Facilitation, systems, and users: the complete socio-technical system

Examines facilitator, group member and system roles as a complete socio-technical system. Each of these three components of the socio-technical system is discussed in terms of the roles that they play within the context of a group meeting. This research draws from previous work on "group roles" to define how these roles interact to accomplish effective group performance. The development of a concept called the "co-facilitator", being composed of both human and information technology components, is established as perspective for future system development. Finally, the design of a study in progress is discussed, the intent of which is to explore the roles that each component of the socio-technical system play within the context of longitudinal work groups.<>