It is frequently suggested that work groups that have computer technology to support activities such as text editing, data manipulation, and communication develop systematically different structures and working processes from groups that rely on more conventional technologies such as memos, phone calls, and meetings. However, cross-sectional or retrospective research designs do not allow this hypothesis to be tested with much power. This field experiment created two task forces, each composed equally of recently retired employees and employees still at work but eligible to retire. They were given the identical tasks of preparing reports for their company on retirement planning issues, but they were randomly assigned to different technology conditions. One group had full conventional office support; the other had, in addition, networked microcomputers with electronic mail and routine office software. Structured interviews were conducted four times during the year-long project; in addition, electronic mail activity was logged in the on-line group. Although both groups produced effective reports, the two differed significantly in the kind of work they produced, the group structures that emerged, and evaluations of their own performance. Although the standard group was largely dominated by the employees through the extensive reliance on informal meetings, the electronic technology used by the other task force allowed the retirees to exercise primary leverage. We conclude that use of computer support for cooperative work results in both quantitative and qualitative changes but that effective participation in such electronically supported groups requires significant investments of time and energy on the part of its members to master the technology and a relatively high level of assistance during the learning process.

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The Privacy Rule is fundamentally changing the way that healthcare providers, health plans, and others use, maintain, and disclose health information and the steps that researchers must take to obtain health data. The Privacy Rule requires researchers who seek access to identifiable health information to obtain written authorization from subjects, or, alternatively, to demonstrate that their research protocols meet certain Privacy Rule requirements that permit access without written authorization. To ensure continued access to data, researchers will need to work more closely than before with healthcare providers, health plans, and other institutions that generate and maintain health information.

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Understanding electronic communication and the patterns that characterize its development are critical to realizing full benefits from computer‐supported work. Cooperative work depends on effective communication and on the ability of organizations to manage the technology of communication appropriately. Organizations that do not understand the political and social dimensions of their communications system will inevitably fail to achieve their purposes.

Ill PREFACEIs the United States producing the leaders it will need in the 21st century? The research reported here {New Challenges for International Leadership: Lessons from Organizations with GlobalMissions, MR-1670-IP) was undertaken to address this question. It was prompted by concerns about America's capacity to develop among its people the intellectual and professional expertise that will be required for leadership in the increasingly globalized environment of the 21st century.RAND proposed to explore this issue by interviewing representatives of internationally oriented organizations, which confront these questions daily, as well as by querying experts who could provide insights into the answers to those questions (see Appendixes A and B). We also proposed to review recent literature on this topic. Directed by Jerrold Green, the program's mission is to take on global policy research questions that cut across functional disciplines and regional boundaries, eclipsing old patterns of state-to-state relations.Complex issues such as international security, transnational trade and investment, education, health care, information technology, and energy and environment are all topics that benefit from the multidisciplinary, uncompromising analytic approach of researchers in NSRD's International Programs.International Programs is part of RAND's National Security Research Division (NSRD). NSRD conducts research and analysis for a broad range of clients including the US Department of Defense, the intelligence community, allied foreign governments, and foundations.

How are new media, such as electronic mail, voice mail, and fax, used when people have access to several of them simultaneously? This paper reports findings from a field study of media use in four sizable subunits within two large organizations where most employees had access to email, vmail, and fax. Respondents tended to use multiple electronic media rather than relying on one. However, they also showed a tendency to prefer one medium for asynchronous communication and to use the others for occasional, specialized purposes. Further, there were considerable differences across subunits in typical media use patterns. Although respondents expressed strong desires for multimedia integration, this study suggests that technological integration may not necessarily result in seamless, collaborative work.

Factors affecting implementation of computer-based office information systems are reviewed. Three broad categories are discussed-characteristics of innovative systems, implementing offices and organizations, and the implementation process itself, with particular attention paid to the latter. The review concludes with a discussion of the importance of non-technical factors in technological innovation and suggestions for issues of particular relevance to OBM researchers.The introduction of computers into offices is one of the most significant changes in the workplace in recent years. The trend toward the electronic office will continue and most likely accelerate throughout the 1980s-propelled by societal and organizational imperatives for increased productivity, by rapid development of technologies for communication and information processing, and by growth in the number of information-related jobs in the economy.Computer-based office information systems (01s) are multifunction computer systems that perform some of an office unit's information handling tasks (e.g.