ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews cross-sectional, case study and pilot research carried out by RAND's Institute for Research on Interactive Systems, which explores the deployment of current information technology in diverse user groups. Whether organizations are moving to network their personal computers, decentralize their mainframe environments, or build group-level computing structures, they share at least one major concern: to provide flexible interactive technology to support and augment multi-person work. The successful integration of new technology into information-intensive work demonstrates the socio-technical properties of work groups; that is, group members are interdependent only on one another but also on the technology, and technical and organizational issues are closely interrelated. A frequent question is whether electronic media can overcome physical and social barriers to enable collaboration among individuals who otherwise would be able to work together. On the other hand, the data suggest that the temporal barriers overcome by messaging are more important than is sometimes realized.
