1. N A T I O N A L S C I E N C E F O U N D A T I O N
G R A N T
V O S S : V I R T U A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N S
S O C I O - T E C H N I C A L S Y S T E M S
C E N T R A L R E S E A R C H Q U E S T I O N :
H O W D O V I R T U A L M O D E S O F
C O M M U N I C A T I O N I N F L U E N C E T H E
Q U A L I T Y O F D E L I B E R A T I O N S ( K E Y
C O N V E R S A T I O N S ) A T V A R I O U S
S T A G E S O F T H E R & D C O N T I N U U M /
I N N O V A T I O N P R O C E S S ?
How Virtual is Virtual:
Designing for Distributed Work
in Research and Development
Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237

2. 2
Grant
Back-
ground
! University of Illinois and STS
Roundtable
! Seven member team: Doug
Austrom, Betty Barrett, Betsy
Merck, Bert Painter, Pam Posey
and Ram Tenkasi
! In final year of 3 year grant
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237 September 2012

3. 3
Desired
Outcomes
for this
Session
Through dialogue and exercises, we have
the opportunity to …
1. Develop a shared understanding of the
implications of virtuality on key
conversations/deliberations across the
innovation continuum
2. Consider how ‘fixes’ differ depending on the
degree of uncertainty in the R&D task
3. Explore the value of coordination mechanisms
employed differently across the innovation
continuum, as ways to overcome the
“coordination costs” of global projects and
multi-university research
4. Discuss the renewed relevance of ‘STS’ for
organization design in this age of virtual
collaboration and global innovation
September 2012STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237

4. 4
Evolution of Socio-Technical Systems!
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! STS v1.0
-Routine work in a single organization – e.g., coal mines, factories, oil refineries
- Work groups with pooled identity
-Unitary conversion process
-Linear conversion sequence
! STS v2.0
-Non-routine face-to-face knowledge work in single organizations – e.g., white collar office
work, professional services firm, NPD and R&D
-Individual performers, specialized expertise
-Multiple, concurrent conversion processes
-Nonlinear conversion flow
! STS v3.0
-Virtual, non-routine work – e.g., R&D consortia, complex supply chains
-Individual performers and work groups distributed across multiple locations and/or
organizations
-ICT enabled
-Multiple, concurrent, independent, and interdependent conversion processes
-Nonlinear conversion flows
September 2012

5. 5
HIGH Uncertainty LOWER Uncertainty
September 2012STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
Six Stage Continuum of the R&D Process
Pure
Research
Work
DON’T
KNOW
WHAT
we are
looking for
DON’T KNOW
HOW
to carry out
the research
Applied
Research
Work
DON’T
KNOW
WHAT
(i.e. end state
or objective)
KNOW
HOW
to carry out
the research
Exploratory
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T KNOW
HOW
to achieve it
Advanced
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T KNOW
HOW
IN DETAIL
to achieve it
Start-Up
(pilot plants,
beta testing)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
CONCEPTUALLY
to achieve it
Scale-Up
(volume & costs)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
OPERATIONALLY
to achieve it
R
1
R
2
D
1
D
4
D
2
D
3

6. 6
Three Research Sites
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! Caltech- Orchid Project: fundamental research, R1
! Optical Radiation Cooling and Heating in Integrated Devices
! Tightly-Linked Collaboration for Design of Experiments & Device Fabrication among Laboratories
using 3 Technology platforms
! Pasadena, Switzerland and Austria
! Major challenge: creative research and design and knowledge generation in a complex virtual
setting
! NACC: a virtual R&D eco-system, D2-D4
! Comprised of 29 NIA-funded Alzheimers Disease Centers (ADCs) and the National Alzheimers
Coordinating Center Center (NACC)
! Major challenge: Create Uniform Data Set agreeing upon and compiling data from the 29
different centers as the basis of research
! LVG: a large video game developer, D3-D4
! Core team with distributed vendors in Philippines, China, India, Switzerland,
North America and across the parking lot
! Major challenge: Cost effective game development work with high quality and timeliness
completed at a distance for art production, engineering and testing
September 2012

7. 7
HIGH Uncertainty LOWER Uncertainty
‘Orchid’ Project ‘Uniform Data Set’ Project ‘Large Video Game’ Project
September 2012STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
Pure
Research
Work
DON’T KNOW
WHAT
we are looking
for
DON’T KNOW
HOW
to carry out
the research
Applied
Research
Work
DON’T KNOW
WHAT
(i.e. end state
or objective)
KNOW
HOW
to carry out
the research
Exploratory
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T KNOW
HOW
to achieve it
Advanced
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T KNOW
HOW
IN DETAIL
to achieve it
Start-Up
(pilot plants,
beta testing)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
CONCEPTUALLY
to achieve it
Scale-Up
(volume & costs)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
OPERATIONALLY
to achieve it
R
1
R
2
D
1
D
4
D
2
D
3
Six Stage Continuum of the R&D Process

8. Key Conversations/Deliberations:
Definition and Elements
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! Key Conversations are
patterns of exchange and
communication in which people
engage with themselves or others
to reduce the equivocality of a
problematic issue
! The salient elements of a
deliberation include the …
• Topics or problematic
issues facing the social
entity about which people
reflect and communicate
• Forums in which they
occur which may be
structured, semi-
structured, unstructured
or ad hoc
• Participants - both those
who are currently involved
and those who ideally
should be involved in the
deliberation
September 2012

9. 9
Examples of Key Conversations/Deliberations
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! Orchid
! What experiment shall we run?
! How shall we design the experiment?
! How shall we execute the experiment?
! How do we make sense of the results?
! NACC
! What data will go in the UDS?
! What diagnostic instruments shall we use?
! Who will have access to the data?
! LVG
! What new features shall we develop?
! What contractor shall we use for this work?
! What is the scope and time/cost estimate for this work?
September 2012

10. 10
Exercise Part 1
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! Directions: At your table, take 15 minutes to
discuss the following question:
! What might be potential barriers to effective
conversations/deliberations?
! Large group comments – 5 minutes
September 2012

11. 11
Examples of Knowledge Work Barriers
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! Lack of knowledge
! In the Orchid project, the technical procedures in two different
laboratories were discovered to be incompatible and initially
prevented development of inter-dependent experiments
! Failure to utilize knowledge
! In LVG, corporate intelligence about particular vendor competencies
was not initially utilized by an individual division in their vendor
selection procedures
September 2012
! Failure to share knowledge
! In development of the NACC/UDS project, use of standardized data
collection was seen by some researchers as an imposition over other
data more suited to their own unique research interests
! Lack of common frame of reference
! In LVG, the developers did not have a common frame of how to
conduct tests of the game

12. 12
Exercise Part 2
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
! Directions: At your table work for 10 minutes and
revisit the issue related to distributed (team)work
that you were asked to consider in Exercise 1
! How, what would you design to minimize the knowledge
barriers?
" Select one or two barriers to think through
! Table group report outs – a brief highlight from each
table
September 2012

13. 13
Coordination across the R&D Continuum
September 2012STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237
R1 D4
Drive Problem Solving
Shape and
Reinforce
Converge Convey
Standardization
Rules Based
Mutual
Adjustment
Peer-to-Peer Hierarchical
Exploration Prescriptive
Uncertainty
Mystery Heuristic Algorithm
Certainty

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15. 15
STRUCTURES
(Roles, Organization
Design)
PEOPLE
(Skills, Relationships,
Values, Communications)
TECHNOLOGY
(Collaboration
Tools, Media)
PROCESSES
(Standards,
Schedules, Plans)
STRATEGIES
(Mission, Collaboration
Agreements)
Sociotechnical Systems Framework for
Designing Coordination of Virtual R&D
September 2012STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237

16. 16
Design Implications – Open Discussion
STSR VOSS TEAM Supported by NSF-VOSS Award #0943237 September 2012