Publication patterns concerning the role of teams/groups in the information systems literature from 1990 to 1999

doi:10.1016/j.im.2005.01.003

Information & Management

Volume 42, Issue 8, December 2005, Pages 1137-1148

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2005.01.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

By reviewing 28 reputable journals that serve as outlets for information systems and operations management/research, 220 articles relating to information systems and teams/groups were identified over a 10-year period from 1990 through 1999. These articles were classified into 22 topic areas and subsequently cross-tabulated.

The data indicate that the number of articles published in this area peaked in the mid 1990s, and that Communications of the ACM, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, and Journal of Management Information Systems were the primary outlets. Key topic areas intersecting with teams/groups include: decision making, decision support systems, human factors, intra-organization systems, project management, telecommunications, and software. Also, connections between organizational behavior/social psychology and the current teams/groups research in information systems were discovered.

Introduction

As competition intensifies, companies are adopting new models of organizations to gain an edge over other firms. These models involve the use of information systems (IS) and require ways of organizing that are distinct from traditional hierarchies. Today, aspects of IS such as e-commerce, supply chain management, outsourcing, knowledge management, and globalization require disparate individuals and groups to work together effectively. For example, e-commerce transactions today provide an electronic medium to coordinate activities with buyers, suppliers, and other participants within the organization. These groups of individuals need to carefully coordinate their activities and rely heavily on IS.

Models of organizing emphasize connections and coordination both across and within organizations, resulting in an interest in teaming. Numerous benefits of teams have been reported, including increased performance, increased creativity and commitment, higher quality of products, less absenteeism, and reduced turnover [3], [5], [6], [9], [11], [15], [16], [19], [24]. Teams allow individuals in locations around the world to interact and solve operational problems; they help firms bridge barriers and combine efforts [31].

Given the changing nature of organizations and the prevalence of teams, it is important to understand the literature on IS and teams/groups. Here, we attempted to lay the groundwork by uncovering patterns in the literature on the role of teams/groups in IS. By sampling key journals, we hoped to uncover interactions between teams/groups and various areas in IS. In addition, we looked at the publication propensity by journal and year. As such, this paper can be of value to researchers, in that it could help them identify areas of the literature that are expected to flourish and journals for specific studies. In addition, practitioners may gain from these findings by recognizing the importance of teams/groups relative to various IS functions. Although our work did not provide a prescriptive model, it did highlight the interactions between teams/groups and primary and secondary IS areas.

Section snippets

Sample and procedure

Two hundred and twenty-two articles published between 1990 and 1999 were obtained from a sample of 28 journals selected from a number of relevant areas including Management Information Systems (MIS) and Operations Management (OM); OM journals were included because a significant amount of research in e-commerce and supply chain often occurs in this field. Previous researchers [2], [17], [18], [21], [38] have identified a vast range of journals in these fields; we selected a sample of journals

Publication patterns by journal and year

In Table 2, we note that both MIS and OM journals contribute to the IS and teams/groups literature. However, as expected, the IS journals provided a much heavier contribution. In particular, four journals can be considered significantly high contributors with more than 20 articles over the 10-year period. Specifically, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Communications of ACM, and Information & Management have published 30 (p < .01), 28 (p < .01), 26 (p < .01) and 23 (

Discussion

A total of 220 articles, averaging 22 publications per year were located from a sample of 28 IS/OM journals. The findings suggest that teams/groups research interacts significantly with several IS areas. Some of the patterns uncovered in our study suggest that the areas of GDSS and DSS have been studied extensively in the literature and the findings synthesized. Studies have also found that AI has been used as a way to support GDSS in terms of group processes, task characteristics, and in

Conclusion

E-commerce and global supply chains are heavily dependent on group processes for their success. By linking this study to an established framework for group processes, it is now possible to specify the effectiveness of global supply chains and e-commerce transactions through performance, satisfaction, and structural outcome metrics. Specific performance outcome metrics include decision quality, number of alternatives generated, and time to reach decisions. Also, critical to global supply chains

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Publication patterns concerning the role of teams/groups in the information systems literature from 1990 to 1999

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Sample and procedure

Publication patterns by journal and year

Discussion

Conclusion

Journal of Operations Management

Expert Systems with Applications

Journal of Product Innovation Management

Information & Management

Expert Systems with Applications

A keyword classification scheme for IS research literature

MIS Quarterly

Metrics for continuous improvement: tapping the potential of legacy systems

Journal of Systems Management

The effect of group, task, context, and technology variables on the usefulness of group support systems: a meta-analysis of experimental studies

Small Group Research

Relations between work group characteristics and effectiveness: implications for designing effective work groups

Personnel Psychology

Relations between work team characteristics and effectiveness: a replication and extension

Personnel Psychology

Natural language processing based group decision support system

Decision Support Systems

Starting and staffing your development center

Journal of Systems Management

RandD for group decision aid in Hungary by WINGDSS, a Microsoft Windows based group decision support system

Decision Support Systems

Minority dissent and team innovation: the importance of participation decision making

Journal of Applied Psychology

Information exchange and use in group decision making: you can lead a group to information, but you can’t make it think

MIS Quarterly

A foundation for the study of group decision support systems

Management Science

Corporate supported women's groups

Communications of the ACM

Whole foods is all team

Fast Company

Academic issues in MIS: journals and books

MIS Quarterly

Forums for MIS scholars

Communications of the ACM