GROUPWARE - Modern information managerial method

The notion groupware contents the information technologies that facilitate the team work and that are intended for communication, collaboration, coordination within the organization. Having as base software routines for teamwork, the groupware technology has many applications in the management process of the organization. The notion groupware refers to a special class of web packages connected to a network of personal computers: email, chat, video IP, newsgroups, etc. The studies from the literature consider the groupware as a class of software programs that facilitate the coordination, the communication and the cooperation within the member of a group. As in marketing the marketing-mix is known as the “4P”, in the area of groupware its characteristics are known as the “3C”: communication within the group; coordination among the members of the group; collaboration among the members of the group. From the groupware software those with relevance for the managerial activity are: electronic mail, Internet meetings, time management, project management, the management of dissimulated information. The groupware technologies can be divised in many categories based on two elements: time and space. The users of a groupware work together in the same time – real time groupware, or in various periods of time – offline groupware.