This book seeks to establish an interdisciplinary, applied social scientific model for researchers and students that advocates a cooperative effort between machines and people. After showing that basic research on social processes offers much needed guidance for those creating technology and designing tools for group work, its papers demonstrate the mutual relevance of social science and information system design, and encourage better integration of these disciplines. This comprehensive collection closely examines the variety of electronic tools being deployed to solve traditional problems in communication and coordination. Unfortunately, research shows that these tools have not been as successful as their designers had envisioned, partially because they were not always produced with the needs and goals of their human users in mind. The editors' goal is to entice more social scientists to orient their research around questions of practical interest to information system designers and to convince designers to search for the knowledge about social and organizational behavior that would make their tools more useful.

There are many walks of life in which teamwork is found and in which, by common consent, it could be better. Yet even the most basic questions about teams remain unresolved. What makes a group of individuals a team? Does teamwork involve a special type of reasoning? What makes teams successful? How do we learn to be team players? This volume brings together, for the first time, contemporary research from across the social sciences, addressing such questions from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives.

The idea for this volume took root during a recent annual convention of the American Psychological Association. The contributors share a common vision of research in their particular area and have had an opportunity to debate and clarify their ideas. Taken as a whole, the fifteen chapters provide an exciting perspective of the field and form a basic set of readings for courses on individual and group decision making in a variety of disciplines. The coverage from basic laboratory research to complex applied group decision processes should challenge researchers and students to pursue the field of decision making as enthusiastic scientists and practitioners.

Collaborative Information Technologies are broadly defined as technologies that enable collaboration among individuals engaged in a common task. Examples of such technologies are Web-based chat tools, Web-based asynchronous conferencing tools, e-mail, listservs, collaborative writing tools, group decision support systems, etc. Collaborative Information Technologies includes research on the design and implementation of such technologies, assessment of the impact of collaborative technologies on organizations, and theoretical considerations on links between collaborative technologies and organizational outcomes.

Computers, Commmunication, and Mental Models is a far-ranging, focused treatment of the cognitive and behavioural issues in computer-mediated communication, knowledge representation and computer-supported co- operative work. It is also an argued development of the theoretical bases for treating computerized tools as intermediaries in the communication of mental maps between tool builders and users. Empirical trails are reported in detail sufficient for representation, in computer-based instruction, fractal dimensions of cognitive mapping and group decision support. The book is a collection of multidisciplinary papers which each shed light on the complex interactions between users and systems architects, via a common medium: computerized tools.

Psychology Library Editions: Social Psychology (30-volume set) brings together an eclectic mix of titles from a wealth of authors with diverse backgrounds, seeking to understand human behaviour and interaction from a socio-psychological perspective. The series of previously out-of-print titles, originally published between 1908 and 1993, includes those from some authors considered to be founders of social psychology and traces the development of the subject from its early foundations.

What are the contemporary trends in workplace restructuring and the sociological impact on workers′ lives? Around what concepts will work be organized and groups and individuals motivated in their work into the new century? To give you definition and answers to these contemporary questions, the editors of the sociological quarterly, Work and Occupations, assembled Working in Restructured Workplaces. It addresses contradictory influences in contemporary workplace restructuring, its impact on workers′ lives, and the direction and nature of future changes in the workplace. This authentic collection of sociological thought and research consists of previous works in Work and Occupations and some commissioned specifically for this book to focus on the nature, causes, and consequences of workplace restructuring. The editors introduce a new concept of "workplace restructuring" to broaden your perspective and then assess implications for workers and their lives. The chapters address four major themes: Reconfiguring workplace status hierarchies Casualization of employment relationships Restructuring and worker marginalization Comparative labor responses to global restructuring The last two chapters chart new research agendas on the boundaries and durability of workplace restructuring.

Presents a collection of fourteen essays that responds to the need for a more rhetorical conception of professional communication as an international discipline. This book challenges the adequacy of relying on preconceived notions about the factors that determine discourse in international professional settings.

The use of multimedia strikes at the very heart of traditional teaching and learning methods, and is changing the way educators think about the whole process of teaching and learning. Multimedia and Megachange spurs ideas for the use of interactive technology to revolutionize teaching and learning. It describes and analyzes issues and trends that are currently setting a research and development agenda for educators.Contributors to this volume explore all fronts on which computer technology are changing the educational process: concept and theory research application designMultimedia and Megachange opens up the exciting world of how technology is dramatically changing how teachers teach and students learn. It also highlights spin-off changes for classroom management, greater sources of information, and improved evaluation and grading techniques.

In his classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni laid out a groundbreaking approach for tackling the perilous group behaviors that destroy teamwork. Here he turns his focus to the individual, revealing the three indispensable virtues of an ideal team player. In The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni tells the story of Jeff Shanley, a leader desperate to save his uncle’s company by restoring its cultural commitment to teamwork. Jeff must crack the code on the virtues that real team players possess, and then build a culture of hiring and development around those virtues. Beyond the fable, Lencioni presents a practical framework and actionable tools for identifying, hiring, and developing ideal team players. Whether you’re a leader trying to create a culture around teamwork, a staffing professional looking to hire real team players, or a team player wanting to improve yourself, this book will prove to be as useful as it is compelling.