DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WORKSTATIONS AND KEYPAD GROUP SUPPORT SYSTEMS - IMPLICATIONS FOR KEYPAD GSS FACILITATORS

Organizations are successfully using group support systems (GSS) to im prove efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction in organizational me etings. Meeting success relies on making an appropriate match between group, task, and technology. This responsibility often falls to the me eting facilitator. This article draws upon GSS and facilitation litera ture to develop a framework for the discussion of effective facilitati on in workstation and keypad meeting environments. The article identif ies differences between the systems and how they impact upon the behav ior of the meeting facilitators and their choice of technology. Compen satory actions are proposed for keypad facilitators to address the lac k of key workstation features. Keypad strengths are also identified to show the opportunities available to facilitators to maximize the bene fits of using these GSS. Further, it is proposed that different types of GSS are not mutually exclusive and should be seen as complementary components of a suite of GSS tools designed to support organizational goals.