Globalization of business, internationalization of trade, and increasing prevalence of multi-cultural interdisciplinary teams are beginning to redefine the nature of office work. Different-time/different-place/different-culture teams will become the norm. Same-time/same-place/same-culture teams will become the exception. The International Office of the Future (IOF) will be a dramatically different environment than that which exists in the majority of today's organizations. Prospects for the IOF give rise to numerous questions, which are addressed in this book. What are the salient issues? What design options or solution strategies exist to address these issues? How might these design options be best implemented? What are their implications? In addition, a number of specific topics will be discussed including: multi-cultural team productivity, IT platform requirements, and global telecommunications.

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Global Inc. Working with groups using groupware. The information superhighway. An IBIS-based model to support group discussions. Measuring the impact of communication technology on group decision making. An internet realtime conference. Telecommunication and an information infrastructure in China. Cultural factors in the adoption and use of GSS. Operating systems for the mulitmedia office of the future. An analysis of IT platform and organizational requirements for multimedia cooperation on the internet: a case study on the IOF. Meetings bloody meetings. The windmills of our minds. Using the information superhighway to support organizational learning. Dual information systems for organizational working and learning. Towards a common architecture paradigm for the global application of information technology. The conference/classroom of the future. An example of the use of the WWW as a tool and environment for research collaboration. An electronic social space for consultation and collaboration. The office tyrant. Distributed work and client server computing. Development decision centres. Culture-building in action. Action learning. Teamwork training for mobile interdisciplinary teams. Globalisation of information systems in Australian organisations. Decision web. A culturally sensitive model of technology and groups. A model for teaching students GSS facilitation. The impact of physical environment on performance and satisfaction in the white collar office: an overview of the literature. The virtual offic in practice: a case study. Making diffusion and adoption issues part of the design options and solution strategies for the international offic of the future. When we can't get together. The international office worker of the future. Round the clock work. Future environments.