BEYOND AUTOMATION: A FRAMEWORK FOR SUPPORTING COOPERATION

This paper concentrates on opportunities to support cooperation processes by means of information technology (IT). Cooperation in an organizational context grounds on communication. We describe a layer framework for cooperation adapted from the framework developed by Malone/Crowston. This approach describes the rela- tionships between coordination, cooperation, communication and communication me- dia in a top-down manner. Beyond automation we propose a method of supporting co- operation by supplying employees with a toolbox of appropriate communication media which will improve communication and, thereby, indirectly contribute to cooperation. The paper concludes with an example of the initiation of a cooperation process which, in our view, requires functionalities not supported by existing communication media.