Higher-order effects of groupware : a case of consequences of Lotus Notes

Companies are installing groupware to gain more efficiency. This article is based on a research done at a global leasing company to the high-order effects of groupware. The groupware was used by an international european team in the company developping a new database. The major effects of using the groupware were more responsibility for the employees because they had acces to much more information. Groupware supports the organizational change from a local oriented company to a global company. By creating a group memory and a problem/solution database better knowledge management and co-ordination was possible resulting in a higher quality of work. Because of the succes groupware is now installed throughout the whole company as a standard workplace environment.