Agents can rely on the patterns in the world to make their problem solving more efficient. When working with others, agents can also rely on patterns -- patterns for communication and group behavior. We discuss how these patterns may be captured in schemas. We present two types of schemas: procedural schemas which suggest a course of action for a specific situation, and contextual schemas which contain knowledge about specific kinds of problem solving. Both of these types of schemas affect an agent's ability to solve problems and communicate. Both types of schemas also guide the coordination of the groups working together to solve problems. In this paper, we focus particularly on the ways in which a schema-based approach can help agents to work together by integrating their individual problem solving with the constraints of coordinated behavior. Cooperative distributed problem solving (CDPS) (Durfee et al ., 1989) allows artificial intelligence systems to reap the benefits of teamwor...

Abstract- The purpose of this paper is to examine the contributions that male and female engineering students make to the engineering design team process. This project uses Eberhardt's team functions as an observational protocol to examine the team process as it occurs in the Engineering Practices Introductory Course Sequence at the Colorado School of Mines. Design (EPICS) consists of the first two courses in Engineering Design and provides an ideal setting in which to examine the influence of gender on the team process.

A century of research on small groups has yielded bountiful findings about many specific features and processes in groups. Much of that work, in line with a positivist epistemology that emphasizes control and precision and favors the laboratory experiment over other data collection strategies, has also tended to treat groups as though they were simple, isolated, static entities. Recent research trends that treat groups as complex, adaptive, dynamic systems open up new approaches to studying groups. In line with those trends, a theory of groups as complex systems is offered and some methodological and conceptual issues raised by this theory are identified. A 3-pronged research strategy based on theory development, computational modeling, and empirical research that holds promise for illuminating the dynamic processes underlying the emergence of complexity and the ongoing balance of continuity and change in groups is proposed. As the 20th century ends and the 21st begins, we look back on a century of research on groups, take stock of where the accumulated work of the century

Some prior media research has questioned the ability of electronic media to support relationships. This could be a serious impediment to distributed work. However other research indicates that we have few close personal relationships in our ltfe outside work. This study describes a series of questionnaires in which we extended research on relational depth to work. We3nd, as expected, that,jew working relationships are closely personal. Thus, even tfmedia are inadequate in their ability to support close relationships, this may not be a serious concern in real organizations. We view this study as a small step in a long term program to study work re1ationship.s and media.

This study tested three models of group interaction for their ability to discriminate between groups that reach consensus and those that do not. Fifteen mock juries (seven hung and eight conviction) constituted the sample. Model 1, a “functional action model, ” successfully discriminated between consensus and hung juries based on the relative number of simple disagreements. Model 2, an “interact pattern model, ” successfully discriminated between consensus and hung juries based on the sequential redundancy of interaction patterns that perpetuate or resolve ambiguity, that digress from the work at hand, and that clarify or resolve conflict. Model 3, Fisher’s four phases of development, failed to discriminate between consensus and hung juries. Researchers studying small group decision making have a clear mandate to investigate relationships between the structure of social interaction and group performance outcomes. A growing body of research evidence demonstrates that both the processual forms and the thematic content of group communication explain a significant proportion of variance in models linking individual and group-level

We conducted an in-depth, micro-level process analysis of 36 experimental groups working on a decision-making task in either desktop videoconferencing, audio conferencing or face-to-face environments. Using the framework of Giddens ’ structuration theory, we observed social structures producing behaviors and social structures reproducing behaviors that participants exhibited during the experimental task and then examined how these behaviors are related to their perceptions of media. Our study found that both ad hoc and established groups spent about 40 % of their time performing structuring behaviors. We also found that members of established groups exhibited more social structures reproducing behaviors and less social structures producing behaviors than members of ad hoc groups. Members ’ structuring behaviors directly influence their perceptions of media. Our results suggest that future research on teams communicating via electronic media should focus more on group behaviors than on environmental variables such as media condition or group history. Keywords: Computer-mediated communication, structuration theory, process analysis.

this paper were written while the second author was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. We are grateful for the financial support provided by the National Science Foundation (BNS87-00864 and SES88-15566), the Russell Sage Foundation, and the University of Illinois. We are also grateful to Greg Oldham and two anonymous reviewers for many constructive comments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Academy of Management meetings, Miami, Florida, August 1991. Reprint requests should be addressed to J. Keith Murnighan, Faculty of Commerce, University of British Columbia, 2053 Main Mall, Vancouver BC, CANADA V6T IZ2

This paper investigates the interactions of high and low performing distributed student teams using a set of categories to examine their written communication. The teams were involved in a software development project involving two universities located in different countries. This study tracks the progression and changes in the categories coded for each team's communication throughout the project's time line to determine characteristics of high and low performing teams.

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Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC) is fast becoming a big part of our daily lives. More and more people are increasingly using the computer to communicate and interact with each other. The internet and its advantages of connectivity, enable CMC to be used from a plethora of applications. Most common uses of CMC include email communication, discussion forums as well as real time chat rooms and audio/video conferencing. By communicating through computers and over the internet, online communities emerge. Discussion boards and other CMC applications offer a huge amount of information and the analysis of this data assists in understanding these online communities and the social networks that form around them. There have been various frameworks by different researchers aimed at analyzing CMC. This paper’s main objective is to provide a complete overview of the models and frameworks available that are being used for analyzing CMC in e-Learning environments. The significance of the proposed presentation is that it aims to provide the reader with upto-date information regarding these methods. Advantages and disadvantages of each of the CMC analysis methods are presented and suggestions for future research directions are made. Finally, these suggestions are applied to characteristic scenario in e-Learning. 1