Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization [Paperback]

Lee Sproull (Author), Sara Kiesler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1992

Computer networking is changing the way people work and the way organizations function. Connections is an accessible guide to the promise and the pitfalls of this latest phase of the computer revolution.Lee Sproull is Professor of Management at Boston University. Sara Kiesler is Professor of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lee Sproull and Sara Kiesler examine change with an unusually discerning eye and a critical intelligence that tolerates ambiguity and conditions its claims.... In their balanced and insightful analysis, the authors urge us to understand that technologies may deliberately be used to reinforce a clear chain of command, to structure and even block pathways of information exchange, to suppress 'extracurricular' use of the system, and to improve security through surveillance.... Sproull and Kiesler raise crucial questions about our technical and particularly our human strategies as a producing society." Howard Webber, Sloan Management Review

About the Author

Sara Kiesler is Professor of Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. She has been elected into the CHI Academy by The Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI) in recognition of her outstanding leadership and service in the field of computer-human interaction.

Lee Sproull holds the Leonard N. Stern School Professorship of Business at the Stern School, New York University, and is currently Vice-Dean of the Faculty.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (September 8, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262691582
• ISBN-13: 978-0262691581
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,362,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technologically interesting, May 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization (Paperback)

This book is based on extensive studies of the effects of computer-based communication technology - e-mail, distribution lists, bulletin boards, and computer conferences - through field research as well as social and psychological experiments. Sproull and Kiesler, both I believe trained as experimental social psychologists, believe that computer-based communication is radically changing the ways people interact with one another, much like nineteenth century communications technologies as the telephone, typewriter, and railroad transformed social and business lifestyles. With new computer-based communications, the authors argue, organizations are becoming more flexible and fluid, people increasingly think of themselves as part of the larger organization as opposed to mere members of a single department, and managers are working more democratically with employees.

The early work of this book was basic research on groups, especially on the topics of group dynamics, communication, and decision making. When Reagan was elected president, Kiesler had just come to C.M.U. and the N.S.F. held up her grant on standards setting groups. So, for fun, she began to explore computer networks, the experiments of which "revealed many interesting phenomena, which we eventually wrote about in books and articles--on flaming, electronic group dynamics, changes in decision making and employee participation, and new kinds of teamwork." Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization, summarizes that research.

2.0 out of 5 stars Book about email from 1991, December 5, 2008

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Jackal (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization (Paperback)

This book deals with email communications. The book was written in 1991 so the content is dated.

The book is written by academics but probably for a somewhat wider audience. Almost 20 years later this book is not worth reading for a manager and probably not worth reading for an academic.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT use this seller: Gary LAGER, February 2, 2011

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This review is from: Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization (Paperback)

DO NOT, NOT buy anything from Gary Lager. He will not fill your order quickly, if at all, nor will he contact you when you try to reach him.
He has not bothered to fill this order for nearly 2 weeks and he refuses to respond to any emails.
DO NOT USE THIS SELLER.