Telecooperation in decentralized organizations: conclusions based on empirical research

In the context of new organisational structures, telecooperation systems have become an essential component, facilitating the joint work of geographically distributed persons or groups. We designed and carried out a survey of commercial usage of synchronous telecooperation systems in order to gain an insight into the state of, problems with and prospects for use of these systems, enabling us to draw conclusions about the steps required toward a fuller exploitation of their potential. The fundamental conclusion which can be drawn from our survey is that the potential of telecooperation systems can only be fully realised if their use is accompanied by corresponding restructuring measures. This applies in particular to the promotion of group work and the decentralisation of organisations.