Collaborative Work Systems (CWS), Inc. is a small business founded in 2006, that is dedicated to studying, developing, and improving socio-technical systems for complex work in the networked Information Age. In pursuit of this goal we perform engineering research & development and service work under grants and contracts for government agencies, private companies, and non-profit organizations. Additionally, CWS has conducted institutional research and development to create several innovative products to support collaborative work.
Complex work environments are particularly evident when large numbers of collaborating people and supporting technologies are distributed - such as in military, civil aviation, healthcare, emergency service, educational, and wildlife conservation contexts. CWS takes a multidisciplinary approach to creating effective teams, systems, and organizations where people collaborate with and through technological systems to perform their work. Integrating cognitive, social, and organizational psychology perspectives with an understanding of technologies and systems engineering is normally more effective than any one of these approaches alone.