Cooperative Work Practices Research Articles

INTEGRATİON OF ARTİFİCİAL INTELLİGENCE (AI) İN TASK MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into task management systems has become a disruptive force in today's fast-paced work environments, changing how teams plan, prioritize, and complete tasks. This trend is best illustrated by platforms such as Trello, Monday.com, and Asana, which use AI technology to streamline project workflows, automate tedious chores, and offer insightful recommendations. These systems enable users to improve decision-making, expedite procedures, and increase productivity using AI-driven capabilities like predictive analytics, automated task assignment, and smart suggestions. Through the utilization of natural language processing (NLP) and data visualization tools, these systems facilitate data-driven insights, preemptive risk management, and intuitive interaction. The incorporation of AI in task management signifies a paradigm change towards more intelligent, cooperative work practices, as companies depend more and more on AI to enhance human talents and boost productivity. This article addresses the consequences of this technological advancement for the nature of work in the future, presents real-world examples of AI-powered features in popular platforms, and examines the many advantages of integrating AI into task management. Keywords: task management, artificial intelligence, task management systems, integration of AI, automated task assignment, Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Work-integrated learning in managers’ cooperative work practices

Purpose This paper aims to focus on academic library managers’ learning practices in the context of cooperative work supported by computational artefacts. Academic library managers’ everyday work is mainly cooperative. Their cooperation is supported predominantly by computational artefacts. Learning how to use the computational artefacts efficiently and effectively involves understanding the changes in everyday work that affect managers and, therefore, it requires deep understanding of their cooperative work practices. Design/methodology/approach Focused ethnography was conducted through participant observations, interviews and document analysis. Ten managers from a university library in Sweden participated in the research. A thematic method was used to analyse the empirical material. Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and work-integrated learning was used as the conceptual lens. Findings Five learning practices were identified: collaboration, communication, coordination, decision-making processes and computational artefacts’ use. The findings show that learning is embedded in managers’ cooperative work practices, which do not necessarily include sufficient training time. Furthermore, learning was intertwined with cooperating and was situational. Managers learned by reflecting together on their own experiences and through joint cooperation and information sharing while using the computational artefacts. Originality/value The main contribution lies in providing insights into how academic library managers learn and cooperate in their everyday work, emphasizing the role of computational artefacts, the importance of the work context and the collective nature of learning. It also highlights the need for continual workplace learning in contemporary knowledge work environments. Thus, the research generates contributions to the informatics field by extending the understanding of managers’ work-integrated learning in their everyday cooperative work practices supported by computational artefacts’ use. It also contributes to the intersection of CSCW and work-integrated learning.

Emotional Labour in Magazine Work

This ethnographic research concerns the management of emotions in the editorial offices of the Finnish fashion-oriented lifestyle magazines, Elle Finland and Trendi. The material was collected through focused interviews and participant observation in editorial shoots. The analysis focuses on the informants’ ways of acting in the editorial shoots and their experiences in their work and the role of emotions in content production and co-operative work practices. The study demonstrates that emotional labour is required in production of content that is aimed to move, please or surprise the model reader and through her, the actual readers of the magazine. The members of the photography team are inclined to suppress feelings of anxiety and at the same time support and encourage other team members and the photographed subject. Emotional labour maintains stability in a tightly scheduled and goal-oriented teamwork, and enables team members to attune to the intimate and convivial atmosphere. The study also gives evidence about cruel optimism as it points out how magazine staff adjust to the uncertainty of the magazine field and the increased personal workload by invoking in themselves feelings of enjoyment and suppressing feelings of strain.

Reading between the lines: exploring methods for analysing professional examiner feedback discourse

ABSTRACTThis paper uses the remote interactions of professional examiners working for a UK-based awarding body as a vehicle for discussing the benefits of the use of different methods for analysing such discourse. Communication is an area of interest for sociocultural theory because it can potentiate cognitive shifts in participants and affords learning. In the professional examiner context the feedback given to examiners by more senior colleagues on their performance is a mechanism through which the examiners ensure that their work articulates [Schmidt 2011. “Taking CSCW Seriously: Supporting Articulation Work.” In Cooperative Work and Coordinative Practices, 45–72. Computer Supported Cooperative Work. London: Springer]. Moreover, this communication has a learning function that helps examiners to become members of the professional community. The study captures feedback interaction data from 21 examiners. Once the study context is outlined, the paper briefly discusses three different approaches that have been widely used to analyse communication data. The paper then goes on to propose, using case study analyses of some of the study data, how these methods can be used to augment each other as part of a general sociocultural discourse analysis framework to construct a broad picture of communication.

Challenging the CSCW matrix: a rough draft of a new conceptualisation of collaborative practices in learning environments

This paper challenges traditional dichotomies that identify temporal and spatial restrains as relevant defining properties of learning environments. We present a critique of the current dominant computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) taxonomy. Although we believe that the taxonomy does provide useful information, we question whether the axis of time and space comprising the matrix pertains to relevant defining properties of the tools, technology or learning environments to which they are applied. Subsequently, we offer an example of an Adobe Connect e-learning session as an illustration of a different approach to learning situations based on the idea that tools, technology and learning environments are media through which participants simultaneously acquire proficiency to articulate and gain a perspective in order to decode what is going on. To effectively interact online, we contend that both teachers and students are required to modify and adapt their ‘perception abilities’ and ‘enacting strategies’ to appropriate a technology-mediated environment for learning purposes. The analysis illustrates the claim that particular collaborative or cooperative work practices attempt to appropriate tools, technologies and complete learning environments to accomplish their goals. From this different approach, we draw a tentative taxonomy of collaborative practices that allows appropriated media to be categorised relative to their use rather than their properties. The contention is that collaborative practices are an appropriate unit of analysis and that categories of such practices can be established by an axis of articulation work and an axis of the codification needed to express and coordinate knowledge and work efforts.

Book Review

Book Review: Cooperative Work and Coordinative Practices : Contributions to the Conceptual Foundations of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Kjeld Schmidt

The Trouble with ‘Tacit Knowledge’

The development and maintenance of organized cooperative work practices require, as an integral feature, what can loosely be termed `didactic practices' or `mutual learning' (giving and receiving instruction, advice, direction, guidance, recommendation, etc.). However, such didactic practices have not been investigated systematically in CSCW. Michael Polanyi's notion of `tacit knowledge' vs. `explicit knowledge', which plays a key role in the area of Knowledge Management, would seem to offer an obvious framework for investigating didactic practices in CSCW. But as argued in this article, the notion of `tacit knowledge' is a conceptual muddle that mystifies the very concept of practical knowledge. The article examines the historical context in which the notion of `tacit knowledge' was devised, the purpose for which it was formulated, its original articulation, and the perplexing ways in which it has been appropriated in Knowledge Management. In an attempt to gain firm ground for our research, the article towards the end offers a general analysis of the concept of `knowledge', informed by the work of Gilbert Ryle and Alan White. Overall, the article argues that a framework based on the notion of `tacit knowledge', or on similar conceptions devoted to categorizations of kinds of knowledge, impairs the for CSCW essential focus on actual work practices: instead of focusing on forms of symbolism, what is required is to focus on uncovering the logics of actual didactic practices in cooperative work.

From Seniority to Performance Principle: The Evolution of Pay Practices in Japanese Firms since the 1990s

After the burst of the bubble economy at the beginning of the 1990s, pay practices in Japanese companies have undergone significant changes that are characterised by a shift towards performance-based pay. The purpose of this article is to take account of these changes through an analysis of key research and survey results, to discuss the degree of success of the new systems and to examine some important interdependencies with changes in corporate governance and labour legislation. The success of the evolving systems in terms of increased efficiency and effectiveness remains contested, while many companies are still adjusting their understanding of performance and their assessment procedures so as to not negatively impact employees’ motivation and cooperative work practices. While the influence of corporate governance on pay systems remains limited, recent changes in labour legislation are likely to strengthen the reliance on performance-oriented pay in the future.

Family Involvement and Helping Behavior in Teams

Helping behavior at work has become increasingly important, with organizations making more and more use of cooperative work practices. The difficulty is that employees are facing growing demands beyond the workplace. This study investigates the mechanisms by which family involvement (family structure, family tasks, family support) affects helping behavior in teams. Based on a sample of 495 team members, the results show that having a supportive partner and performing care tasks increase helping behavior via enhanced fulfillment and skills. Having young children is directly and negatively related to helping behavior. The authors also conducted separate analyses for men and women.

Co-operative work practices and knowledge sharing issues: A comparison of viewpoints

In this paper, we set out to explore the organisational knowledge that evolves from virtual co-operative work experiences. Through case narratives we demonstrate issues that can arise and using the four theoretical viewpoints of sociotechnology, knowledge management, organisational communication theory, and Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) we develop practical insights into the organisational complexity of computer-supported and virtual teamwork. This complexity, we argue, requires a novel combination of work design factors including participation-related design and computer-supported tools. The outcome is improved communication and a fuller application of organisational knowledge that enhances the design and operation of co-operative work.

Increasing Workplace Independence for People with Cognitive Disabilities by Leveraging Distributed Cognition among Caregivers and Clients

This paper describes a group configuration that is currently employed to support the everyday living and working activities of people with cognitive disabilities. A client receiving face-to-face, often one-to-one, assistance from a dedicated human job coach is characteristic of this "traditional" configuration. We compare it with other group configurations that are used in cooperative and distributed work practices and propose an alternative configuration titled active distributed support system. In so doing, we highlight requirements that are unique to task support for people with cognitive disabilities. In particular, we assert that the knowledge of how to perform such activities is shared not only among people, but also between people and artifacts. There is a great potential for innovative uses of ubiquitous and mobile technologies to support these activities. A survey of technologies that have been developed to provide these individuals with greater levels of independence is then presented. These endeavors often attempt to replace human job coaches with computational cognitive aids. We discuss some limitations of such approaches and present a model and prototype that extends the computational job coach by incorporating human caregivers in a distributed one-to-many support system.

Increasing workplace independence for people with cognitive disabilities by leveraging distributed cognition among caregivers and clients[11] (abstract only)

In this paper we describe a current group configuration that is used to support people with cognitive disabilities (hereinafter referred to as "clients") in the workplace. A client receiving face-to-face, often one-to-one assistance from a dedicated human job coach is characteristic of this "traditional" model. We compare this traditional model with other group configurations that are used in cooperative and distributed work practices. In so doing, we highlight requirements that are unique to task support for people with cognitive disabilities. A survey of technologies that have been developed to provide clients with greater levels of independence is then presented. These endeavors often attempt to replace human job coaches with computational cognitive aids. We discuss some limitations of such approaches and then present a model and prototype that extends the computational job coach by incorporating human caregivers in a distributed one-to-many support system.

Health information systems challenges: the Heidelberg conference and the future

Objectives: To present a summary of the state of the art in Health Information Systems (HIS), as discussed during the Heidelberg HIS Working Group Conference, and to examine possible strategies for continuous improvement of the field. Methods: The state of the art in HIS is briefly described, and the historical trends are examined that emerge from a review of the previous HIS Working Group conferences. To extrapolate from those trends and suggest possible new directions, we consider whether perceived difficulties in the diffusion of HIS systems are simply a product of technological factors, or whether fundamental social factors have been ignored. Results: The experience with HIS environments is ‘reasonably good’ but not excellent, and true HIS success stories are not common. One of the apparent difficulties is that the typical HIS does not regard communication among clinical users as its core mission, even though repeated studies of information needs and practice patterns show that communication is the leading cost in today's health care environment. It is suggested that progress in the HIS arena will benefit from increased emphasis on the social aspects of health care, and better integration of diverse data to promote the organizational communication and workflow. Improvements could also come from a change to a highly participatory and evolutionary software engineering process, focusing on communication behavior and co-operative work practices. Conclusions: Future HIS development should view provider-provider and provider-patient communication as a core function, and incorporate features such as seamless support and tracking of communication, automatic gathering and presentation of data from multiple sources, data collection in atomic units by the most qualified provider, and integrated management, resource utilization, and tracking. The steps towards HIS that support these features might be smaller than generally suspected, once the appropriate changes in the reference point have been made.