppliers with which they do business. Despite recent declines in these costs due to information technology, there is little evidence of an increase in the number of suppliers used. On the contrary, in many industries, firms are working with fewer suppliers. This suggests that other forces must be accounted for in a more complete model of buyer-supplier relationships. This article uses the theory of incomplete contracts to illustrate that incentive considerations can motivate a buyer to limit the number of employed suppliers. To induce suppliers to make investments that cannot be specified and enforced in a satisfactory manner via a contractual mechanism, the buyer must commit not to expropriate the ex post surplus from such investments. Under reasonable bargaining mechanisms, such a commitment will be more credible if the buyer can choose from fewer alternative suppliers. Information technology increases the importance of noncontractible investments by suppliers, such as quality, responsiveness, and innovation; it is shown that when such investments are particularly important, firms will employ fewer suppliers, and this will be true even when search and transaction costs are very low.”

Ching, Chee, Holsapple, Clyde W. and Whinston, Andrew B. (1993): Modeling Network Organizations: A Basis for Exploring Computer Support Coordination Possibilities. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (3) pp. 279-300.

“In recent years, network organizations have gained much attention as more and more of them have emerged in various industries. The problem of coordination within network organizations is an important one that differs in major ways from coordination within hierarchies or markets. We contend that computer technology has a potential for usefully supporting coordination efforts in networks. As a basis for studying such potential in a systematic way, a formal model of network organizations would be helpful, particularly to the extent that it represents coordination possibilities. From a long-term perspective, the success of a network organization depends on more than efficient transaction processing. It also depends on factors such as participant reliability, motivation, mutual trust, cooperation, creativity, and prudent evolution. All of these are related to the issue of a participant's value (past, current, ongoing, changing) to the network. We introduce a model that formalizes some key aspects of network organizations. At the heart of our formulation is a construct called "reputation," which encapsulates the many attributes that can characterize participants' past behaviors in a network. This model characterizes essential informational aspects of a network organization in a quantifiable form that lays a foundation for analyzing, designing, and implementing computer-based systems to facilitate network operation and growth. We use the model to discuss possibilities for computer-based support of network organizations at managerial and strategic levels, as complements to transaction-level Electronic Data Interchange-like systems.”

Whang, Seungjin (1993): Analysis of Interorganizational Information Sharing. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (3) pp. 257-277.

“Recent years have observed a number of interorganization information systems and electronic data interchanges through which multiple organizations share information. This article studies the incentives to share information when two or more companies are involved in a supplier-buyer relationship. We propose two models through which we pursue the question: What type of information will be shared? In the first model, we study the incentives for a production company to share its queue information with its customers. The release of queue information has a trade-off between loss of profits and efficient flow control, but we show that the supplier will share information under certain regularity conditions. The second model studies the incentive for a supplier to share price information with its buyer. As the buyer makes its quantity decision based on the price information fed by the supplier, the latter has to choose between keeping the communication channel alive for good news and benefiting from the buyer's uninformed purchase decisions. We show that, in most practical situations, the supplier will not voluntarily share its price information.”

Brynjolfsson, Erik and Mendelson, Haim (1993): Information Systems and the Organization of Modern Enterprise. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (3) pp. 245-255.

“This article and the entire special issue address relationships between information systems and changes in the organization of modern enterprise, both within and across firms. The emerging organizational paradigm involves complementary changes in multiple dimensions. The revolution in information systems merits special attention as both cause and effect of the organizational transformation. This can be illustrated by considering two key variables: location of information and location of decision rights in organizations. Depending on the costs of information transmission and processing, either the "MIS solution" of transferring information or the "organizational redesign solution" of moving decision rights can be an effective approach toward achieving the necessary collocation of information and decision rights. When information systems change radically, one cannot expect the optimal organizational structure to be unaffected. Considering the interplay among information, incentives, and decision rights in a unified fashion leads to new insights and better organizational planning. The articles in this special issue address different facets of this interaction. Despite significant progress, our understanding of the economic role of information systems in organizations remains in its infancy. Successful design of modern enterprise will require additional narrowing of the historic gap between research in information systems and research in economics.”

Issue 2

Migliarese, Piero and Paolucci, Emilio (1993): Cooperation Support Through the Use of Group Decision Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (2) pp. 215-243.

“This article considers the development of the group decision support system (GDSS) field both from organizational and technological perspectives. The growing importance of teamwork, lateral coordination, and activities integration inside modern business organizations is emphasized. Technological and knowledge specialization, quick transformation of business environments, reduction of response time, and so on, are some of the reasons that can explain the renewed relevance of teamwork. Also, the development of information technology (IT) is analyzed in relation to the role it is assuming in supporting group activities. Research in the GDSS field is then introduced. A proposal concerning the identification of three different phases in GDSS studies is developed, ranging from decision rooms to distributed systems. Each phase shows distinctive research topics and application fields, together with different organizational goals. Results of these developments are the growth of potential application areas of GDSS tools. These theoretical considerations, together with empirical experiences coming from the study of a real manufacturing environment (an IBM plant where group cooperation plays a fundamental role for production efficiency), constitute the basis for a research GDSS prototype (GROUPS). Prototype features are designed to support executives in facing production-planning problems through an improvement in communications and in knowledge representation.”

Gaines, Brian R. and Malcolm, Nicholas (1993): Supporting Collaboration in Digital Journal Production. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (2) pp. 195-213.

“As digital journals come into use there arise new possibilities for the computer support of the group processes that are involved in developing, editing, reviewing, revising, annotating, and generally using a publication. There are now a number of products and research tools designed to support group-writing teams that can be extended to support a wider range of interacting roles and activities. Most, however, require use of nonmainstream word-processing systems, and usually assume that full information is continuously available through a network to mediate and avoid conflicts. In the context of digital journals, it is more realistic to suppose that they will be distributed through both on-line and off-line media, and that a requirement for continuous network access would severely limit their use. This article reports research on group-writing tools that deviate as little as possible from conventional word processors and assume only intermittent network connection for document exchange and conflict resolution. The system developed can be used by some people as a conventional word processor, by others as a versioning and text and sound annotation system, and by others as a full hypertext system, all while working with the same corpus of documents. It offers full typographic and page-layout facilities and imports typographic text from, and exports to, the mainstream commercial word processors so that users are not locked into a nonstandard technology. It is presented here as an example of the increased functionality that may be made available through a digital journal, supporting many of the current roles and activities involved in journal creation and use while deviating minimally from current journal and word-processing practice.”

Gaines, Brian R. (1993): An Agenda for Digital Journals: The Socio-Technical Infrastructure of Knowledge Dissemination. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (2) pp. 135-193.

“The problems of information overload from the growth of scholarly literature, and the need to use information technology to manage them, were identified by major writers and scientists over 50 years ago. Yet, the main form of scholarly communication, the journal, is still circulated in paper form as it has been for over 300 years. The economic arguments for using computer and communication technology to overcome these problems through a new form of scientific communication, the electronic or digital journal, were vigorously presented in the 1970s. Experimental trials of digital journals with the technologies of the 1970s and 1980s have not been successful. In the 1990s, the continuing value of current journal systems is again being questioned in terms of soaring library costs, the burden of the current refereeing system, and the diminishing returns of journal publication brought about by information overload. This article presents a fundamental examination of the prerequisites for the introduction of digital journals, at one level in terms of the role of journals in the social and economic processes of human knowledge production, and at another in terms of the state of the art in the relevant technologies. Models of the processes underlying the growth of knowledge in the literature on the philosophy, history, and psychology of science are first used to analyze the structure and role of the social infrastructure of journals, including the editorial and refereeing systems and the role of commercial publishers and libraries. The motivation for digital journals and past experience is surveyed, then the learning curves, and current costs and performances of the enabling hardware, software, communications, and interface technologies. Examples of the current impact of computer and communications technology on scholarly discourse are given to enable probable changes to be predicted in the structure of journals when they are transferred to digital form. Finally, the social and technological analyses are used to outline some architectures for a first generation of digital journals emulating the current medium, and for the evolution of later generations diverging in characteristics to take advantage of the new medium.”

Issue 1

Whinston, Andrew B. (1993): Introduction to the Special Issue. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (1) p. iii.

DeSanctis, Gerardine, Poole, Marshall Scott, Dickson, Gary W. and Jackson, Brad M. (1993): Interpretive Analysis of Team Use of Group Technologies. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (1) pp. 1-29.

“Studies of the impacts of new computing technologies on organizations often lead to contradictory or equivocal findings. Studies showing negative or null effects of computing are as commonplace as those showing benefits. Moreover, outcomes are nonuniform across individuals, groups, or organizational units and sometimes vary within the same study. To explain the commonality as well as the variance in the results of new technology introduction, we propose adaptive structuration theory. The theory focuses on how technology structures are applied in interpersonal interaction and the specific nature of appropriation patterns. We illustrate the power of the theory through interpretative analysis of three teams as they adapt to use of a group decision support system over a period of eight months. The analyses highlight differences in technology impacts across the three teams and also explain some common outcomes. Our analytic approach appears to be useful in the study of organizational computing impacts in general and group decision support system effects in particular.”

Quarterman, John S. and Carl-Mitchell, Smoot (1993): The Computing Paradigm Shift. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (1) pp. 31-50.

“Over the last five years, there has been a shift from centralized to distributed computing. Timesharing and batch systems still have uses, but the large mainframe is no longer the only way to do computing. Networks have spread computing power, access, and costs beyond centralized computer centers. Personal computers have made computing accessible to many new users. Distributed computing attempts to bring the manageability of mainframe computing together with the accessibility of networked computing and the transparency of personal computing.”

Chang, Ai-Mei, Bailey, Jr. Andrew D., Mutchler, Jane F. and Whinston, Andrew B. (1993): Modeling the Going-Concern Judgment Using Argumentation Theory. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (1) pp. 51-85.

“A going-concern judgment is an important classification of a client that auditors are called upon to render. We study the collective group process of interpretation that auditors are engaged in by examining their individual interpretation processes and their interactions among themselves and with clients. The interpretation process leading to the going-concern judgment involves four phases: (1) recognizing any potential going-concern problems, (2) understanding the cause of those problems, (3) evaluating client plans to mitigate those problems, and (4) rendering a going-concern judgment. We capture the process underlying a going-concern judgment by representing the content and process of the interactions using an argumentation language.”

Rein, Gail L., Holsapple, Clyde W. and Whinston, Andrew B. (1993): Computer Support of Organization Design and Learning. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (1) pp. 87-120.

“Organization design is a pervasive phenomenon that significantly impacts performance, and yet organization design activity has received little direct support from computer technology. If organization learning is viewed as the process whereby knowledge is developed, then organization design both influences the organizational learning that occurs and is at least a partial reflection of the organizational learning that has occurred. This article examines the significance, bases, and means for developing multiuser, computer-based environments for supporting organization design and learning. The article introduces a working perspective of organization design and learning highlighted by three key ideas. Organization design and learning (1) is defined in terms of organization work, structure, and process; (2) is an ongoing evolutionary phenomenon; and (3) can and should be an inclusive, distributed, multiparticipant effort. The article identifies the requirements for computer-based technology that supports this working perspective and then presents an overview of a prototype technology that addresses these requirements. The prototype technology consists of two interacting components: Deva, an interactive, multiuser, graphical editor for managing process descriptions; and GPOD, an associated group process for using Deva for organization design. We conclude that such technologies will enable organizations to become self-organizing systems, thereby allowing them to compete more effectively and survive in today's rapidly changing environment.”

Ledyard, John O. (1993): The Design of Coordination Mechanisms and Organizational Computing. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 3 (1) pp. 121-134.

“We provide an introduction to a theory of coordination mechanism design and show how to apply it to an assignment problem. The purpose is to introduce those familiar with organizational computing, but unfamiliar with game theory and economics, to the subject. We also describe briefly how we can test new mechanisms before taking them into the field. Finally, we raise some unresolved research questions.”

Volume 4

Issue 4

Karagiannis, D., Radermacher, F. J., Teufel, B. and Wynne, B. E. (1994): Towards CSCW: Meta-Level Environments for Enhanced Group and Organization Effectiveness. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (4) pp. 367-392.

“The article deals with Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and its valuable contributions to organizing cooperation and joint work among partners in many contexts. In the field of CSCW, complex issues such as coordination and negotiation can be identified as being characteristic, fundamental and important research topics that have to be elaborated on urgently. Better support in coordination and in negotiation, and a stronger use of knowledge about people involved, roles, positions, values, strategies, and activities seem to be important topics. It is the view of this article that such aims can only be achieved if there is a close coupling of CSCW components with a powerful underlying corporate information system. In order to achieve these aims, enterprise information systems and group support are to be combined as a strategic way into the informational future of the enterprise. In this context, a good conceptual model and proper implementation of an Enterprise Data Model (EDM) are a fundamental prerequisite for full group support in an organizational environment. The EDM can be considered as a basic support repository for general planning processes. The article introduces an architectural concept for Computer-Supported Collaborative Systems (CSCS) consisting of a three-level system architecture of a basic object level, user and coordination object level, and a specific goal-oriented object level. The approach in this article is based on experiences from the application field of distributed software development.”

Mosier, Jane N. and Tammaro, Susan G. (1994): Video Teleconference Use Among Geographically Dispersed Work Groups: A Field Investigation of Usage Patterns and User Preferences. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (4) pp. 343-365.

“Use of video teleconferencing (VTC) has been on the rise for several years, yet researchers have often discussed the failure of VTCs to support communication. The VTC facility at the MITRE Corporation is used more than would have been predicted by other research. Surveys were mailed to 300 MITRE employees who were known to have used our VTC facility or to have traveled (or both) during August of 1991. The survey asked respondents to describe at least one geographically dispersed work group of which they are a member, and it asked them to discuss how they choose among various approaches to communication, including holding face-to-face meetings and VTCs. Respondents felt that VTC is highly useful. It is best used for meetings that have little emotional content or requirements for interpersonal contact. The content of the meeting, however, was not the primary reason given for choosing between travel and VTCs. Cost and inconvenience of travel were cited as reasons for using VTC, and unavailability of VTC was cited as a reason to travel. Results are compared with those of conflicting studies.”

Witte, Duncan M. (1994): Full-Life-Cycle Economics: An Evaluation Methodology for Information Technology Projects. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (4) pp. 393-403.

“This article presents a methodology for the examination and evaluation of proposed information technology projects. Through an examination of successes and failures in estimating project costs and benefits, a number of weaknesses have been identified. The areas of "hidden" costs and intangible (or at least difficult to quantify) benefits have been particularly difficult to estimate. The methodology presented here seeks to retain the strengths of older methodologies, while addressing these identified weaknesses. This methodology, while not a substitute for good judgment, provides a framework for the standardization of economic analysis. As such, it provides both management and clients with a better basis for decisions regarding investments in information technology.”

Issue 3

Dewan, Prasun, Choudhary, Rajiv and Shen, HongHai (1994): An Editing-Based Characterization of the Design Space of Collaborative Applications. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (3) pp. 219-239.

“The design space of collaborative applications is characterized using the notion of generalized multiuser editing. Generalized multiuser editing allows users to view interactive applications as editors of data structures. It offers several collaboration functions, which allow users to collaboratively edit application data structures. These functions include coupling, concurrency control, access control, and multiuser undo. Coupling allows the users to share editing changes, access control and concurrency control prevent them from making unauthorized and inconsistent changes, respectively, and multiuser undo allows them collaboratively to undo or redo changes. These functions must be performed flexibly to accommodate different applications, users, phases of collaboration, and bandwidths of the communication links. In this paper, we define and motivate the notion of generalized multiuser editing and describe some of the issues, approaches, tradeoffs, principles, and requirements related to the design of the functions offered by it.”

Navarro, James J. (1994): Computer Supported Self-Managing Teams. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (3) pp. 317-342.

“For several decades investigations in the behavioral sciences have focused on those conditions that promote team effectiveness. These conditions have been applied to the development of self-managing teams. This article defines requirements for computer support using the conditions that enhance the performance of self-managing teams. We discuss the fundamentals of team design defining what a self-managing team is, propose a self-managing team development model, and introduce three approaches to the design of self-managing teams: sociotechnical systems, a normative model, and social-learning theory. We then introduce a team information architecture (TIA) for the support of self-managing teams and describe computer support requirements for the design, formation, management, and mentoring of self-managing teams. We conclude by reviewing the conditions required for team effectiveness and compare the TIA against those conditions.”

Bhargava, Hemant K., Krishnan, Ramayya and Whinston, Andrew B. (1994): On Integrating Collaboration and Decision Analysis Techniques. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (3) pp. 297-316.

“We discuss how methods for computer-based collaboration and computer-aided decision analysis may be combined to yield a new generation of decision support systems. We examine the role of these technologies using a three-phase model (problem definition; problem structuring; modeling/analysis) of decision making activities. We argue that decision making is a recursive mesh of these three phases; i.e., each phase involves argumentation/discussion, structuring, and analysis. Representations and methods suited to one kind of activity (e.g., discussion) are not directly suited to the others. Decision support systems, therefore, should facilitate the use of all of these methods in a way that information represented under each of them may be combined effectively, supporting the decision makers in switching from one activity to another.”

Ledyard, John O., Porter, David and Rangel, Antonio (1994): Using Computerized Exchange Systems to Solve an Allocation Problem in Project Management. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (3) pp. 271-296.

“In this article we study the allocation problem facing the management of a large research and development project. The project management has to allocate resources among competing users to achieve the project goal. Besides the constraint of scarcity, the allocation problem is difficult because users have private parameters that project management requires to know in order to make an optimal allocation. Furthermore, users have incentives to misrepresent the information about these parameters to advance their individual agendas, which can differ from the project goal. A method to solve the allocation problem using computerized exchange institutions is introduced and analyzed. We emphasize that the rules of the exchange should be carefully selected, because different rules produce different results. We use the methodology of experimental economics to demonstrate this conclusion. This research was motivated by JPL's Cassini Mission to Saturn. A computerized exchange described in this article has been implemented by the Cassini Project to assist in the management of the resources used in the design and operation of science instruments.”

Mackenzie, Kenneth D., Shoemaker, Terry and Utter, Donald F. (1994): Development of Organizational Design Support Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (3) pp. 241-270.

“This article provides a framework and a case study for the development of the organizational design support system (ODSS). The organizational design development interdependencies consist of four mutually interdependent parts: (1) development of applicable organizational theory, (2) development of applicable methods for organizational design, (3) application of organizational design to real organizations, and (4) concurrent engineering of an information system to support organizational design. All four parts are presented along with an explanation of how the interdependencies were accommodated. The properties of the ODSS software are described. The processes and results of the organizational design of a real organization are presented. This article calls into question the nature of organizational computing.”

Applegate, Lynda and Whinston, Andrew B. (1994): Introduction to the Special Issue: Organizational Computing Coordination and Collaboration. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (3) pp. iii-iv.

Issue 2

Srikanth, Rajan (1994): Constructing Conceptual Models for Knowledge Capture and Delivery Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (2) pp. 199-217.

“Appropriate conceptualization of the nature of entities and relationships in a problem domain is a key prerequisite to the successful design of computerized decision aids for business, especially those developed for more than one idiosyncratic user. The need for a reliable conceptual model is particularly acute in the design of decision support systems that must function in problem-solving situations with no existing theoretical framework or where theory and practice differ considerably. This paper presents an interative procedure for developing a reliable conceptual model by testing the "fit" of successive revisions of the model against a collection of "think-aloud" verbal problem-solving protocols of people with experience in the domain. The model is revised each time until it is verifiably and consistently accurate. Such a procedure, it is argued, is more objective and reliable than intuition or traditional knowledge engineering and requires considerably less experimental data collection and analysis than more elaborate empirical model development procedures. The feasibility of this procedure is illustrated by using it to construct a conceptual model for a computer-based system that seeks to capture knowledge used during project planning and deliver it for use during project control.”

Dennis, Alan R. (1994): Electronic Support for Large Groups. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (2) pp. 177-197.

“One of the key challenges in applying information technology to improve group performance lies in matching the capabilities of technology to the needs of the situation. Groups can choose meeting styles that use solely electronic communication, solely verbal communication, or a combination of both verbal and electronic communication. This paper reports on a series of ten case studies of large groups performing information generation tasks. For these groups and tasks, meeting styles with a greater proportion of electronic communication were found to result in higher perceived effectiveness, efficiency, and participant satisfaction. Qualitative evidence suggested that in this situation, the parallelism, direct access to the meeting memory, and anonymity offered by pure electronic communication outweighed its reduced media richness.”

Lucas, Jr. Henry C. and Olson, Margrethe (1994): The Impact of Information Technology on Organizational Flexibility. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (2) pp. 155-176.

“This paper argues that information technology can have a significant impact on organizational flexibility. Information technology (IT) contributes to flexibility by 1) changing the nature of organization boundaries and the time when work occurs 2) altering the nature and pace of work, and 3) helping firms respond to changing market conditions. But, there are also aspects of technology which can decrease flexibility, and there may be second-order impacts of flexibility that are not easily predicted. Examples to illustrate the impact of information technology on two industries and three companies are presented. The paper concludes that management should consider the use of information technology to increase flexibility and suggests strategies for implementing flexible systems.”

Zhang, Wen-Ran, Wang, Wenhua and King, Ronald S. (1994): A-Pool: An Agent-Oriented Open System Shell for Distributed Decision Process Modeling. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (2) pp. 127-154.

“An agent-oriented open system shell, A-Pool, for distributed decision process modeling in the Internet domain is presented. Unlike most decision support systems, A-Pool provides a testbed for modeling and understanding the cognitive aspects of distributed decision processes themselves rather than for domain-specific problem solving. This is achieved with a pool of virtual agents and a pool of cognitive maps of the agents at each A-Pool node. The virtual agent scheme extends object-oriented programming to the Internet domain and supports different communication and collaboration protocols with virtual communities, virtual sessions, and virtual conferences. The cognitive map scheme supports perspective sharing and various conflict integration and resolution strategies through cognitive map composition, derivation, and focus generation. Thus each A-Pool node provides an architecture for modeling interdependencies and for ensuring global coherence; in addition, the communication is asynchronous and the control is distributed, allowing a large degree of autonomy and the examination of various thoughts and social protocols involved in strategic planning in an open system environment. Basic ideas are illustrated with a running example.”

Watson, Richard T., Alexander, Mary B., Pollard, Carol E. and Bostrom, Robert (1994): Perceptions of Facilitators of a Keypad-Based Group Support System. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (2) pp. 103-125.

“Organizations are using Group Support Systems (GSSs) to improve the quality of group meetings. Keypad-based GSSs are a widely used form of this technology, yet there has been little research on their use and effects. This paper reports the findings of a survey of facilitators of a particular keypad GSS. Facilitators indicate that keypad technology improves the quality of meetings for a variety of tasks in a range of group settings and cultures. The findings are in general agreement with field studies of workstation-based systems.”

Issue 1

Moffett, Jonathan D. and Sloman, Morris S. (1994): Policy Conflict Analysis in Distributed System Management. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (1) pp. 1-22.

“Distributed system management is concerned with the tasks needed to ensure that large distributed systems can function in accordance with the objectives of their users. These objectives are typically set out in the form of policies that are interpreted by the system managers. There are benefits to be gained by providing automated support for human managers, or actually automating routine management tasks. To do this, it is desirable to have a model of policies as objects that can be interpreted by the system itself. The model is summarized. It is clear that there is the potential for conflicts between policies. These conflicts may be resolved informally by human managers, but if an automated system is to recognize them and resolve them appropriately, first it is necessary to analyze the types of conflict that may occur. We analyze the types of overlap that may occur between policies, and show that this analysis corresponds to several familiar types of policy conflict. Some possible approaches to the prevention and resolution of conflicts are suggested, and this work is put into the context of other work on policies and related areas, including deontic logic.”

Jones, Matthew R. (1994): Information Technology for Group Decision Support: Beyond GDSS. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (1) pp. 23-40.

“Traditional definitions of group decision support systems provide a narrow perspective on the way in which information technology (IT) can support group decision making. An alternative perspective that includes a broader view of groups, a more descriptive and behavioral view of decisions, a wider view of support, and a more complex, social view of systems is possible. In this article the implications of such a perspective on the role of IT in support of group decision making are explored through a case study of the use of a simple multiattribute value model in role-reversal exercises. The experience of using this model in a social policy area in which there was substantial conflict between different interest groups illustrated a number of important issues. In particular, the way in which the model was used as a framework for communication between the conflicting groups and the inherent equivocality of this communication was highlighted. The contribution of IT-based support to the effectiveness of this communication, in the context of the role-reversal workshops, is discussed, and a new topology of IT support for group decision making is suggested. Finally, some conclusions are drawn on the implications for group decision support practice.”

Prietula, Michael J. and Carley, Kathleen M. (1994): Computational Organization Theory: Autonomous Agents and Emergent Behavior. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (1) pp. 41-83.

“A computational organization theory is the articulation of an organization theory in the form of a computer program. We describe an example of this approach to studying organizational phenomena through the use of simulated autonomous intelligent agents, present a detailed description of such a model, and demonstrate the application through a series of experiments conducted with the model. The model, called Plural-Soar, represents a partial instantiation of a cognitively motivated theory that views organizational behavior as emergent behavior from the collective interaction of intelligent agents over time, and that causal interpretations of certain organizational phenomena must be based on theoretically sufficient models of individual deliberation. We examine the individual and collective behavior of the agents under varying conditions of agent capabilities defined by their communication and memory properties. Thirty separate simulations with homogeneous agent groups were run varying agent type, group size, and number of items in the order list an agent acquires. The goal of the simulation experiment was to examine how fundamental properties of individual coordination (communication and memory) affected individual and group productivity and coordination efforts under different task properties (group size and order size). The specific results indicate that the length of the item list enhances performance for one to three agent groups, but with larger groups memory effects dominate. Communication capabilities led to an increase in idle time and undesirable collective behavior. The general conclusion is that there are subtle and complex interactions between agent capabilities and task properties that can restrict the generality of the results, and that computational modeling can provide insight into those interactions.”

Kachelmeier, Steven J. and Shehata, Mohamed (1994): Perspectives on the Cross-Cultural Experimental Examination of Economic Models. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 4 (1) pp. 85-99.

“This article summarizes recent efforts in applying experimental methodologies to organizational issues in an international context. Such efforts can be roughly classified as adopting the experimental traditions of either psychology or economics. Distinctions between these two traditions are discussed, along with their implications for cross-cultural research. The use of laboratory methods in an international domain can address cultural themes as well as issues involving incentive structures, as illustrated by a synthesis of the authors' program of study conducted in the People's Republic of China.”

Volume 5

Issue 4

Walther, Joseph B. and Tidwell, Lisa C. (1995): Nonverbal Cues in Computer-Mediated Communication, and the Effect of Chronemics on Relational Communication. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (4) pp. 355-378.

“Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been described as lacking nonverbal cues, which affects the nature of interpersonal interaction via the medium. Yet much CMC conveys nonverbal cues in terms of chronemics, or time-related messages. Different uses of time signals in electronic mail were hypothesized to affect interpersonal perceptions of CMC senders and respondents. An experiment altered the time stamps in replicated e-mail messages in order to assess two time variations: (a) the time of day a message was sent and (b) the time lag until a reply was received. Results revealed significant interactions among these variables, and the task-orientation or socioemotional orientation of the verbal messages, which affected perceptions of communicators' intimacy/liking or dominance/submissiveness. Findings extend recent theories regarding social attributions and the adaptation of social cues in CMC behavior.”

Bhargava, Hemant K. (1995): Using Quiddities for Detecting Semantic Conflicts in Information Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (4) pp. 379-400.

“When multiple people are involved in designing an information systems application, there can be conflicts in terminologies used by them for various elements represented in the application. These problems are recognized in database design, federated databases, knowledge-based systems, mathematical modeling systems, and cooperative work systems. A computer-based method for detecting such naming conflicts, once the users have declared certain additional information for all of the represented elements, is presented. The approach extends earlier work by Bhargava, Kimbrough, and Krishnan in the context of model integration. There is a description of how this additional information (called quiddity) is to be formulated and represented, and several automated procedures are presented that detect naming conflicts on the basis of this information. The practical utility of this approach is also discussed.”

Bordetsky, Alexander B. and Levy, Pavel J. (1995): Collaborative Computing for Decision Support in Cardiovascular Consulting. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (4) pp. 401-416.

“Vascular medicine is a newly developing discipline heavily based on geographically distributed consulting, and there is thus a strong need for computerized decision support in doctor-to-doctor collaboration for the management of vascular patients. The latest achievements in collaborative and multimedia computing for group decision support are incorporated into cardiovascular consulting. Feasibility analysis of the two basic components is addressed: (a) the communication system of collaborative computing as identified subject to the specifics of data flow and networking in geographically distributed cardiovascular consulting; and (b) the structure and representations for intelligent software agents that enable transfer of individual expert cardiovascular knowledge, support group brainstorming, and maintain the ongoing learning of group experience and analysis of patients cases.”

Barua, Anitesh, Chellappa, Ramnath and Whinston, Andrew B. (1995): Creating a Collaboratory in Cyberspace: Theoretical Foundation and an Implementation. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (4) pp. 417-442.

“Internet applications such as the World Wide Web (WWW) have created the possibility of developing global collaborative platforms for supporting interactions between professionals and academics in various disciplines. While Web browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape have revolutionized the way we use the Internet, we envision the need for a theory-based approach to the development of Collaboratories on the Internet. Based on complementarity theory, we provide a conceptual foundation for designing Collaboratories which maximize users' value through the judicious choice of complementary design factors. We emphasize the need for developments in the area of "open" collaborative systems, and suggest that analyzing the design problem from a complementarity theory standpoint can lead to useful insights regarding the value users derive from the system. We also describe the design and an early implementation of an MIS Collaboratory, which uses this theoretical foundation to organize information and to provide a forum for document-centric, multimedia interactions between users. While the prototype focuses on the MIS discipline, we believe that the general principles of our design are applicable to other areas as well.”

Issue 3

Weber, Bruce W. (1995): Bypass Trading and Market Quality in Electronic Securities Exchanges. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 327-353.

“Electronic financial markets use information technology to disseminate prices, quantities, and buyer and supplier identities. Increased visibility and market transparency have recognized benefits, but may introduce imperfections, and create profitable opportunities to "bypass" established exchanges. In the U.S., dissemination of real-time securities market information has equipped several firms to develop competing, off-exchange trading mechanisms that rely on central market price data, but whose transactions bypass the established market. Significant trading away from the principal market may reduce market quality and increase transactions costs. A simulation model of trading in a continuous auction market (similar to the market structure of the New York Stock Exchange) is used to examine the effects of increasing levels of trading activity through an off-exchange dealer. The results indicate competition from an alternative trading venue has mixed effects on the trading costs borne by investors -- raising costs for some and lowering them for others. Contrary to U.S. regulatory goals, off-market trading expands the role of profit-seeking dealers and lowers the probability that some investors' orders will execute.”

Riggins, Frederick J., Mukhopadhyay, Tridas and Kriebel, Charles H. (1995): Optimal Policies for Subsidizing Supplier Interorganizational System Adoption. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 295-325.

“We develop a static two-stage model of network externalities where the buyer has adequate information about the suppliers' costs to join the network such that it is able to make differential subsidy payments. If the expected network size is small, suppliers encounter negative externalities as the buyer rewards the suppliers joining the system, but at a decreasing rate. On the other hand, if the expected network size is large, the buyer can exert increasing pressure on the few remaining suppliers to join the network, thus forcing positive externalities on these suppliers. We show that if the buyer can make differential subsidy payments, it may need to subsidize only a fraction of the nonjoiners up to a "spontaneous expansion point," after which the positive externalities force the remaining suppliers to join the network. We also examine a dynamic model where the suppliers' costs to join the network decrease over time. We show that in this case, the buyer should incorporate a "bang-bang" strategy, such that after some specified time period the buyer should immediately pay for the costs to join the network of all suppliers needed to reach the spontaneous expansion point.”

Dewan, Rajiv M. and Dewan, Sanjeev (1995): Managerial Incentives and the Value of Information Systems Timeliness. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 277-294.

“The emergence of "time-based competition" is making timeliness an increasingly important attribute of information systems in modern business organizations. This article focuses on the decision support role of information systems and examines the time value of information in delegated decision settings. We extend the principal-agent model to incorporate the timing of information in the agent's decision-making process. The analysis demonstrates that while more timely information results in higher value in the absence of incentive conflicts, more timely information is not necessarily more valuable in settings with incentive conflict. This potentially adverse impact of managerial incentives on the value of timeliness has to be considered in designing information systems. Consideration of user incentives may result in designing information systems that do not completely satisfy individual user "requirements," perhaps through suitable access restrictions.”

Banker, Rajiv D. and Johnston, Holly H. (1995): An Empirical Study of the Business Value of the U.S. Airlines' Computerized Reservations Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 255-275.

“The U.S. airlines' computerized reservations systems (CRSs) have frequently been cited as examples of the successful use of information technologies (ITs) for strategic purposes. Recent literature contains logical arguments and anecdotal evidence which suggest that the carriers that have invested in the systems have been able to use them, in concert with other operating and marketing strategies, to achieve competitive advantage. However, very little rigorous, model-based empirical evidence has been brought to bear on this issue. The purpose of this article is to develop economic models for examining the business value of the CRSs and to provide empirical evidence regarding that value during the early 1980s. The modelling builds upon previous research aimed at estimating the business value of ITs and is generalizable to estimating the value of ITs in other settings. We find that increases in the use of the CRSs were associated with more highly significant increases in their owners' shares of air passenger traffic than reductions in the costs of reservations and sales labor and travel agent commissions. Also, the associations for the two leading CRSs, American's Sabre and United's Apollo, were stronger and more highly significant than those for Delta's DATASII, Eastern's SODA, and TWA's PARS.”

Wang, Eric T. G. and Barron, Terry (1995): The Decision to Outsource IS Processing Under Internal Information Asymmetry and Conflicting Objectives. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 219-253.

“The central management's decision to outsource an organization's information processing to an external supplier is studied. The internal computing resource is represented by a queuing model; its manager has private information about the department's cost and has objectives that may differ from those of the organization. Outsourcing decision rules are derived for both the cost center and profit center organizational forms for the internal department. With a cost center, the IS manager must report on the department's cost parameter, which models his or her private information, in order for the central management to make its decision; a mechanism design approach is used to ensure truthful reporting. The decision is shown to be quite complex, depending in part on the shape of the long-run marginal cost function for the internal department, thus requiring considerable knowledge on the part of the central management. Full and no outsourcing are the most frequent outcomes, but partial outsourcing is optimal in one case. Various other implications are discussed, including the distortion of the decision caused by the information asymmetry and the beneficial effects of even the threat of outsourcing on the internal department's efficiency. In contrast, the decision rule for a profit center is very simple: The internal department should be retained as long as it can at least break even in the face of the external competition. Thus, very limited communication between the IS manager and central management suffices in this case. Again, full, partial, and no outsourcing are all possible as the optimal decision. The efficiency of the profit center can also be expected to be improved by the presence of the external source as the result of a reduction in its monopoly power.”

Alpar, Paul and Saharia, Aditya N. (1995): Outsourcing Information System Functions: An Organization Economics Perspective. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 197-217.

“Outsourcing of information systems functions has become a frequently chosen alternative of providing information systems services. This is true across many industries and all firm sizes. Practitioners have developed a number of guidelines relating to outsourcing. While many of these guidelines seem plausible their underlying economic reasons are often not identified because they are not based on any theory. We analyze outsourcing of information systems functions using the transaction cost economics framework. The framework allows us to incorporate production as well as coordination costs in evaluating the outsourcing option.”

Barua, Anitesh and Richmond, William B. (1995): Introduction to the Special Issue on Economics of Information Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (3) pp. 195-196.

Issue 2

Naiman, Channah F. and Ouksel, Aris M. (1995): A Classification of Semantic Conflicts in Heterogeneous Database Systems. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. 167-193.

“Increasingly companies are doing business in an environment replete with heterogeneous information systems which must cooperate. Cooperation between these systems presupposes the resolution of the semantic conflicts that are bound to occur. In this article, we propose a classification of semantic conflicts which can be used as the basis for the incremental discovery and resolution of these conflicts. We classify conflicts along the two dimensions of naming and abstraction, which, taken together, capture the semantic mapping of the conflict. We add a third dimension, level of heterogeneity, to assist in the schematic mapping between two databases. The classification provides a systematic representation of alternative semantic interpretations of conflicts during the reconciliation process. As a result, the design of query-directed dynamic reconciliation systems is possible. The classification is shown to be sound and minimal. Completeness is discussed.”

Duncan, George T., Krishnan, Ramayya and Mukherjee, Sumitra (1995): Inference Channel Detection in Multilevel Relational Databases: A Graph-Based Approach. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. 123-138.

“In a multilevel relational (MLR) database, users are not allowed to access data classified at a level higher than their own security classification. However, it may be possible for a low-level user to infer high-level data. This article provides methods to detect and eliminate such inference channels. A graph-based representation of the database schema developed provides a convenient method for inference channel detection by reducing the problem to one of connectivity in the network. Inference channels are eliminated while imposing minimum restrictions on legitimate access using an algorithm based on minimum cut set identification. This approach is then extended to address the problems of abductive and probabilistic inference channels. An abductive inference channel is said to exist when information external to the database is used in the inference process. By demonstrating that only arcs between nodes in different strongly connected components may lead to abductive inference channels, the complexity of the problem of abductive inference channel detection is reduced. The uncertainty about the nature and extent of external information used in the inference process is captured by assigning subjective probabilities. Under the assumption of statistical independence, an algorithm based on identification of paths bounded in length is developed that is adequate for probabilistic inference channel detection. When this assumption is relaxed, upper bounds on the probability of the existence of inference channels is provided.”

Chatterjee, Abhirup, Segev, Arie and Chandra, Rakesh (1995): Modeling Time-Performance Trade-Offs in Federated Databases. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. 139-166.

“One of the key roles played by information technology is to increase organizational productivity. However, an uncontrolled proliferation of heterogeneous DBMSs can affect the user in an adverse way. Query processing becomes a complicated problem in such an environment, as the same data item can have conflicting definitions and values in different databases. We introduce the Matching join for the heterogeneous environment where the tuples are compared of and joined if they match, where matching can be defined by the user's choice rules and weights. Matching joins are generally processing intensive and can interfere with the performance of the individual databases. The partitioning strategy introduced in this article can be used to reduce the query processing cost. This approach can also be applied to the general types of time-constrained queries.”

Madnick, Stuart E., Storey, Veda C. and Wang, Richard Y. (1995): Introduction to the Special Issue: WITS'92. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. iii-iv.

Madnick, Stuart E. (1995): Integrating Information from Global Systems: Dealing with the "On- and Off-Ramps. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. 69-82.

“The notion of an "information superhighway" has attracted considerable attention. It offers the possibility to access information from around the world in support of many important applications in areas such as finance, manufacturing, and transportation (e.g., global risk management, integrated supply chain management, and global in-transit visibility). Unfortunately, there are significant challenges to be overcome. One particular problem is context interchange, which can be thought of as dealing with the "on- and off-ramps" of the information superhighway. Each source of information and potential receiver of that information may operate with a different context. A context is the collection of implicit assumptions about the context definition (i.e., meaning) and context characteristics (i.e., quality) of the information. When the information moves from one context to another, it may be misinterpreted (e.g., sender expressed the price in French francs; receiver assumed that it meant U.S. dollars). This article describes various forms of context challenges and examples of potential context mediation services, such as data semantics acquisition, data quality attributes, and evolving semantics and quality, that can mitigate the problem.”

Moore, Scott A. and Kimbrough, Steven O. (1995): Message Management Systems at Work: Prototypes for Business Communication. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. 83-100.

“In this article, we describe two applications based on a system for office communication that is more flexible and expressive than other systems. This system allows the computerization of tasks that previously required manual intervention because of each task's complexity. The applications, one automating office tasks and the other simulating a bicycle industry, highlight the system's ability to accommodate changes to the communication language. They also highlight the utility of both the formal language used by the system and the inferential model of communications used to interpret the messages.”

Jang, Yeona, Ishii, Alexander T. and Wang, Richard Y. (1995): A Qualitative Approach to Automatic Data Quality Judgment. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (2) pp. 101-121.

“As the integration of information systems enables greater accessibility to multiple data sources, the issue of data quality becomes increasingly important. In general, data quality is determined by several factors, or quality parameters, which are often not independent of each other. As a consequence, it is often necessary to represent, and reason with, domain-specific knowledge about the relationships among quality parameters, if insightful judgments about the overall quality of data are to be made. This article presents a formulation of the data-quality judgment problem that is amenable to a "knowledge-based" approach, where a data consumer can input such domain-specific knowledge and then rely on an automated system to deduce information about overall data quality. A primary feature of this work is the notion of a data quality calculus. The data quality calculus is a data quality judgment framework based on a "census of needs," and provides a framework for deriving an overall data quality value from a collection of local relationships among quality parameters. By specifying new, or alternate, local relationships, individual data consumers can tailor the framework to reflect individual requirements. This customizability has the potential to be useful when various pieces of data come from different sources, some of which may be unfamiliar. Based on the calculus, it is possible to implement a data quality reasoner system that is capable of assisting data consumers in judging data quality.”

Issue 1

Holsapple, Clyde W. and Luo, Wenhong (1995): Dependent Variables for Organizational Computing Research: An Empirical Study. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (1) pp. 31-51.

“An important area of organizational computing (OC) research involves empirical evaluation of OC systems. However, there has been insufficient work on identifying dependent variables that need to be measured to assess the impacts of such systems. We have previously suggested a framework from which various OC research models can be derived, each having five organization infrastructure purposes as dependent variables. In this article, we report on an empirical study conducted to verify that a) these five purposes are distinct dimensions of organizational performance and that b) collectively, they characterize the performance of an organization. The results show that the five purposes are considered to be important, distinct, and comprehensive factors in measuring organizational performance by management scholars.”

Dustdar, Schahram (1995): Desktop Multimedia Conferencing: IBMs Person to Person in Organizational Context. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (1) pp. 25-29.

“A trend in cooperative systems is the emergence of multimedia systems that aim to support synchronous cooperation in a manner which unifies both remote and colocated users. These systems combine information-sharing facilities provided in real time with video- and audiocommunication services. This review of IBM's desktop multimedia conferencing system Person to Person (P2P) presents the characteristics of its utilities. Further, it discusses some organizational impacts and implementation issues within an organizational context.”

Clapper, Danial L. (1995): EBT: A Tool for Electronic Brainstorming Researchers. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (1) pp. 21-24. Available online

“EBT is a stand-alone electronic brainstorming tool designed specifically for researchers. It can be used for face-to-face as well as dispersed groups, and will work in a typical college computer lab LAN environment. Its features include anonymous and nonanonymous idea-generation modes, the ability to run multiple simultaneous sessions, and the option of generating a session logfile which indicates the originator and time of each idea generated during a session. EBT is available to researchers on the Internet via anonymous ftp.”

Rao, H. Raghav and An, Joon M. (1995): The Effect of Team Composition on Decision Scheme, Information Search, and Perceived Complexity. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (1) pp. 1-20.

“This study assesses the effect of team composition on decision schemes, perceived complexity, and external information search conducted during team problem-solving processes. The study draws on a systematic review of relevant literature in group psychology, organization behavior, and marketing science, and it is followed by a quasi-experimental study for verification of the propositions. The independent variable chosen is team composition: teams are classified into "experienced" teams and "inexperienced" teams. The intervening variables are external information search, decision schemes, and perceived complexity. The study has implications for team decision support system design.”

Chen, Su-Shing (1995): The Role of Information Infrastructure and Intelligent Agents in Manufacturing Enterprises. In Journal of Organizational Computing, 5 (1) pp. 53-67.

“Manufacturing is a complex application domain, traditionally a realm of engineers and factory workers. As we are in the information age, the manufacturing domain has become more dependent on information through the use of computers and computer-controlled machines. In the arena of advanced manufacturing, a number of concepts such as the "virtual corporation" and "virtual factory" have emerged, requiring that manufacturing be highly information-intensive and knowledge-based. This article examines the role of the information infrastructure and explores the use of intelligent agents in its implementation for advanced manufacturing enterprises. The information infrastructure forms a complex hierarchy of distributed, heterogeneous information systems. Intelligent agents play various roles at different levels of the hierarchy to provide interoperability, reliability, programmability, and controllability.”

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