The characteristics of a group's task have been shown to account for more than half the variation in group interaction. In the context of group support systems (GSS), the importance of task has been underscored by the recommendation that achieving a fit between task and technology should be a principle for effective GSS use. Although the body of group support systems research has grown in recent years, and experience with different tasks and technologies now exists, no generally accepted theory of task/technology fit has emerged. This paper develops a theory of task/technology fit in GSS environments based on attributes 'Robert Zmud was the accepting senior editor for this paper. GSS Task/Technology Fit of task complexity and their relationship to relevant dimensions of GSS technology. Propositions to guide further research are developed from the theory.

It is nowadays generally agreed that a person's information seeking depends on her tasks and the problems encountered in performing them. The relationships of broad job types and information seeking characteristics have been analyzed both conceptually and empirically, mostly through questionnaires after task performance rather than during task performance. In this article, the relationships of task complexity, necessary information types, information channels and sources are analyzed at the task level on the basis of a qualitative investigation. Tasks were categorized in five complexity classes and information into problem information, domain information and problem solving information. Moreover, several classifications of information channels and sources were utilized. The data were collected in a public administration setting through diaries, which were written during task performance, and questionnaires. The findings were structured into work charts for each task and summarized in qualitative process description tables for each task complexity category. Quantitative indices further summarizing the results were also computed. The findings indicate systematic and logical relationships between task complexity, types of information, information channels and sources.

this paper. MISQ Review articles survey, conceptualize, and synthesize prior MIS research and set directions for future research. For more details see http://www.misq.org/misreview/announce.html The associated web site for this paper is located at http://misq.org/misreview/teeni.shtml communication to a view that assesses the balance between medium and message form. There is also a need to look more closely at the process of communication in order to identify more precisely any potential areas of computer support

Software maintenance claims a large proportion of organizational resources. It is thought that many maintenance problems derive from inadequate software design and development practices. Poor design choices can result in complex software that is costly to support and difficult to change. However, it is difficult to assess the actual maintenance performance effects of software development practices because their impact is realized over the software life cycle. To estimate the impact of development activities in a more practical time frame, this research develops a two-stage model in which software complexity is a key intermediate variable that links design and development decisions to their downstream effects on software maintenance. The research analyzes data collected from a national mass merchandising retailer on 29 software enhancement projects and 23 software applications in a large IBM COBOL environment. Results indicate that the use of a code generator in development is associated with increased software complexity and software enhancement project effort. The use of packaged software is associated with decreased software complexity and software enhancement effort. These results suggest an important link between software development practices and maintenance performance.

Unexpected interruptions introduced during the execution phase of simple Tower of London problems incurred a time cost when the interrupted goal was retrieved, and this cost was exacerbated the longer the goal was suspended. Furthermore, time taken to retrieve goals was greater following a more complex interruption, indicating that processing limitations may be as important as time-based limitations in determining the ease of goal retrieval. Such findings cannot simply be attributed to task-switching costs and are evaluated in relation to current models of goal memory (E. M. Altmann & G. J. Trafton, 2002; J. R. Anderson & S. Douglass, 2001), which provide a useful basis for the investigation and interpretation of interruption effects.

doi 10.1287/orsc.1070.0297

Computer operating systems, and now websites that serve as application platforms, are increasingly adopting stricter application security models; they restrict the resources applications can access to those authorized by the user. Users are asked to authorize access to these resources either when the application is installed or when previously-unauthorized resources are required. For example, Facebook requires its 400+ million users to make authorization decisions whenever an application first tries to run within a user’s account. The Android mobile phone OS requires its millions of users to make application authorization decisions when downloading new applications. While the security of these users ’ systems and data increasingly rests on their ability to make these authorization decisions, there is little research to guide those

Computational models of attention can be used as a component of decision support systems. For accurate support, a computational model of attention has to be valid and robust. The effects of task performance and task complexity on the validity of three different computational models of attention were investigated in an experiment. The gaze-based model uses gaze behavior to determine where the subject’s attention is, the task-based model uses information about the task and the combined model uses both gaze behavior and task information. While performing a tactical compilation task, participants had to indicate to what set of objects their attention was allocated. The indications of the participants were compared with the estimations of the three models. The results show that overall, the estimation of the combined model was better than that of the other two models. Contrary to what was expected, the performance of the models was not different for good and bad performers and was not different for a simple and complex scenario. The difference in complexity and performance might not have been strong enough. Further research is needed to determine if improvement of the combined model is possible with additional features and if computational models of attention can effectively be used in decision support systems. This can be done using a similar validation methodology as presented in this paper.

The World Wide Web has become the medium of choice for the distribution and use of information by individuals, teams, organizations, and communities. Web sites—the collection of web pages that make up the World Wide Web—are the fundamental means by which that information is retrieved and distributed. Understanding the factors that impact the complexity of a web site is a key step toward effective retrieval and distribution of information and its ultimate use in collaborative activity. This paper proposes three major dimensions of factors that impact the complexity of a web site: (1) cognition, (2) content, and (3) form. These three dimensions and their associated factors comprise how individuals perceive a web site, the content that is located at the site, and the manner in which the web site is constructed. A model and associated propositions are presented, and implications of this approach for research and practice are discussed. This multidimensional view of web site complexity provides a richer approach to understanding how complexity might be examined and, ultimately, reduced. This paper relates to collaborative work through individuals and their interaction with a web site. This interaction is, in fact, a communication between the individual using a web site and an individual, group, or organization responsible for the design of the web site. Additionally, the individual perspective is a necessary starting point for collaborative use between and among people.

This paper describes a model for analysing medical decision making tasks and evaluation of their suitability for automation. The overall approach focuses on the assessment of decision complexity and possible reduction of human effort by automated decision support. The approach consists of five subsequent steps: (1) selection of the domain and relevant tasks; (2) evaluation of the knowledge complexity for tasks selected; (3) selection of potentially most cognifively demanding task; (4) assessment of unaided and aided effort requirements for this task accomplishment; and (5) selection of computational tools to achieve this complexity reduction. The model described allows for task automation without lowering of decision quality.