THE ROLE OF THE FACILITATOR IN COMPUTER-SUPPORTED MEETINGS

The ability to facilitate diverse human and technological interactions will be one of the most essential skills for leading and contributing to all levels of the organization in the future. Yet none of the research to date has defined facilitation or the role of the facilitator in depth or has provided empirically grounded guidelines for effectively performing this role. The introduction of Group Support Systems (GSSs)-computer technology to support group work-into organizations has created yet another new facilitation role-the GSS facilitator This article presents the results of a rigorous assessment, using the critical incidents research methodology, of the role of the facilitator in computer-supported environments. The overall purpose of the study was to empirically develop the critical dimensions of the facilitator's role.