Sarmento A. (ed.) Issues of Human Computer Interaction

IRM Press, 2005. — 395 p.Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has its roots in the main areas of industrial engineering, human factors and cognitive psychology with the focus on the development of user-friendly IT. Traditionally, the research in this area has emphasised the technological aspect of this relationship (the Computer). More recently, other aspects concerning the organizational, social and human context also began to be considered (the Human). Today, one can say that any attempt to facilitate the relationship between the machine and the user must consider not only the technological perspective (e.g., promote the usability) but also, for instance, the way the user is going to use the technology and his or her purpose as well as the social and cultural context of this use (the Human and the Computer).
Another issue that should be considered in this interaction is the impact that information systems/technology may have on humans and organizations. There is general consensus that the adoption of any IT/IS brings change. Furthermore, IT/IS and organizations have a mutual influence on each other, meaning that this technology affects organizations and that organizations necessarily affect, for instance, the design, the choice and the management of those systems. The adoption of an IT/IS is, thus, mediated by factors that will influence the interaction between the sectors involved. It is also generally agreed that the adoption of a certain IS by different organizations does not give rise to the same changes; that is, the same technology might engender different impacts and these differences are due not to the characteristics of the technology itself, but to the characteristics of the context and the relationships that are established among all the factors involved.
It is already possible to find in the literature some models to help to assess the impact of the adoption of the technology. One could summarize all the contributions of these models by saying that the factors that should be considered in this process are (Sarmento, 2002, 2003): (1) Technological factors, including the characteristics of the technology that is going to be adopted and the technology already existing in the organization; (2) Structural factors, including the organizational design, the complexity, the number of hierarchical levels, the number of departments, the centralization or decentralization of power and decision making, the coordination of tasks, the formalization of procedures, the design of tasks and jobs and the degree of specialization; (3) Social and individual factors, including the multidisciplinary work teams, their distribution in time and space, their education, training, work satisfaction, skills and individual characteristics; (4) Political factors, including who decides on the kind of technology to adopt, its design and implementation, who is going to use it, its purposes and objectives; and (5) Cultural factors, norms, rules, reaction to change and organizational learning capacity.
These factors cannot be analysed in isolation as they interact with each other, influencing the effects of the adoption and use of the new IT. Moreover, it is not possible to say that one factor is more important than the other because the result of an interaction depends on the relation that is established among all the factors involved, over a period of time.
Another issue that should be considered is the understanding of the technology that is going to be implemented. This means that sometimes it is not enough to just consider the arguments advanced by the seller or reported on the leaflets to acknowledge the advantages and benefits of the technology. It is necessary to know the impacts on several organizational domains, for instance, in the coordination of the processes, in the internal communication or in the management of organizational knowledge. Furthermore, organizations must also be aware that changes might not happen in the way they expect. Some changes may not happen at all while others may occur unexpectedly.
Taking the roots of HCI, and the way it has evolved in the last few years, we wanted this book to cover the different perspectives and point towards some directions for further research. This book is divided in five sections. The first section, Tools to Improve Usability and Web Design deals, precisely, with the more technological aspect concerning the interaction between human and machines. Subjects such as the usability and the Web design are discussed in those chapters. Section II, Internet and End Users’ Concerns, includes three chapters reporting on the importance of users and their characteristics. Section III, IT and Issues Regarding Human Resources Management, comprises chapters debating the needs of management of human resources engendered by the adoption of new IT. Section IV, Human and Organizational Issues Regarding IT Adoption and Use, discusses the importance of the consideration of human aspects when choosing and adopting technology and how neglecting these might lead to the failure of IT adoption. Finally, in Section V, Case Studies of Human and Organizational Issues Regarding IT Adoption and Use, we present some empirical projects that were carried out to study the impact of IT adoption and the reasons beneath some examples of IT failure.Section I: Tools to Improve Usability and Web Design
Service-Oriented Human Computer Interaction and Scripting
User Acceptance of Online Computer Games: Comparing Two Models in a Field Study
Web-STAR: Development of Survey Tools for Use with
Requirements Gathering in Web Site Development
Section II: Internet and End Users’ Concerns
The Use of Query Operators and Their Effect on the Results from Web Search Engines
Interactive Proxy for URL Correction
Emerging Practices and Standards for Designing Business Web Sites: Recommendations for Developers
Section III: IT and Issues Regarding Human Resources Management
A Framework for Defining E-Business IT Skills Portfolio
Issues in End-User Behavior
Employee Perceptions of Outsourcing of Information Technology Operations: An Empirical Investigation
Section IV: Human and Organizational Issues Regarding IT Adoption and Use
Surfacing Occupational Threats to IT-Enabled Change: A Neglected Role for Organization Development?
Human Factors in the System Selection Stage of Library Automation
Stressing Office Technology’s Non-Technical Side: Applying Concepts from Adaptive Structuration Theory
Expanding the Information Carrying Capacity of the New Media in the Context of Virtual Teams
Change and Challenge: Managing the E-Business Organization
Section V: Case Studies of Human and Organizational Issues Regarding IT Adoption and Use
Data Quality and Work Alignment: Do IT Professionals Think Differently?
Human Issues and Computer Interaction: A Study of a U.K. Police Call Centre
The Role of Group Learning in Implementation of a Personnel Management System in a Hospital