This is a 3-year standard award. Computer support for meeting scheduling is a focus of active research in several areas, including distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) and intelligent agents, software engineering, and information systems. It is also of very high applied interest. However, meeting scheduling is most significant in being one of the first desktop group support applications that is widely used in some organizations. The researchers will conduct empirical studies of the use of this group support technology in settings where existing technical infrastructures and organizational practices enable all employees, numbering hundreds or thousands, to fully participate in the use of a shared system. A deep understanding of successful practice will itself extend knowledge of organizational behavior in this new technological context, and it can also guide the research and application of technologies and approaches developed in the fields mentioned above. The researchers will conduct detailed interviews, longitudinal observational studies, and broad surveys to determine factors underlying the success of particular applications, adoption trajectory within organizations, and emergent behaviors including differences in successful use across settings. They will also explore the possibility of using this newly-emergent technology to better understand issues of coordination of work and technological impact within firms.
