Facilitator Influence in Group Support Systems: Intended and Unintended Effects.

Author List: Griffith, Terri L.; Fuller, Mark A.; Northcraft, Gregory B.;

Information Systems Research, 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1, Page 20.

This paper addresses facilitation, a developing area of Group Support Systems (GSS) research. The facilitator role is one of improving a group's communication and information flow; facilitators are meant to enhance the manner in which a group makes decisions without making those decisions for the group. However, there is a paradox in facilitation: The influence required to facilitate a group changes the group's outcomes. Additionally, strict impartiality for facilitation may be too much to expect because facilitators may unintentionally bias group outcomes, or because facilitators may have their own agendas. Acknowledgment, training, and standards for facilitators may prove useful ways for groups to retain the benefits of facilitation without incurring the costs of inappropriate facilitator influence. Implications are drawn for new research acknowledging the complexity of the GSS sociotechnical system, and the importance of sociotechnical facilitation in organizations.

Keywords: Electronic Meeting Systems; Facilitation; Group Support Systems; Groups; Power in Organizations; Sociotechnical Systems

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List of Topics

#296	0.303	collaboration support collaborative facilitation gss process processes technology group organizations engineering groupware facilitators use work tool address practitioners focused develop
#233	0.269	group gss support groups systems brainstorming research process electronic members results paper effects individual ebs using used anonymity ideas discussion
#127	0.108	systems information research theory implications practice discussed findings field paper practitioners role general important key grounded researchers domain new identified
#181	0.081	outcomes theory nature interaction theoretical paradox versus interpersonal literature provides individual levels understanding dimensions addition foundation various understand productivity work