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What is office automation?
... The design of interactive office worksystems, generally, depends on the development of suitable models of office work (Hammer and Sirbu, 1980;Newman, 1980;Schaffer, 1988). Attempts to conceptualise office work have been carried out within a number of different perspectives, including that of psychological task analysis (e.g., Sebillottee, 1989), and with varying levels of success (Hirschheim, 1985). ...
This paper reports an attempt to construct a design-oriented model of the planning and control of multiple task work (PCMT) based on observations of secretarial office administration (SOA). The model is design-oriented in that it is intended to assist a designer to reason about the behaviours of an interactive human-computer worksystem; in this case, the planning and control behaviours of worksystems which carry out multiple task work. Design-oriented models of engineering contrast with the understanding-oriented models of science, which offer an understanding of phenomena in the form of their explanation and prediction.
... They also critique the rush to formalize and the treatment of office systems as closed systems, noting that in many real situations allowance should be made for inconsistent office procedures, as "these inconsistencies represent different opinions on common tasks." 7 E.g., Zisman, 1977;Hammer and Sirbu, 1980;Hammer and Kunin, 1980;Ellis, 1982;Ellis and Bernal, 1982. 8 E.g., Fikes and Henderson, 1980;Barber and Hewitt, 1982;Ellis, 1983;Barber, 1983;Barber, de Jong, and Hewitt, 1983;Gasser, 1986;Woo and Lochovsky, 1986;Hewitt, 1986;Croft and Lefkovitz (#). 9 ...
The topic of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) has attracted much attention in the last few years. While the field is obviously still in the process of development, there is a marked ambiguity about exactly what is or is not included under its rubric. The lack of a commonly accepted view on the nature of the field may hinder its further development and lead to fractionation. In this paper we set out an approach to CSCW which would provide a more coherent conceptual framework for this area. This paper develops a framework for CSCW suggesting that it should be concerned with the support requirements of cooperative work forms. Other conceptualizations of the field are briefly contrasted in the context of how they view cooperative work. The paper then presents and enlarges on some important issues that we see as vital to the development of usable CSCW systems including support for articulation work and support for cooperation via the construction of a common information space. The emerging field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, or CSCW as it is commonly abbreviated and referred to, appears to present new challenges to computer professionals and others involved in the development of computer-based information systems. However, the intense interest in CSCW is not matched by clear conceptualizations concerning the exact nature of the field. In a recent seminar, Irene Greif (1988), one of the originators of the term 'Computer Supported Cooperative Work' (together with Paul Cashman), noted that the term was coined as a shorthand way of referring to a set of concerns about supporting multiple individuals working together with computer systems. The meaning of the individual words in the term was not especially highlighted. With the subsequent abbreviation of the term Computer Supported Cooperative Work to that of CSCW, * This paper expands considerably on the ideas presented in an earlier paper by the authors entitled "CSCW: Four Characters in Search of a Context," presented at the First European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, September 1989, Gatwick, UK. — The ordering of authors for this, as for the earlier joint work by the authors, is arbitrary.
There are a number of different conceptual approaches regarding where the main opportunities for integrated office systems lie. It is important to understand the main types of frameworks which are currently in use so that the implementor can adopt or synthesize an appropriate approach for his/her organization. The conceptual approach selected will shape the objectives of the office automation project, the measures for determining requirements and selecting a system, and the measures for evaluating the impact of the system. Five approaches are reviewed below. Each has relative strengths and weaknesses which are descibed below and summarized in Chapter 4.
Observation is key to management scholarship and practice. Yet a holistic view of its role in management has been elusive, in part due to shifting terminology. The current popularity of the term “transparency” provides the occasion for a thorough review, which finds (a) a shift in the object of observation from organizational outcomes to the detailed individual activities within them; (b) a shift from people observing the technology to technology observing people; and (c) a split in the field, with managers viewing observation almost entirely from the observer’s perspective, leaving the perspective of the observed to the realm of scholarly methodology courses and philosophical debates on privacy. I suggest how the literature on transparency and related literatures might be improved with research designed in light of these trends.
A major goal of an office system is to support tasks that are central to office functions. Some office tasks are readily implemented with generic office tools, such as calendars, forms packages, and mail. Many tasks, however, involve complex sequences of actions which do not all correspond to tool invocations but, instead, rely on the problem-solving abilities of office workers. In this paper we describe a system (POISE) than can be used to both automate routine tasks and provide assistance in more complex situations. The type of assistance provided can range from maintaining a record of the tasks currently being executed to suggesting possible next steps and answering natural language queries about the tasks. The POISE system uses both a procedure-based and a goal-based representation of the tasks to achieve efficiency and flexibility. The mechanisms used by POISE are described with example procedures from a university office.
There are a number of different conceptual approaches regarding where the main opportunities for integrated office systems lie. It is important to understand the main types of frameworks which are currently in use so that the implementor can adopt or synthesize an appropriate approach for his/her organization. The conceptual approach selected will shape the objectives of the office automation project, the measures for determining requirements and selecting a system, and the measures for evaluating the impact of the system. Five approaches are reviewed below. Each has relative strengths and weaknesses which are descibed below and summarized in Chapter 4.
Udvikling og konstruktion af informationsteknologiske systemer til kooperativ beslutningstagning i komplekse arbejdssammenhænge stiller arbejdsanalysen over for nye udfordringer. Formålet med denne rapport er at bidrage til at udvikle det teoretiske grundlag for arbejdsanalysen gennem en diskussion af arbejdsanalysens teoretiske forudsætninger og praktiske problemer. Diskussionen af arbejdsanalysens teoretiske forudsætninger indledes med en kritisk gennemgang af det store antal allerede foreliggende angrebsmåder til og metodologier for arbejdsanalysen. Gennem denne kritik identificeres de forskellige angrebsmåders og metodologiers respektive formål og anvendelsesområder. Arbejdsanalysen må kunne fatte arbejdets rige mangfoldighed, uden på forhånd at udelukke aspekter, der i sidste ende ikke kan implementeres i et datamatisk system. Arbejdsanalysen må derfor baseres på en teori om arbejdet. Som et bidrag til en sådan teori skitseres en begrebsramme for arbejdsanalyse. Rapporten munder ud i en diskussion af arbejdsanalysens metodologiske grundlag. Arbejdsanalysens generelle angrebsmåde undersøges, og der foreslås en distinktion mellem tre analyseniveauer: strategisk arbejdsanalysen, funktions analyse og operationel arbejdsanalysen. Sluttelig diskuteres den dialektiske karakter af praktisk arbejdsanalyse i marken. Arbejdet har været støttet af Statens Teknisk-Videnskabelige Forskningsråd under FTU programmet. Projekt nr. 5.17.5.6.07 © Kjeld Schmidt og Peter Carstensen, juni 1990
As an established field of research, Computer Supported Cooperative Work or CSCW is now well beyond its first quarter century of existence. It is an appropriate time to take stock: What has been achieved, and what issues remain as challenges for the field? — This introductory article will assess what has become of the field, its position as a research field in the wider context of technology development, and its complex physiognomy. As an established field of research, Computer Supported Cooperative Work or CSCW is now well beyond its first quarter century of existence. This Jubilee Issue of the CSCW Journal has been put together to mark this significant milestone in the development of CSCW. It is an appropriate time to take stock: What has been achieved, and what issues remain as challenges for the field? To address these questions, this special issue features seven articles that review a number of key threads of CSCW research, all written by scholars that have played a leading role in this research. In this short introductory article we will abstain from attempting a comprehensive assessment of the achievements of CSCW; rather, we will restrict ourselves to briefly assessing what has become of the field, its position as a research field in the wider context of technology development, and its complex physiognomy: a mix of loosely interconnected research issues and programs linked to an unfolding program of cumulative research. In making this assessment, some observations on the origins and early development are made and an outline of achievements is sketched. However, what is intended here is not to give a historical account of the development of the CSCW field, but to characterize the makeup of the field.
As an established field of research, Computer Supported Cooperative Work or CSCW is now well beyond its first quarter century of existence. It is an appropriate time to take stock: What has been achieved, and what issues remain as challenges for the field? — This introductory article will assess what has become of the field, its position as a research field in the wider context of technology development, and its complex physiognomy.
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