Computer-mediated collaboration is an important feature of modern organisational and educational settings. Despite its ever increasing popularity, it is still commonly compared unfavourably with face-to-face collaboration because non-verbal and paralinguistic cues are minimal. Although research on face-to-face group collaboration is well documented, less is known about computer-mediated collaboration. The initial focus of this thesis was an in-depth analysis of a case study of a computer-mediated collaborative group. The case study was a large international group of volunteer researchers who collaborated on a two-year research project using asynchronous communication (email). This case study was a window on collaborative dialogue in the early 1990s (1992-94) at a time when information and communication technologies were at an early stage of development. After identifying the issues emerging from this early case study, another case study using technologies and virtual environments developed over the past decade, was designed to further understand how groups work together on a collaborative activity. The second case study was a small group of students enrolled in a unit of study at Murdoch University who collaborated on a series of nine online workshops using synchronous communication (chat room). This case study was a window on collaborative dialogue in the year 2000 when information and communication technologies had developed at a rate which few people envisioned in the early 90s. The primary aim of the research described in this thesis was to gain a better understanding of how computer-mediated collaborative communities develop and grow. In particular, the thesis addresses questions related to the developmental and leadership characteristics of collaborative groups. Internet research requires a set of assumptions relating to ontology, epistemology, human nature and methodological approach that differs from traditional research assumptions. A research framework for Internet research – Complementary Explorative Data Analysis (CEDA) – was therefore developed and applied to the two case studies. The results of the two case studies using the CEDA methodology indicate that computer-mediated collaborative groups are highly adaptive to the aim of the collaborative task to be completed, and the medium in which they collaborate. In the organisational setting, it has been found that virtual teams can devise and complete a collaborative task entirely online. It may be an advantage, but it is certainly not mandatory to have preliminary face-to-face discussions. What is more important is to ensure that time is allowed for an initial period of structuration which involves social interaction to develop a social presence and eventually cohesiveness. In the educational setting, a collaborative community increases pedagogical effectiveness. Providing collaborative projects and interdependent tasks promotes constructivist learning and a strong foundation for understanding how to collaborate in the global workplace. Again, this research has demonstrated that students can collaborate entirely online, although more pedagogical scaffolding may be required than in the organisational setting. The importance of initial social interaction to foster a sense of presence and community in a mediated environment has also been highlighted. This research also provided greater understanding of emergent leadership in computer-mediated collaborative groups. It was found that sheer volume of words does not make a leader but frequent messages with topic-related content does contribute to leadership qualities. The results described in this thesis have practical implications for managers of virtual teams and educators in e-learning.

The thesis which follows is, as the title suggests, a general study of the Right in Spain from the beginning of the Second Republic in April 1931 until the outbreak of the Civil War in July 1936. Pride of place has been given to the <u>CEDA</u> (and its antecedents <u>Acción Nacional</u> and <u>Acción Popular</u>) because this was the biggest and most important of the parties of the Right during the Republic. The terra 'Right' has been taken to signify those parties which did not proclaim themselves Republican, i.e. principally the Catholic CEDA, the Monarchist groups and the 'Fascist' <u>Falonge</u>. Consideration has also been given to two important institutions usually believed to be 'on the Right': the Church and the Army. Although some information on the Right has appeared in various books, no attempt at a comprehensive study has hitherto been made. Galindo Herrero's <u>Los partidos monárquicos bajo la aegunda República</u> (1936) deals inadequately with the Monarchist parties. Professor Payne'a study of the <u>Falange</u> does not satisfactorily place the movement in the context of the other Rightist movements with which it quarrelled or was from time to time connected. The same author's work on the Army (<u>Politics and the Military in Modern Spain</u>), was published just before this thesis went to the typist, as were the biographies of Franco by Crosier and Hills. Professor Sánchez's book on the Church and the Republic, <u>Reform and Reaction</u>, appeared in 1964, two years after work on this thesis began. Concentration on the <u>CEDA</u> in this thesis is felt by the writer to be fUlly justified, not only because of that party's size and importance for the history of the Republic, but also because it has hitherto been so neglected by historians. Only one book in any language deals with it - Monge Bernal's <u>Acción Popular</u> - and it is an 'authorized' history written by a party member at the end of 1935. Neglect of the party's history is perhaps attributable to the fact that its leaders were <u>personae non gratae</u> both to the Left and to the victors in the Civil War. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to try and provide a comprehensive study of the Right during the Republic. The thesis endeavours to explain why the various parties existed, to trace the development of each of them and to give an account of relations between them. The attitude of each to the Church and to the Army (and <u>vice versa</u>) is also discussed. An attempt is also made to examine and explain the policies, ideology and strength of each and, so far as is possible, to indicate socially and geographically whence came their supporters. The absence of adequate biographical information has however hindered a proper study of the economic interests represented by them. This thesis also constitutes an attempt to set the Right's activities firmly within the broader context of the history of the Republic and the events leading up to the Civil War. For this reason the chronological approach adopted would seem to be justified: the events of the years 1931-1936 in Spain are comparable in their complexity to those of, for example, the years 1789-1799 in France. Furthermore, the activities and development of the Right were to a considerable extent dictated by this kaleidoscopic sequence of events in which, by and large, the Left held the initiative.