The Australian business environment has been changing at an ever-increasing pace
since the mid-1980s. Technological, economic and social changes have altered the
working environment. There have been constant technological advances with
information technology influencing most categories of work. Organisations in public
and private sectors have ongoing expectations of increased productivity, increased
quality of processes and swifter responsiveness to clients. Team roles have changed.
Team members are multi-skilled and work is designed to emphasise the whole task.
The Karpin Industry Task Force described a vision for an Australian business
environment that would, by 2014, be one with a flexible, skilled and motivated
workforce, world class managers, a customer comes first mentality, and an
internationally competitive perspective. These characteristics are congruent with
those of learning organisations.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the suitability of groupware as the supporting
infrastructure for a learning organisation. To do this, the study assesses the use of
technology to support personal and team learning in a learning organisation, studies
the impact of groupware on learning within workgroups, determines the extent to
which communication and learning styles influence its effectiveness, and identifies
ways in which groupware can be used to capture the information used to support
knowledge management in an organisation. Two case studies are used to undertake
this assessment.
Three distinct yet related frameworks underpin this study. The first is that of
Groupware and the related research frameworks of Computer Supported Cooperative
Work (CSCW) and Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). The
second is the Learning Organisation and its supporting disciplines. The final
framework is that of learning and the action-oriented learning processes. Each is
examined and the interrelatedness of the frameworks is explored.
The journey to produce this written material has been one of twists and turns, blind
alleys and blinding revelations, observation and reflection. My choice of techniques
has been eclectic, reflecting the breadth of theoretical material covered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218724 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Pitt, Christine Ann, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Information Sciences & Engineering |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Christine Ann Pitt |
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