Paradigm shifts in coordination theory

ACM Computing Surveys, 1994

This survey characterizes an emerging research area, sometimes called coordination theory , that focuses on the interdisciplinary study of coordination. Research in this area uses and extends ideas about coordination from disciplines such as computer science, organization theory, operations research, economics, linguistics, and psychology. A key insight of the framework presented here is that coordination can be seen as the process of managing dependencies among activities. Further progress, therefore, should be possible by characterizing different kinds of dependencies and identifying the coordination processes that can be used to manage them. A variety of processes are analyzed from this perspective, and commonalities across disciplines are identified. Processes analyzed include those for managing shared resources, producer/consumer relationships, simultaneity constraints , and task/subtask dependencies . Section 3 summarizes ways of applying a coordination perspective in three di...

JITTA : Journal of Information Technology Theory & Application,, 2016

In this paper, we suggest a new conceptualization of coordination in the information systems (IS) domain. The conceptualization builds on neurobiological predispositions for coordinating actions. We assume that human evolution has led to the development of a neurobiological substrate that enables individuals to coordinate everyday actions. At heart, we discuss six activity modalities: contextualization, objectivation, spatialization, temporalization, stabilization, and transition. Specifically, we discuss that these modalities need to collectively function for successful coordination. To illustrate as much, we apply our conceptualization to important IS research areas, including project management and interface design. Generally, our new conceptualization holds value for coordination research on all four levels of analysis that we identified based on reviewing the IS literature (i.e., group, intra-organization, inter-organization, and IT artifact). In this way, our new approach, grounded in neurobiological findings, provides a high-level theory to explain coordination success or coordination failure and, hence, is independent from a specific level of analysis. From a practitioner’s perspective, the conceptualization provides a guideline for designing organizational interventions and IT artifacts. Because social initiatives are essential in multiple IS domains (e.g., software development, implementation of enterprise systems) and because the design of collaborative software tools is an important IS topic, this paper contributes to a fundamental phenomenon in the IS domain and does so from a new conceptual perspective.

Annals of the International Communication Association, 2015

Center for Coordination Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 1991

This paper characterizes a new research area, called coordination theory, that focuses on the interdisciplinary study of coordination. Research in this area uses and extends ideas about coordination from disciplines such as computer science, organization theory, operations research, economics, linguistics, and psychology. In the framework presented here, coordination is analyzed in terms of actors performing interdependent activities that achieve goals. A variety of processes are analyzed from this perspective and commonalities across disciplines are identified. Processes analyzed include goal decomposition, resource allocation, synchronization, group decisionmaking, communication, and the perception of common objects. A major section of the paper summarizes recent applications of coordination theory in three different domains: (1) understanding the effects of information technology on human organizations and markets, (2) designing cooperative work tools, and (3) designing distributed and parallel processing computer systems. In the final section of the paper, elements of a research agenda in this new area are briefly outlined.

1988

The primary purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion about a research agenda for a newinterdisciplinary field. This field--the study of coordination--draws upon a variety of differentdisciplines including computer science, organization theory, management science, economics, andpsychology. Work in this new area will include developing a body of scientific theory, which we willcall "coordination theory," about how the activities of separate actors can be coordinated. Oneimportant use for coordination theory will be in developing and using computer and communicationsystems to help people coordinate their activities in new ways. We will call these systems"coordination technology."

2006

Coordination languages and models like Linda and Reo have been developed in computer science to coordinate the interaction among components and objects, and are nowadays used to model and analyze organizations too. Moreover, organizational concepts are used to enrich the existing coordination languages and models. We describe this research area of "organization and coordination" by presenting definitions, examples, and future research directions. We highlight two issues. First, we argue for a study of value-based rather than information-based coordination languages to model the coordination of autonomous agents and organizations. Second, we argue for a study of the balance between enforced control and trust-based anticipation to deal with security aspects in the coordination of organizations.

2005

This paper investigates organizational coordination and its relationship to computer-based information systems. As a basis for understanding organizational coordination and information system use, Mintzberg's well-known set of coordination mechanisms is used as a point of departure in this paper. The set of coordination mechanisms is evaluated by applying it in an interpretive case study of a house building firm and confronting the set of mechanisms with other theories of coordination. The result of the evaluation shows that the applied set of coordination mechanisms does not sufficiently cover important aspects of organizational coordination and information system use, such as more dynamic issues (e.g. coordination history, external influence, emergent processes, concurrency and variation, and communication). The set of coordination mechanisms is, however, more sufficient when it comes to understanding formal division of labour, stable organizational structures and roles, and planned coordination.

Partecipazione e Conflitto, 2015

Work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-Share alike 3.0 Italian License

Papeles del …, 2011

Journal of Information Technology, 1993

Organizational productivity can be maximized by creating, using and maintaining structural and dynamic configurations of multi-participant interaction. The technology provided to this end comprises a large variety of systems whose focus is on supporting cooperation of multiple interactive participants, rather that on enhancing the work of the individual. From recent research, however, it is evident that coordination technology is one of the least developed areas in this field, despite the increased need for supporting coordination of joint tasks. The present paper highlights a number of areas for consideration that arise when studying coordination within an organizational setting. The focus of the analysis is on two types of tasks: decision-making tasks and routine office processes. The paper argues that a number of (conflicting) options exist when developing the coordination aspects of group systems; they are classified across the following axes: specification and implementation of coordination; use of sychronous and asychronous working phases; information exchange and information sharing; support of sequential and concurrent processing; support of negotiation and conflict resolution; support of analytical modelling; and description of the organizational environment.