RONALD E. RICE
Arthur N. Rupe Endowed Chair in the Social Effects of Mass
Communication
Department of Communication (4020), Ellison Hall
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4020
office: 805-893-8696; dept.: 805-893-4517; dept. fax: 805-893-7102
1 SUMMARY OF MY INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
PROJECTS
The following sections briefly summarize some of the major studies
and research sites involving contexts of information systems that I
have
been working on over the years. No reference information is provided
here,
just summaries of some of the methods, data, goals, and sites of these
research projects. Please see my home page
for
publication information.
2 COMPUTER CONFERENCING:
EIES
SITE
3 ELECTRONIC MAIL: DEF1 SITE
4 ELECTRONIC MAIL: GOV SITE
5 ELECTRONIC MAIL: R&D
SITE
6 ELECTRONIC MAIL: UNIV SITE
7 INTEGRATED INFORMATION
SYSTEM: SHS SITE
8 INTELLIGENT TELEPHONE:
DEF2 SITE
9 VOICE MAIL: INS SITE
10 VOICE MAIL AND
INNOVATION:
INS AND CHEM SITE
11 VOICE MAIL, INFLUENCE,
AND CRITICAL MASS: R&D SITE
12 EVALUATING AND COMPARING
NEW MEDIA
13 WORD PROCESSING: WP SITES
14 ADAPTIVE LIBRARY NETWORKS
15 LIBRARIES, INFORMATION
SYSTEMS AND POWER
16 DOCUMENT IMAGING AND
ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE: CIO SITE
17 DESKTOP PLATFORMS: BANK
SITE
18 DIFFUSION OF BEST
PRACTICES:
QUALITY SITES
19 CROSS-CULTURAL EVALUATION
OF ORGANIZATION MEDIA
20 ACCESS TO INFORMATION
2 COMPUTER CONFERENCING: EIES
SITE
The EIES (Electronic Information Exchange System) "site" was a
nationwide,
non-profit computer conferencing system. Several of my studies analyzed
computer-monitored network data involving all 800 EIES users in 10
groups
(one consisted of system consultants, one was a collection of
unaffiliated
users, five had specific group goals while four did not), aggregated
into
24 monthly time periods. Some analyses took into account both inter-
and
intra-group message flow, while others only considered inter-group
flow.
3 ELECTRONIC MAIL: DEF1 SITE
The DEF1 site was a large aerospace contractor. We collected
questionnaire
data from 120 (90% response) organizational members about nine months
after
the implementation of IBM's PROFS integrated office system (here used
primarily
for email and document exchange). Although the survey data were
cross-sectional,
computer-monitored usage data were longitudinal since first log-on and
thus provided the basis for ordering users according to exposure,
duration
and frequency of usage of the system.
4 ELECTRONIC MAIL: GOV SITE
The GOV study involved a small, decentralized federal agency office
in charge of providing services and supplies to other agencies. The 86
employees were all civil servants; most were white collar
professionals,
although some were clerical workers. A questionnaire was administered
to
all employees before, and nine months after, implementation of a local
area network linking personal computers and providing electronic mail
services.
The T2 questionnaire also asked respondents to recall their responses
concerning
perceived effectiveness at various office activities at T1. Analyses
used
the 67 who returned their questionnaires at T2, or the 36 who responded
at both time periods.
5 ELECTRONIC MAIL: R&D
SITE
The R&D site was a non-profit research and development organization
with approximately 900 employees who worked on research programs that
frequently
crossed departmental boundaries. The organization developed a
UNIX-based
electronic mail system intentionally designed to support work groups
and
the existing cross-departmental organizational structures as well as
provide
gateways to international networks. All 780 holders of computer
accounts
at this R&D organization, which had been using the system for less
than four years, received a questionnaire. Of these, 508 returned
usable
responses 65%). The system's host computer also collected individual
usage
and network data, which was merged with questionnaire data and then
randomized
to avoid identification of the specific individual.
6 ELECTRONIC MAIL: UNIV SITE
As part of a long-term strategy for implementing backbone
telecommunications
support for research and administration, a large Western university
developed
the "Terminals for Managers" program to stimulate early adoption of
electronic
mail by high-level personnel. We collected questionnaire data from the
primary group of 89 managers within 10 weeks after being introduced to
TFM (74 responded at T1) and also a few months later (67 responded at
T2),
and from a group of 110 computer services staff (at T2) who also had
been
using the system.
7 INTEGRATED INFORMATION
SYSTEM:
SHS SITE
This research project involved the implementation of an integrated
health information system (a medical records information system running
off a dedicated minicomputer) at a Student Health Service (SHS). The
vendor
and organizational planners designed the system to approximate the
paper-and-pencil
systems previously used in various SHS departments, with the most
immediate
and pressing problem being patient scheduling and billing. While the
system
was not a CMC system, the study was concerned both with a variety of
implementation
issues relevant to CMC systems, and with possible relationships between
implementation of the system and intra-organizational communication.
The
research design included three waves of questionnaires several months
before
and several months after initial implementation, and approximately one
year after the second survey. Of the 111 employees at SHS during Time
1,
88 were still employed at Time 3 (some were seasonal or part-time); 74
of these employees (84%) completed both the Time 1 and Time 3
questionnaires.
We also conducted moderately structured interviews with personnel at
each
time period, and observed individuals using both the previous paper and
pencil system and the computer system in their daily work.
8 INTELLIGENT TELEPHONE: DEF2
SITE
The DEF2 site was the same large aerospace contractor as in the email
study. Here, however, we investigated attitudes toward, usage of, and
perceived
outcomes from, an intelligent telephone system (that is, one with
numerous
functions invoked by combinations of the telephone key pad, but not a
voice
mail system) recently installed in two separate buildings, intended as
the first of many installations. Out of 50 employees randomly selected
from each of the two buildings, 42 and 40, respectively, completed
questionnaires.
We also conducted personal interviews with seven "key informants" such
as trainers, systems analysts and implementers.
9 VOICE MAIL: INS SITE
A large insurance organization in the process of pilot testing a voice
mail system provided the setting for a large-scale study of the
implementation
and assessment of voice mail (VM). This paper analyzes questionnaire,
focus
group, open-ended transcript and computer-monitored usage data from
over
500 subjects involved in a pilot evaluation of a multi-branch voice
mail
system. The pre- and post-implementation research design tests three
primary
propositions stemming from contingency theory and information richness
theory: (1) structural effects: voice mail usage of one's vertically
linked
and horizontally similar others will affect one's own use of voice
mail,
(2) computer-mediated effects: that the use of voice mail for messaging
activities is fundamentally different than for answering activities,
and
especially effective for conditions such as low analyzability, high
coordination
or overcoming constraints, and (3) task effects: the nature of one's
task
(extent of analyzability) affects not only the use of organizational
communication
media, but also the extent to which usage of voice mail predicts
improvements
in distributing and retrieving information. Qualitative and
quantitative
results support these propositions, with the overall structural
equation
model explaining between 60% and 79% of the difference scores, and
sub-analyses
for high task analyzability also explaining considerable variance.
Implications
for information richness theory, and for managing the use of voice mail
as a coordination tool, are provided.
10 VOICE MAIL AND INNOVATION:
INS AND CHEM SITE
This study developed and tested a simple model predicting influences
on use of voice mail, and influences of voice mail use on later system
evaluations. Data were collected in two organizations, using
self-report
and system-monitored usage measures. The study makes distinctions
between
individual and organizational innovativeness, communication-based and
location-based
group interdependence, overall and intentional voice mail usage, and
generic
and specific appropriateness of voice mail. Results were quite similar
across the two organizations. Individual innovativeness had no
influence,
but organizational conservativeness had a positive influence on system
usage, possibly for less innovative uses of voice mail as voice
answering
rather than as a voice messaging. Task analyzability had a small
positive
influence on usage. Group location interdependency had perhaps the most
consistent influence on voice mail usage. Greater intentional
self-reported
use of voice mail for voice messaging, rather than simple monitored and
self-reported amount of usage, had somewhat of a greater influence on
system
evaluations. Individual and organizational variables had no significant
influence system evaluations, controlling for the influence of usage.
The
discussion provides some suggestions for models of new organizational
media
use in organizations.
11 VOICE MAIL, INFLUENCE,
AND CRITICAL MASS: R&D SITE
Research shows that formal communication is generally insufficient
to support collaborative processes, and that frequent, informal and
spontaneous
communication is crucial to the success of collaboration, especially in
R&D situations. Yet, to date, the only organizational mechanism
facilitating
informal communication is physical proximity. This research addressed
two
primary questions concerning ways to improve collaboration through
informal
communication facilitated by new media: (1) Can a new
intra-organizational
video medium usefully support informal communication and
collaboration?;
and (2) How do users assess this new medium and develop norms for
managing
its use? The research extends the understandings gained from a prior,
summer-long
pilot study, and involves approximately 100 users over a year-long
period.
Personal interviews, questionnaire surveys, and system usage data was
analyzed,
both qualitatively and quantitatively.
12 EVALUATING AND COMPARING
NEW MEDIA
This study assessed a scale measuring appropriateness of media for
a variety of organizational communication activities, and then compares
seven traditional and new media, across six organizational sites. The
ranking
of media, were, in declining order: face-to-face, telephone and
meetings,
desktop video and videoconferencing, voice mail, text, and electronic
mail.
Although an information exchange and a socio-emotional relations
dimension
emerged, the first provided a parsimonious solution. Multidimensional
scaling
placed traditional media in separate clusters, and new media together
with
some instances of text and phone, along interpersonal-mediated and
synchronous-asynchronous
dimensions. The appropriateness of face-to-face and meetings does not
change
over time, while ratings of phone and text (to some extent), and new
media
do. Appropriateness of new media was generally positively, but weakly,
associated with usage. Finally, there was very little evidence of
social
information processing influence on appropriateness, except for
organizational
newcomers' ratings of the newest medium, desktop video.
13 WORD PROCESSING: WP SITES
A study of word processing implementation and adaptation involved
telephone
interviews with 194 organizations, followed up by site visits to about
50 of those organizations. At each site, questionnaire data and
personal
interviews were obtained from over 300 WP operators, 80 supervisors,
and
240 authors. For some analyses, data were aggregated at the work-unit
and
organizational level, and merged with the organizational-level phone
data
and archival data. We identified implementation policies that fostered,
and that constrained, innovative developments of word processing
capabilities.
14 ADAPTIVE LIBRARY NETWORKS
Paul Kantor and I attempted to develop, implement and evaluate an at
that time novel approach to library book retrieval. Traditional
retrieval
access points include author, subject heading, descriptor terms, and
possible
thesaurus entries. However, neither the system nor the users "learn"
from
prior users' selections or evaluations. So we designed a program run on
several test PCs used to access the library collections that (a)
remembered
links among books either retrieved jointly or proactively associated by
users, and (b) offered later users the possibility of browsing the
other
book titles associated with the current users' selections. We conducted
a two-year evaluation through surveys of faculty at five departments at
Rutgers University.
One paper from this study analyzed scientific communication,
invisible
colleges, and the growing role of information and communication systems
by faculty members of seven departments at two large state
universities.
Those who use computer-mediated communication more also use the online
catalog from non-library locations and electronic abstracts, implying
the
importance of a single desktop access to information resources and
communication.
Research orientation seems to have some influence on the use of
information
sources and communication. Faculty with greater problem-solving
orientations,
and departments such as Computer Science and Statistics, are more
likely
to use electronic information sources, CMC, and engage in
intradepartmental
communication. Information overload does not seem to be an overwhelming
phenomenon, and does not seem to be influenced by departmental or
disciplinary
identity.
15 LIBRARIES, INFORMATION
SYSTEMS AND POWER
This study was directed by Gregory Crawford. Based upon theories of
organizational structure and power, especially the strategic
contingencies
theory of intraorganizational power, a model of organizational power
and
technology within liberal arts colleges is developed, tested, and
modified.
The model explicitly includes and analyses measures of subunit power,
environment,
extent of automation, organizational structure, and bases of power.
Data
on 487 liberal arts college libraries collected from the 1982 HEGIS and
the 1990 IPEDS surveys and from two mailed questionnaires provided
limited
support for the proposed model of intraorganizational power. Increases
in library automation caused increases in several subunit bases of
power.
Analyses of a modified model of intraorganizational power and
technology
showed that as automation and the environmental variables increased,
subunit
bases of power increased, and all of these directly increased library
power.
Thus automation can be a change agent within organizations, causing
changes
in structure, the bases of power, and in power itself. Power is a
concept
relevant to understanding the adoption of information technology in
specialized
organizations such as libraries and colleges.
16 DOCUMENT IMAGING AND
ONLINE
CUSTOMER SERVICE: CIO SITE
This study is a general evaluation project of a long-term information
systems implementation. This study includes the following goals:
- develop a framework for understanding how employees develop
expectations
and become socialized toward a new system, including the roles of
individuals,
groups, and the overall organization
- describe changes in job and system perceptions
- evaluate the ease-of-use of the various systems
- understand the influence of different implementation practices
(especially
involvement) on job attitudes, system evaluation and job performance,
and
users' adaptation of the system ("reinvention")
- assess the importance of work and communication networks on the
implementation
of such systems, and the systems' influence on changes in these
networks
- identify and assess influences on, and changes in, individuals' work
practices and communication networks
- assess changes in performance at various levels of analysis
(individual,
task, group, system, customer, etc.) identify, assess and understand
the
nature and role of "measures" in quality management, in the context of
information systems implementation
- identify implications for future training and implementation
practices
- link internal service center member perceptions with external client
perceptions
We began a longitudinal study of the implementation of an integrated
system at a customer service organization (referred to as CSO), with
the
goal of looking at several dimensions of organizational adaptation to
new
technology. The company has multiple locations throughout the United
States
and internationally. However, the study only involved two sites in
neighboring
states (Location A had the bulk of the employees, who provided service
to the external customers, and Location B, where most of the technical
staff and system developers worked), about a three-hour drive away from
each other. This company provides telephone-based servicing of
corporate
telephone cards from over 6,000 companies. The actual service is called
PHONE-BILL. In 1994, 10,000 facsimiles per week were received
requesting
changes, requests, deletions, re-structurings, additions, etc. The
organization
seeks to meet or exceed a variety of service criteria (such as deleting
stolen or fraudulent cards in less than 15 minutes), so this huge flow
of paper was becoming a tremendous obstacle to providing accurate and
quick
service. Simply finding where an error had occurred was nearly
impossible
when it involved reconstructing the papertrail.
In an attempt to remove this massive paper-management task, to
provide
greater functionality and response, and to develop more sophisticated
technology
capabilities directly to the customers, the organization decided to
implement
a pair of integrated information systems. These would replace the
traditional
mainframe application, and the paper-based fax delivery system,
respectively.
The first system was a Windows-based workstation service support system
(CSS for customer support system), built around a customer service
database
managed by a client-server network. This replaces the former direct
connection
to a mainframe system they referred to as EOES). The second system was
a document imaging system (DIS for document imaging system). CSS+ was
the
most recently improved beta version. This involved scanning the faxes,
as they were received, directly into optical storage, and then making
the
image immediately available to the appropriate personnel. The screens
of
the two systems appeared side-by-side on the user's large workstation,
and customer service reps could now bring up the database file and the
document image simultaneously. Eventually, those customers who wish to
will be trained on using the database system so they may make their own
changes directly, calling on customer service reps only for custom or
difficult
changes.
17 DESKTOP PLATFORMS: BANK
SITE
This project is directed by Michael Chumer. Technological change,
especially
of an infrastructural nature, strikes at the very heart of work
practices
and processes which have been "institutionalized" within any
organization.
Workstations are important components within the web of work processes.
Yet the most important element in that web is the human who relies on
the
workstation and its underlying technology do work that affects both
external
and internal customers. Since the human is the most critical component,
implementation scenarios should focus on the individual and provide
them
with as much knowledge about the nature of the change, what they need
to
know to work with the new technology, and who they can contact for
further
support and guidance. This study is designed to help a private Bank
understand
the factors that affect technological change in general, and how those
factors are at play with an enterprise-wide implementation and support
initiative in particular. The study is administering a survey to those
Bank employees in several countries who have participated in the
workstation
change effort so far, that includes the following components:
implementation
satisfaction, information sources, adequacy of information from those
sources,
system usage, open-ended comments, process improvement, human and
organizational
factors, and job characteristics.
18 DIFFUSION OF BEST
PRACTICES:
QUALITY SITES
This project is being conducted with Brent Ruben and Caroline Simard,
with funding by the AT&T Quality Office. This research, just
beginning
in one local quality organization, will summarize and analyze best
practice
diffusion efforts and adoption results (from "successful" to "failed")
in three stages. The overall goal is to identify impediments to, and
ways
of enhancing, the adoption of Quality "best practice" information. The
first Stage will review the relevant literature, and study two
organizations
to develop an initial model of the most useful set of influences. The
second
Stage will test and revise this model, and develop a set of specific
recommendations,
based on an analysis of two more organizations. The third Stage will
assess
the use of these recommendations in the four organizations, and apply
those
lessons to the design of an Educational Best Practices internal
database
and Internet Website. The proposed research is conceptually grounded in
the general theory of diffusion of innovations, especially the
informational
components. Other conceptual components include the role of
communication
in Quality management, organizational culture, and factors influencing
both diffusion and non-adoption of best practices across and within
organizations.
19 CROSS-CULTURAL EVALUATION
OF ORGANIZATION MEDIA
Managers working in four countries assessed the richness of five media,
equivocality of 11 situations, preferred media for each situation, and
cultural values. The media richness and equivocality measures are
reliable
and unidimensional. Face-to-face is ranked as most, and business memos
least, rich. Situational preferences for media are not as strongly
differentiated
as the richness ratings. Only email and telephone preferences are
significantly
correlated with richness. Media preferences for face-to-face and
telephone
for each situation are highly correlated with the situations'
equivocality.
Respondents from "collectivist" countries rate the telephone as less
rich,
and the business memo as richer, than do respondents from
"individualist"
countries. Cultural values have a slight influence on the relation
between
equivocality and media preference.
20 ACCESS TO INFORMATION
This study was directed by Maureen McCreadie. We reviewed six research
literatures that consider access from different vantage points, to
identify
common and unique aspects of the concept "access to information". The
resulting
multi-dimensional framework includes (1) conceptualizations of
information
itself (thing, data in the environment, representation of knowledge,
and
part of the communication process) (2) conceptualizations of the notion
of access (knowledge, technology, communication, control,
goods/commodities,
and rights), (3) a general information seeking process (context,
situation,
strategies, and outcomes), (4) a variety of influences and constraints
(physical, cognitive, affective, economic, social, and political), and
(5) unique assumptions and concepts. Only a comprehensive consideration
of these factors will allow us to understand both the concept of access
to information, as well as develop and study systems, institutions, and
policies that foster improved access.
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