A Field Study into the Organizational Application of Group Support Systems

Abstract

Results from laboratory studies and field studies suggest that Group Support Systems (GSS) may have an added value to organizational problem solving. However, few studies have been reported on the actual in situ organizational application of this technology. This field study investigated the use of a GSS in a large insurance firm over a number of sessions. Data was gathered with respect to participants ’ perceptions on the GSS used, the meeting process, and the meeting outcomes. The results suggest that the use of GSS increased productivity by 55 percent both in terms of man hours and project time span. Productivity gains seemed to increase in larger projects. Both initiators and participants considered the GSS meetings to be more efficient and effective than manual meetings and to yield higher quality results. Critical factors to the success of GSS meetings included the translation of meeting objectives into a structured agenda, the active motivation of group members to participate, and enough time for groups to digest (intermediary) meeting results. The results of this study bear many similarities to earlier in situ studies at IBM and Boeing. They yield further evidence to support that GSS are perceived to have a considerable added value to organizational problem solving.

Key words:

• group support systems
• electronic meeting systems
• groupware
• organizational use of information technology
• user satisfaction
• action research
• field study

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gert-Jan de Vreede

Gert-Jan de Vreede holds a PhD in Information Systems from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He is an associate professor at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of the same university. His research interests include the application of collaboration technologies to support organizational problem solving in western and non-western environments.