A case study of CSCW in a dispersed organization

Pacific Bell conducted a trial of The Coordinator, a tool for computer-supported cooperative work. The trial group had diverse job functions and was dispersed across a variety of geographical locations and computing environments. The trial attempted to both measure the effectiveness of The Coordinator as a communications tool and to evaluate the speech act communications paradigm on which it is based. Only the first of these two goals was realized. Changes in subjects' cognition were assessed using a series of semantic differential scales. One negative cognitive shift was supported by the data. However, the anecdotal evidence was far more negative, suggesting that the experimental methodology be enhanced to include measurement of affective dimensions of group dynamics. Implementation and support for cooperative work systems were found to be more difficult than anticipated. The test group was not convinced that The Coordinator offered functionality that was worth the effort involved in learning to use the product. An improved interface, more flexible terminology, and better implementation support is needed for successful installation of The Coordinator, or similar products.