For the Information Science Student Association we hold regular meetings with the Executive Board to plan events for the rest of the organization. The goal of the meetings is to discuss each of the items listed on the agenda, distribute any work that needs to be done later and act on any action items that need to be completed during the meeting’s timeframe. Internally encoded representations are used to recall officer reports and brainstorm. External representations exist in archived emails, which contain announcements and conversations, OneNote from which I record the agenda and any to-do items, Google Calendar to which we schedule event times, dates and locations, and in any meeting notes taken by the secretary. All of the representations are used to reduce the mental load on members of the group. These representations are taken from internal (brainstorming, idea generation) to external representations in multiple technologies to complete the higher-level goal of planning events. Coordination within the group is easier because everybody has a sense of shared procedure and unified goals.
The task can be considered tightly coupled in many cases because meeting times are used to bounce ideas off of each other with a high level of interdependency. Face to face sessions are key in this phase because it is very hard to achieve the same level of efficiency through asynchronous communication; even synchronous CMC would be much less personal and would not be as effective. Before finalizing on action items for each person, the task uncertainty is also very high due to the complexity of event planning and changing requirements for every event that is planned (non routine). Once we have established the specific action items that need to be completed before the next meeting, the task uncertainty decreases and becomes more loosely coupled. Most communication occurs via email and there is less interdependence between board members.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
the ISSA is definitely a tightly coupled group. Without input and dedication from all of the members, the group would not exist. Also, I agree that its representations are both internal and external. The external representations such as email and reminders are extremely important to effectively communicate to the group. the internal representations are more important for the executive board. This is a great example of a tightly coupled, effective and spectacular group!!
ReplyDeleteAs a member of ISSA, I can attest to the fact that it is well organized and everyone always seems to be on track. I think the fact that the ISSA officers have so many different representations must be helpful. You mention internal representations, but also that there are sources such as email and OneNote that are more permanent. It is effective to internalize everything because it decreases recall time, but it is also helpful to have a backup. I think as a result of this mixed set of representations, it's easier to effectively organize and run a group.
ReplyDelete