Interpretive analysis of team use of group technologies

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Abstract
Studies of the impacts of new computing technologies on organizations often lead to contradictory or equivocal findings. Studies showing negative or null effects of computing are as commonplace as those showing benefits. Moreover, outcomes are nonuniform across individuals, groups, or organizational units and sometimes vary within the same study. To explain the commonality as well as the variance in the results of new technology introduction, we propose adaptive structuration theory. The theory focuses on how technology structures are applied in interpersonal interaction and the specific nature of appropriation patterns. We illustrate the power of the theory through interpretative analysis of three teams as they adapt to use of a group decision support system over a period of eight months. The analyses highlight differences in technology impacts across the three teams and also explain some common outcomes. Our analytic approach appears to be useful in the study of organizational computing impacts in general and group decision support system effects in particular.

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