Abstract
Coordinating activities in many settings can require people to manage conflict, potential and actual. Conflict arises from resource limitations, high-stakes consequences, uncertainty, goal conflict among stakeholders and hierarchical organizational structures. To understand coordination in such systems, we conducted a field study of management of surgical operating rooms. While coordinating interdependencies, such as progress monitoring, scheduling and rescheduling, and prodding, coordinators managed a set of complicated conflicts. They did so opportunistically, to resolve and to prevent conflict. Additionally, coordinators were concerned with perceived fairness. These findings indicate that, in the design of ICT to support coordination, we should examine not only the mechanical articulation of activities and efficient prioritization of resources, but also means to support companion social processes.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Aarts J, Doorewaard H, Berg M (2004) Understanding implementation: The case of a computerized physician order entry system in a large dutch university medical center. J Amer Medical Informatics Assoc 11:207–216
Baldwin FD (2003) Physician resistance arrests CPR system. Healthcare Informatics 34–36
Bannon L, Schmidt K (1991) CSCW: Four characters in search of a context. In: Bowers JM, Benford SD (eds) Studies in computer supported cooperative work: theory, practice, and design. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp 3–16
Plasters CL, Seagull FJ, Xiao Y (2003) Coordination challenges in operating-room management: an in-depth field study. Proceedings of the American Medical Informatics Association Symposium,Washington, DC, pp 524–528
Seagull FJ, Plasters CL, Xiao Y, Mackenzie CF (2003) Collaborative management of complex coordination information systems: operating room schedule coordination. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society 47th Annual Meeting. Denver, CO, pp 1521–1525
Strauss AL, Corbin JM (1990) Basics of qualitative eesearch: grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage: Newbury Park, CA
Strauss AL, Fagerhaugh S, Wiener C, Suzcek B (1984) Social organization of medical work. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Strum DP, May JH, Vargas LG (2000) Modeling the uncertainty of surgical procedure times: comparison of log-normal and normal models. Anesthesiology 92:1160–1167
Symon G, Long K, Ellis J (1996) The coordination of work activities: cooperation and conflict in a hospital context. Computer supported cooperative work. J Collaborative Computing (5):1–31
Xiao Y, Lasome C, Moss J, Mackenzie CF, Faraj S (2001) Cognitive properties of a whiteboard: a case study in a trauma centre. In: Prinz W, Jarke M, Rogers Y, Schmidt K, Wulf V (eds) Proceedings of the seventh European conference on computer-supported cooperative work. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Bonn, Germany, pp 259–278
Xiao Y, Seagull FJ, Emergent CSCW systems:The resolution and bandwidth of workplaces. Int J Medical Informatics (in press)
Acknowledgments
The study was funded in part by a grant from National Science Foundation (IIS-0325087). The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the funding agency. We thank the nurses, physicians, and technicians for their time and insights.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xiao, Y., Kiesler, S., Mackenzie, C.F. et al. Negotiation and conflict in large scale collaboration: a preliminary field study. Cogn Tech Work 9, 171–176 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-006-0052-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-006-0052-x