Group decision support systems

摘要

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) has been a rapidly emerging field of the 1980's. Whereas conventional Decision Support Systems (DSS) help individual decision makers, GDSS are designed to help groups of senior management and professional groups reach concensus. The paper focuses on one type of GDSS, a decision room in which computers and communications are used by participants during their deliberations. The paper introduces the concepts of private work, public screen, and chauffeur. It then discusses how software and hardware are used in current GDSS. Practical experience has mostly been in laboratory setting. The paper describes existing facilities and reports on the experimental evidence thus far. Special attention is given to the potentials of using gaming and the opportunity for research replication. Although it is not yet possible to prove that GDSS will be viable in the long-term, some potential directions of change can be anticipated if GDSS proves successful.