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