Information technology for enhancing team problem solving and decision making

Fueled by a combination of decreasing costs and increasing capabilities, information technology (IT) has penetrated almost every successful workplace. Organizations have long focused on supporting the individual needs of their workers by offering applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and database systems. However, with the advent of cost-effective communication technologies and ubiquitous Internet access, workplaces have become connected. As a result, the use of IT has shifted over the past 20 years from supporting pure computation activities toward coordination and collaboration activities within and between organizations. IT has become the essential vehicle for mediating interpersonal and group communication. As such, the nature and appearance of IT have changed accordingly. Information systems have taken the shape of socio-technical networks that are designed specifically to make information workers more effective at their jobs by means of making problem-solving and decision-making tasks more collaborative.