Chapter 2

Question 1

cooperation

Answer 1

a group of people working together, all doing essentially the same type of work, to accomplish a job.

Question 2

collaboration

Answer 2

a group of people working together to achieve a common goal via a process of feedback and iteration.

Question 3

structured decision

Answer 3

process for which there is an understood and accepted method for making the decision.

Question 4

unstructured decision

Answer 4

process for which there is no agreed-on decision-making method.

Question 5

problem

Answer 5

a perceived difference between what is and what ought to be.

Question 6

collaboration information system (collaboration system)

Answer 6

an information system that supports collaboration.

Question 7

project data

Answer 7

data that is part of the collaboration’s work product. E.g. for a team designing a new product: design documents.

Question 8

project metadata

Answer 8

data used to manage the project. E.g. schedules, tasks, budgets, and other managerial data.

Question 9

synchronous communication

Answer 9

occurs when all team members meet at the same time, such as with conference calls or face-to-face meetings.

Question 10

asynchronous communication

Answer 10

occurs when team members do not meet at the same time.

Question 11

virtual meetings

Answer 11

participants do not meet in the same place and possibly not at the same time.

Question 12

screen-sharing applications

Answer 12

enable users to view the same whiteboard, application, or other display.

Question 13

webinar

Answer 13

a virtual meeting in which attendees view one of the attendees’ computer screens for a more formal and organized presentation.

Question 14

videoconferencing

Answer 14

E.g. Google Hangouts, WebEx, Skype for Business. More intrusive than text chat, but has a more personal touch.

Question 15

email

Answer 15

asynchonous. too much freedom. easy to hide and not respond.

Question 16

discussion forums

Answer 16

an alternative to email. one group member posts an entry, perhaps an idea, comment, or a question, and other group members respond. harder for the discussion to get off track but remains easy for members to not participate.

Question 17

team surveys

Answer 17

another form of communication technology. One team member creates a list of questions and other team members respond. Effective way to obtain team opinions; generally easy to complete, so most will participate. easy to determine who hasn’t responded.

Question 18

file server

Answer 18

simply a computer that stores files,,, just like the disk in your local computer.

Question 19

version management

Answer 19

track changes to documents and provide features and functions to accomodate concurrent work. Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft SharePoint.

Question 20

Google Drive

Answer 20

a free service that provides a virtual drive in the cloud into which you can create folders and store files.

Question 21

version control

Answer 21

the process that occurs when the collaboration tool limits, and sometimes even directs, user activity.

• user activity
• document checkout
• version histories
• workflow control

Question 22

workflow control

Answer 22

collaboration tools that manage activities in a predefined process.

Question 23

operational decisions

Answer 23

those that support operational, day-to-day activities.

Question 24

managerial decisions

Answer 24

decisions about the allocation and utilization of resources.

Question 25

libraries

Answer 25

shared documents that are placed into shared directories.

Question 26

power curve

Answer 26

a graph that shows the relationship of the power (the utility that one gains from a software product) as a function of the time using that product. A flat line means you are investing time without any increase in power. The ideal power curve starts at a positive value at time zero and has no flat spots.