Transcript PP pres - University Faculty

Welcome
The Impact of Task Experience, Task
Setting and Problem Relevance on the
Quantity and Quality of Ideas in Face to
Face Verses Electronic Brainstorming
Dave Roach, Arkansas Tech University
and
Ronald McGaughey, University of Central Arkansas
Collaborative Work Systems
Collaborative Work Systems are computer
based communication systems designed to
support local or distributed group work.
CWS can support point to point or
multipoint communications in a
synchronous (chat) or asynchronous (Email) mode.
Motives for Research
 CWS technology is improving rapidly, costs are
coming down, and use is expanding.
 CWS are an important research topic (we believe
CWS issues will continue to be important in the
foreseeable future).
 We, like many others, believe that significant
benefits can accrue from CWS use.
 We wish to explore how university stakeholders
might benefit from CWS use in our classes and in
other mission-related university activities (research,
committee work, enrollment management, etc.).
Goals of Our First Study
 Expand our knowledge of CWS (literature,
products, and use).
 Increase student exposure to CWS.
 Generate ideas for future research.
 Make “Intellectual Contributions” to our
respective fields of study (MIS and Org.
Behavior).
The First Study
 Explores the relationship between
collaborative work setting and outcomes.
 Explores the relationship between personal
task relevance and outcomes.
Methods Overview
 126 participants were randomly assigned to 42 groups of
3—effective sample size was 42.
 2 X 2 experimental design with one between subjects
variable (setting) and one within within subjects variable
(task experience).
 General Linear Model employed to test 24 hypotheses.
 True score estimates used (indices of convergent validity,
discriminant validity and source bias were all acceptable
suggesting that the 4 dependent variables were valid,
distinct measures).
 Hypotheses for each dependent variable examined
separately.
Basic Experimental Design
Setting: Computer
Mediated or
Face-to-Face
Number of Causes
and Solutions
Identified
Personal Task
Relevance: High
or Low
Quality of Causes
and Solutions
Identified.
Independent Variables
 Setting


Computer Mediated
(Net Meeting Chat
Feature Employed)
groups of 3 students.
Face-Face Groups
comprised of 3
students.
 Personal Task Relevance

Case on Market Share for
Kroger in Springfield
MO.

Case on Starting Salaries
of Tech Grads Compared
to those of the Grads of
other Arkansas
Universities.
Dependent Variables
 Number of Causes and
Solutions Identified.


 Quality of Causes and
Solutions Identified.
Counted number of
distinct causes
identified.

Counted number of
distinct solutions
identified.

Rated Causes using:


Quality of Analysis/
Diagnosis.
Richness of Analysis.
Rated Solutions using:


Practicality of Solutions.
Creativity of Solutions.
Findings Summarized



Personal relevance seems to mediate the extent
to which setting and experience affect
performance.
Subjects identified more causes and solutions
when the worked in a CWS setting than when
they worked on a similar problem in a face-toface setting.
Impact of setting was particularly strong when
the problem was one that was personally
relevant.
Finding
Setting: Computer
Mediated or
Face-to-Face
Personal Task
Relevance: High
or Low
Number of Causes
and Solutions
Identified
Quality of Causes
and Solutions
Identified
Possible Future Projects
 Replicate this study using other CWS features in
control of setting.
 Focus only on CWS: examine the impact of
individual individual characteristics (and perhaps
experiences) on attitudes towards CWS use,
features preferred, individual perceptions regarding
group processes and outcomes, and measurable
outcomes (quantity and quality).
 Examine problems of free-riding and social loafing
and how their impact might be lessened in a CWS
setting.