Shaping technology across social worlds: groupware adoption in a distributed organization

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we draw on theory about social worlds to analyze how different organizational contexts affect groupware adoption. We report on a study of the adoption of data conferencing in a large distributed organization. Our data show that the diffusion process, which was driven by the users, was a result of communication and transformation of the technology across different social worlds. We also discovered that membership in multiple social worlds in an organization creates a tension for the potential adopter who is in a distributed team. To function effectively, team members must uniformly adopt the technology, yet some may face resistance at their organizational homes. Our case study showed that adoption was affected by organizational sites having conflicting views of the value of collaboration, different amounts and needs for resources, and different acceptance of technology standards. Potential technology adopters on distributed teams are faced with conflicting loyalties, constraints, and requirements between their distributed collaborations and organizational homes.

References

1. Bentley, R. and Dourish, P. (1995). Medium versus mechanism: Supporting collaboration through customization. Proceedings ECSCW'95, Sept. 10-14, Stockholm, pp. 133--148.
2. Bikson, T. K. and Eveland, J. D. (1996). Groupware implementation: Reinvention in the sociotechnical frame. Proceedings of CSCW'96, 428--437.
3. Clarke, A. (1991). Social Worlds/Arenas Theory as Organizational Theory. In D. Maines (ed.) Social Organization and Social Process. New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 119--158.
4. Fichman, R. G. (1992). Information technology diffusion: A review of empirical research. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Information Systems, Dec. 13-16, Dallas, pp.195--206.
5. Fitzpatrick, G., Kaplan, S., and Mansfield, T. (1996). Physical spaces, virtual places and social worlds: A study of work in the virtual. Proceedings of CSCW'96, 334--343.
6. Gallivan, M. J. (2001). Organizational adoption and assimilation of complex technological innovations: Development and application of a new framework. Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 51--85.
7. Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory, Chicago: Aldine.
8. Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360--1380.
9. Grudin, J. (1988). Why CSCW applications fail: problems in the design and evaluation of organizational interfaces. Proceedings of CSCW '88, 85--93.
10. Halverson, C., Newswanger, J., Erickson, T., Wolf, T., Kellogg, W.A., Laff, M., Malkin, P. (2001). "World Jam: Supporting Talk Among 50,000+" Poster presented at ECSCW'2001.
11. Kling, R., and Scacchi, W. (1982). The web of computing: Computer technology as social organization, Advances in Computing, 21(1).
12. Kling, R. (1980). Social analyses of computing: Theoretical perspectives in recent empirical research. ACM Computing Surveys, 12(1), 61--110.
13. Kwon, T. H. (1990). A diffusion of innovation approach to MIS infusion: Conceptualization, methodology and management studies. Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Information Systems, December, 1990, Copenhagen, pp. 139--147.
14. Lyytinen, K. and Damsgaard, J. (2001). What's wrong with diffusion of innovation theory?: The case of a complex and networked technology. Proceedings of the Working Conference on Diffusing Software Product and Process Innovations (IFIP WG8.6), April 7-10, 2001, Banff, Canada.
15. Mark, G. and Poltrock, S. (2001). Diffusion of a collaborative technology across distance. Proceedings of GROUP'01, 232--241.
16. Mark, G., Grudin, J., and Poltrock, S. (1999). Meeting at the Desktop: An empirical study of virtually collocated teams. Proceedings of ECSCW'99, 159--178.
17. Markus, M. L. (1987). Toward a critical mass theory of interactive media: Universal access, interdependence, and diffusion, Communications Research, 1987, 14(5), 491--511.
18. Markus, M. L. (1983). Power, Politics, and MIS Implementation. Communications of the ACM. 26(6), New York: ACM Press, 430--444.
19. Munkvold, B. E. and Anson, R. (2001). Organizational adoption and diffusion of electronic meeting systems: A case study. Proceedings of GROUP'01, 279--287.
20. Olson, G. M., & Olson, J. S. (2000). Distance Matters. Human-Computer Interaction, 15(2/3), 139--178.
21. Orlikowski, W. J. and Gash, D. C. (1994). Technological frames: Making sense of information technology in organizations. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 12 (2), 174--207.
22. Orlikowski, W. J. (1993a). Learning from notes: Organizational issues in groupware implementation. The Information Society, 9(3), 237--250.
23. Orlikowski, W. J. (1993b). CASE Tools as organizational change: Investigating incremental and radical changes in systems development. MIS Quarterly, September, 309--339.
24. Palen, L. and Grudin, J. (1995). Why groupware succeeds: Discretion or mandate? Proceedings of ECSCW'95, 263--278.
25. Pickering, J. M. and King, J. L. (1992). Hardwiring weak ties: Individual and institutional issues in computer-mediated communication. Proceedings of CSCW'92, 356--361.
26. Prescott, M. B. and Conger, S. A. (1995). Information technology innovations: A classification by IT locus of impact and research approach. Data Base Advances, 26(2&3), pp. 20--41.
27. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed. New York: The Free Press.
28. Rogers, Y. (1994). Exploring obstacles: Integrating CSCW in evolving organizations. Proceedings of CSCW'94, 67--78.
29. Shibutani, T. (1955). Reference groups as perspectives. American Journal of Sociology, 60, 562--569.
30. Strauss, A. (1993). Continual Permutations of Action. NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
31. Strauss, A. (1978). A social worlds perspective. In N. Denzin (ed.), Studies in Symbolic Interaction, vol. 1, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 119--128.
32. Tyran, C.K. and Dennis, A. R. (1992). The application of electronic meeting technology to support strategic management. MIS Quarterly 16(3), 313--353.
33. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
34. Yin, R.K (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. London: Sage.

Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Collaborative and social computing

    • Collaborative and social computing theory, concepts and paradigms

      • Computer supported cooperative work

• Information systems

  • World Wide Web

    • Web applications

      • Internet communications tools

        • Web conferencing

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing and business

      • Computer supported cooperative work