ABSTRACT
Computer-supported teams are small collaborative work groups that use specialized aids. Typically, these are project-oriented teams with important tasks and tight deadlines. One approach to computer-supported teams is to develop or select a structure for team conversations that will be in close keeping with the task and style of the team participants themselves. Classifying approaches to computer-supported teams according to support for team meetings is, of course, only one possibility. The purpose of this chapter is simply to introduce the concept of computer-supported teams and to begin a consideration of how the concept might develop in the future. The barriers are too imposing to expect rapid growth in the near term, even though the forces for computer-supported teams will win out in the long run. Face-to-face meetings are already a way of life in business and there are specialists in facilitating meetings. Typically, facilitators are independent consultants, but large companies sometimes have in-house specialists on call.
