Towards Friction-Free Work: A Multi-Method Study of the Use of Information Technology in the Real-Estate Industry

这项试点研究的目的是研究如何在房地产行业的信息技术（IT）的普及使用改变了该行业的人和组织的工作方式。选择真实的房地产是因为它已经采用了许多新技术，但作为交易中介，将受到正在进行的电子交易的巨大影响。 我们的总体研究的目标是：1）描述如何使用信息技术改变个人知识工作者进行他们的工作方式，2）描述与使用信息技术有关的组织变化，3）描述个人工作的变化如何改变组织结构和流程。在这项试点研究中，我们特别侧重于为前两个目标开发工具和程序，以及为目标3开发理论框架。特别是，我们对个别真实的房地产经纪人及其对引入IT的适应性进行民族志研究，并对真实的房地产经纪人进行案例研究和调查。 这项研究将提供一个更深入的科学理解工作和IT是如何相互关联的，以及组织如何将信息技术视为业务目标的推动者。此外，调查结果将阐明有关新的组织形式，如“一个公司”和虚拟组织的问题。反过来，这些研究结果预计将提供关键的一般知识的背景下，IT的设计。 http://florin.syr.edu/~crowston/real-estate.html

The goal of this pilot study is to examine how the pervasive use of information technologies (IT) in the real-estate industry changes the way people and organizations in that industry work. Real estate was chosen because it has already adopted many new technologies, but, as a transactional intermediary, will be greatly affected by the on-going shift to electronic transactions. The objectives of our overall study are: 1) to describe how the use of IT changes the ways individual knowledge workers conduct their work, 2) describe organizational changes related to the use of IT, and 3) describe how change in individual work changes organizational structures and processes. In this pilot study, we focus specifically on developing instruments and procedures for the first two objectives and the theoretical framework for objective 3. In particular, we conduct ethnographic studies of individual real estate agents and their adaptations to the introduction of IT and case studies and surveys of a sample of real estate agencies. This study will provide a deeper scientific understanding of how work and IT are interrelated and how organizations view information technology as enablers of business goals. Further, findings will illuminate issues regarding new forms of organization such as "companies of one" and virtual organization. In turn, these findings are expected to provide critical general knowledge for the design of IT in context. http://florin.syr.edu/~crowston/real-estate.html