Computer Supported Collaborative Environmental Scanning: Diagnostic Framework and Its Application for a Tunisian Case Study

The case study describes how the team members of a Tunisian Environmental Scanning Agriculture Observatory dealt with new ways of communicating introduced by technology. An inter-organizational computer supported collaborative work (CSCW) platform was implemented within the agriculture observatory to ameliorate the communication of information and knowledge between the stakeholders. Our study aims to determine what contextual conditions could impede the adoption of the new ways of communicating and sharing knowledge. A diagnostic tool was designed and used to assess the impact of culture, structure and top management attitude, as contextual conditions, on the achievement of the collaborative environmental scanning and knowledge exchange activity. To understand the dynamic between these variables and their interplay during the implementation phases of the CSCW, we conducted a longitudinal study. The results could assist managers at the organizational level; indeed they will be able to avoid failures and to better support the process of organizational change.