Veronica C. Lepore

Distributed Systems

Professor Getschmann

May 1998

The traditional oral meetings may involve the joint activity of between 5 to 20 individuals in one place. The status of people may be of equal or near equal status. Each individual may have knowledge of a product, or form opinions and judgments of other participants. These differences in opinion will need to be settled. The results from the meetings may lead to action. The group activities may result in the retrieving/generation information, sharing of information among members, drafting policies and procedures, and using information to reach consensus or decision.

However, some of the members may be in remote areas; hence a same place and real time meeting may require additional time and costs for all members to be present. In most of the meetings, they usually start with "a formal agenda, but if someone goes on a tangent, and someone usually does, it can be difficult to get back on track and keep the discussion focused (Druckenmiller, 1991). It can be a problem if one individual starts to take control of the meeting. Most of times, the person may not be aware that their actions may influence an opinion about how things should be done. Resultantly, new technology emerged in late 1980’s that suppose to answer to this problem.

The new technology that emerged was the Group Decision Support Systems, (GDSS) concept — any system designed to help decision-making groups reach a decision. It enables members to reach a decision faster, to reach better decisions, and to save the costs of meetings by allowing remote users to hold a "virtual" meeting. There are four common group tasks that GDSS may help in solving: 1) Idea Generation, 2) Problem Solving, 3) Consensus Building, and 4) Negotiation. "Group Support Systems (GSS) are a broader category, intended to support groups engaged in a wider range of tasks than just decision-making" (Group (Decision) Support Systems).

A GDSS consists of software, hardware, and language components and procedures that support a group of people connected together over a Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN) for the purpose of group collaboration and decision-making. "An interactive, computer-based system which facilitates the solution of UN-structured problems by a set of decision makers working together as a group" ((1) Group Decision Support Systems). There are some roles consistent with an unbiased facilitator who runs the meeting, and the GDSS itself. "A GDSS includes several elements conducive to the generation of ideas and problem solving, including electronic brainstorming, idea organization and rating and voting" ((2) Group Decision Support Systems).

A GDSS was developed to enhance group synergies and reduce group losses. Some of the more common group losses are Group Think, Production Blocking, and Information Losses.

Decision Support System (DSS) is a collection of people, procedures, databases and devices used to support decision-making. Some common characteristics of DSS are:

• can handle large amounts of data
• can obtain and process data from different sources
• can provide report and presentation flexibility
• is geared toward individual decision-making styles
• can be developed using a modular approach
• can perform sophisticated analysis
• what if? and goal seeking analysis: known also as sensitivity analysis
• has graphical orientation

DSS has shown that individual decision-making is better option. The high level managers can spend up to 80% of their time making decision in groups ( ). GDSS provides the hardware, software, people, databases and procedures to provide effective support for group decision-making. Characteristics of GDSS include:

• Special design: specifically designed to foster creative thinking, effective communication and good group decision-making techniques known as groupware.
• Ease of use: easy to learn and use.
• Specific and general support: for both specific and general problems.
• Suppression of negative group behavior:
• Support of positive group behavior

A GDSS is based on the concepts of a DSS. All of the characteristics of a DSS are similar to a GDSS, such as:

• Use of models, data and user-friendly software
• Interactive environment, "what-if" capabilities
• Uses data internal and external to the organization
• Decision maker plays an active role in the decision-making process
• Flexible systems
• Graphical output

Examples of how the combination of communication, computer and decision technologies supports decision-making include:

The level 1 aims at removing common communication with technical features barriers such as:

• large screens for instantaneous display of ideas
• voting solicitation
• voting compilation
• anonymous input of ideas
• electronic message exchange between members

Technology is purely a communication medium at level 1. E-mail systems and computer-supported conference rooms are excellent examples.

Level 2 is when the facilities are being provided in level 1, GDSS provides greater structure to the group through:

• decision modeling techniques
• group decision techniques

The budget allocation models, utility and probability assessment models, social judgment techniques are the examples for level 2. One good example is if a meeting is taking place on provisions in the Law of the Sea. Models of sea-floor mining can be used to make negotiates easier.

Level 3 is when GDSS’s ability to "filter and structure information exchange with the help of group communication patterns and expert advice on selecting and arranging rules to be applied during interaction" ((2) Group Decision Support Systems). An example of level 3 is usage of the structured group methods such as Nominal Group and Delphi techniques and the rules for directing group discussion. ((2) Group Decision Support Systems)

The usual purpose of a meeting is to generate ideas and make suggestions. If everyone were allowed to make suggestions, it would take far too long to hear the suggestions and then organize the results. The result of the traditional meeting could be viewed as an enormous waste of time. We do need to have a "productivity" meeting for everyone. Larger groups, with between seven and thirty-six members, may be more likely to benefit from the technology than small groups. GDSS may be a more ideal technique than traditional techniques for harder tasks, but less effective on easier tasks.

GDSS offers several major advantages over traditional oral meetings:

• Anonymity – Anonymity increases group member participation because they no longer need to fear criticism or political ramifications because of their comments. Without the ability to be identified, many people feel less compelled to conform to the group's opinion, and as a result, more diverse suggestions are elicited. Anonymity can lead to better decisions across the board.
• No production blocking (Parallel communication) – In traditional oral meetings, participants have to take turns speaking, and a few individuals can monopolize the available time. Through the use of a GDSS, everyone can exchange ideas at the same time via the computer network. Again, this increases participation, which can lead to greater productivity and better decisions.
• Automated complete record keeping – The information loss problem may be solved by including stenographers, audio tape recorders, or videotape, which may be used to record the group minutes, but this tends to be expensive. Less expensive alternatives including cut and pasting of group chat sites, which may be automated. A GDSS records on disk all comments, votes, and other information input by a group. This is an important feature because it is no longer necessary to take notes. Without the benefit of notes, it is almost impossible to remember the details of what was covered. A GDSS eliminates this problem altogether
• Instant feedback on voting and multiple methods for aggregating the group preference – The vote can take place in one meeting. There are multiple methods such as Delphi, Brainstorming, Group consensus approach, and Nominal group technique.
• Ability for non-collocated (virtual) meetings – With hardware, software, and people, GDSS is possible. The supporting computer system hardware and software can be inexpensive and portable.
• Participants in the group need not be computer literate or have special expertise.

With all the advantages and benefits associated with using a GDSS, why are not more companies using these tools to improve their decision-making processes? Because there are a number of disadvantages associated with the use of a GDSS that must be taken into account before implementation:

• Cost – It is possible that many companies have not implemented a GDSS can be a considerable capital investment. A GDSS requires a dedicated room, computer terminals at each station, a LAN/WAN, and a facilitator. These systems could cost the companies between $200,000 to $400,000. (Hoaglund, Peeters, and Rinetti, 1997)
• Security – There is a possibility of an information leak. Due to the high costs of purchasing and maintaining a GDSS, many companies rent time at GDSS facilities. This could place an outsider in sensitive or confidential discussions. This can be the same situation if the company is using their own GDSS. The facilitator can be a lower-level employee who is not normally present at traditional meetings dealing with sensitive issues. However with a GDSS, a facilitator and the associated risks, must be considered.
• Technical failure – Technical failure can be a problem with a GDSS. If, during a session, the computer system crashes or there is a power failure everything discussed and input into the system could be lost. This would be very frustrating and counterproductive.
• Level of keyboarding skills – Anonymity can be an advantage but it can actually be a disadvantage for some users. If a user has poor typing skills the amount of information input can be lagging than for a user that has superior typing skills. This can lead to a lack of participation in the brainstorming session, where the ideas are discussed.
• Learning curve – GDSSs may be designed to be user friendly, but it has taken an average of a several months to a year for some companies to learn how to fully utilize their systems.
• Difficult to reward quality input – The identity of all GDSS users is kept confidential which makes it very difficult to reward individuals for quality ideas or inputs.
• Lack of non-verbal cues – It may be a difficult to identify the tone of the text-based messages without non-verbal cues. Some people may perceive the messages as negative statements if not intended.

Group Decision Support Systems provide a number of tools to help groups enhance group synergies and reduce group losses. The systems rely heavily on LAN and WAN technology and bandwidth. The GDSS is a proven, effective tool for group decision-making in spite of some disadvantages associated with it. If the technology becomes less expensive and more widespread, the use of GDSS tools could increase. Keep in mind, the hardware and software components of a GDSS do not replace human interaction, but provide methods of gathering information automatically, determining suitable alternatives and making rational decisions. GDSS can improve group performance, but some people may view it as counterproductive. A GDSS is best suited for complex decision-making.

"Group (Decision) Support Systems." West Virginia University. Online. http://wolfe.mang.wvu.edu/classes/gdss.htm

(1) "Group Decision Support Systems." Alfred University. Online. http://business.alfred.edu/duserick/csawebsite/csa567/Spragu20.HTM

(2) "Group Decision Support Systems." West Michigan University. Online. http://lab2.cc.wmich.edu/kayany/orgtech/lectures/lec10.html

Druckenmiller, D. A. "Face-to-Face Group Decision Support Systems: A Partnership Between Traditional Group Process Methologies And Computer Technology." Journal of Information Systems Educational Volume 3, Number 2 1991. Online. http://www.gise.org/JISE/Vol1-5/FACE.htm September 1991.

Hoaglund, S., Peeters, D., and Rinetti, M. "Group Decision Support Systems and Their Organizational Use." Illinois State University. 1997. Online. http://odin.cmp.ilstu.edu/~marinet/termgdss.html 5 August 1997.

GDSS software is diverse, offering a variety of choices, formats, interfaces and features.

The future of the GDSS is considered good despite the disadvantages. "One of the most important concerns to be addressed before a GDSS can be used within an organization is the need to integrate GDSS techniques into the existing framework of the organizational culture" (Hoaglund, Peeters, and Rinetti, 1997). The GDSS brings changes, and those changes must be managed for GDSS to be fully successful. Sometimes, GDSS can either change or threaten existing power bases within an organization. Future studies and greater organizational use of GDSS technology should address this concern. Other considerations include: