Can someone help me get a good start on this essay? \"Would implementing groupwa

Question

Can someone help me get a good start on this essay?

"Would implementing groupware in our organization be more trouble than it would be worth?

Below is some information pertaining to the above essay topic:

As you prepare your paper, you'll probably want to think about the kind of work that you do, the kind of work that your colleagues do, and what you know from the readings about information processing systems in general and what kinds of work groupware is best at supporting. You'll probably also want to think about how much trouble it is to change things in your organization in any event, about the kind of supervisory climate and environment you work in, about the kind of resources you have available to you, and about the kinds of demands being made upon you for day-to-day performance. The readings are to give you some information about how other people have dealt with groupware; it's up to you to apply this information to your own settings and come to some conclusions.

This is a pretty open-ended assignment, but we have faith that by now that you are well qualified to tackle it. We understand that groupware can be many different things and we trust that you can figure out the kinds of groupware that your organization might consider. Please note that we're not asking for any confidential or sensitive information about your organization, its people, or what it does -- if there are any details you feel uncomfortable talking about, please disguise or omit them. We are just interested in in your careful reflection on learning from the experience of others and extending that learning to your own situation. We do realize that you may be in a relatively lower-level function and not in a position to make decisions about groupware or anything of the sort. That shouldn't be a barrier to your thinking about what to do if you were in charge; after all, that's why you're in school in the first place -- to become in charge, right?

Groupware applications are specifically designed to allow a number of different individuals to access common data, obligations, and other resources in pursuit of common tasks and goals. Usually these applications are deployed only within an organization, although sometimes individuals from outside the organization are also given access. It is clear that the process of implementing groupware is rather more complicated than just buying software and installing it on a number of machines; using groupware turns out to be a social problem far more than it is a technical problem.

You can start reading about groupware in this chapter:

http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1812/133/7-%20CHAPTER%202.pdf?sequence=7

These two articles describe some of the complexities of getting groupware used by a real group:
Bridget N. O'Connor (1999) A Groupware-based Peer Review Process: An Exploratory Case Study. Informing Science 2(1)

http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol2/v2n1index.htm

Strazewski, Len (2004) Technology Choices. Rough Notes, July http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3615/is_200407/ai_n9410384#continue

Explanation / Answer

Implementing groupware may not be more trouble than it would be worth. Groupware applications have both the benefits and some limitations but it may not cause much trouble.

Groupware allows several people to work on the same project from same place or from different places at the same time or at different time periods. It provides collaboration. When people from different places are needed to work on the same project collectively, the groupware will be more useful. It reduces the transportation costs and saves travelling time.

It improves the performance as there will be no data hiding and as all the information and operations are open, tasks can be performed easily and in a timely manner. As the members can work collectively, their ideas can be shared easily and it may help in developing innovative projects.

It has some drawbacks like more implementation costs and difficulty in using the groupware software. The cost for implementation, hardware and network elements will be more. Also the users must be trained well for using the software. It lacks confidentiality. There will not be any privacy in data. Incompatibility problems also occur.

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