Scribd
Upload
378 views17 pages

Gdss and Groupware Technologies

Groups make decisions in the workplace and have advantages over individuals like drawing on diverse knowledge and perspectives. However, too many decision makers can lead to bad or no decisions. Group decision making involves interactions between members and can take collaborative or non-collaborative structures. Factors like group size, communication patterns, and social dynamics impact decision quality. Technology supports group decision making by facilitating communication and organization while drawing on collective knowledge, but can also introduce issues like information overload.

Uploaded by

Pragya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
378 views17 pages

Gdss and Groupware Technologies

Groups make decisions in the workplace and have advantages over individuals like drawing on diverse knowledge and perspectives. However, too many decision makers can lead to bad or no decisions. Group decision making involves interactions between members and can take collaborative or non-collaborative structures. Factors like group size, communication patterns, and social dynamics impact decision quality. Technology supports group decision making by facilitating communication and organization while drawing on collective knowledge, but can also introduce issues like information overload.

Uploaded by

Pragya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 17

Many of the decisions in today's workplace are made

by groups of individuals
Groups bring many advantages to the choice process:
Multiple source of knowledge and experience
A wider variety of prospectives
Potential synergy associated with collaborative
activity
Some times too many decision makers result in either a
bad decision or no decision at all.

Group in term of decision making can be defined


as : a collective entity that is independent of the
properties of its members.

Multiparticipant decision maker (MDM): An activity


conducted by a collective entity composed of two or
more individuals and characterised in terms of both the
properties of the collective entity and of its individual
members

Decision

structure, two types:

Collaborative
Group decision structure: Formal participants and
multiple decision maker
Negotiation decisions
Majority decisions

Noncollaborative
Team decision structure: Formal participants and
single decision maker
Negotiation decisions
Majority decisions

Individual decision structure

The structure of an MDM is primarily based on the


interaction and flow of communication among the
various members.

Communication can be thought as any means by


which information is transmitted to one or more
members of the MDM.

Basic Types of Networks Structures


1.
2.
3.
4.

Wheel Network
Chain Network
Circle Network
Completely Connected Network

Highly Centralised

They are efficient to routine and recurring decisions.


They tend to strengthen the leadership position of the central
members.
They tend to result in a stable set of interactions among the
participants.
They tend to produce lower average levels of satisfaction
among the participants.

Highly Decentralised

They tend to produce higher average levels of satisfaction


among participants.
They facilitate nonroutine or nonrecurring decisions.
They promote innovation and creative solutions.

1.

The importance of the quality of the decision.

2.

The extent to which the decision maker possess the knowledge


and expertise to make the decision.

3.

The extent to which potential participants have the necessary


information.

4.

The degree of structuredness of the problem context.

5.

The degree to which the acceptance or commitment is critical to


successful implementation.

6.

The probability of acceptance of an autocratic decision.

7.

The degree of motivation among the participants to achieve the


organisational goals.

8.

The degree of potential conflicts among the participants over a


preferred solution.

1. Size
The most widely studied and consequential component of
group decision making.
Studies show that as the size of a group increases, individual
satisfaction tends to decrease.
As the size increases, the less active members tend to
become noticeably less productive.
Logic suggests that the management of an MDM
requiring consensus or majority is easier when the size is
small.

Member cohesiveness decreases as MDM size increases.


When membership is high, subgroups and internal coalitions
tend to form that serve redirect the focus of the participant
away from the common goal.
The increased likelihood for certain members of large
MDMs to feel threatened reluctant to participate because the
size magnifies the impersonal nature of the problem
context.
Despite the disadvantages when the size of the MDM
increases, in certain situations such as quantitative
judgment in statistics, the larger the membership of the
MDM, the more likley it is that the results of the judgment
must be made.

Participant interaction tends to decrease as size increase.


Affective or emotional relationships tend to decrease as size
increases.
Central, dominant leadership tend to increase as size
increases.
Conflicts is resolved with political rather than analytical
solutions as size increases.
Despite the disadvantages when the size of the MDM
increases, in certain situations such as quantitative judgment
in statistics, the larger the membership of the MDM, the more
likely it is that the results of the judgment must be made.

2. Groupthink: a mode of thinking that people engage in when


they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group.
The more friendly and cooperative the members of a group,
the greater the likelihood that independent critical thinking
will be suspended in deference to group norms.

Unfavourable outcomes associated with Groupthink

1. Tends to prevent a complete open-mind analysis of opportunities in the


development of objectives.
2. Holds back a meaningful search for information and tends to bias any
searches toward a self fulfilling selectivity.
3. Limits the participants ability to appraise possibilities associated with
the cost of failure.
4. Tends to eliminate the formation of incident of fallback position.

3. Other Social issues


Conflict

The desire to be viewed as a good member and to be accepted


by the other participants often leads to conflict avoidance.
Natural group dynamics such as struggle of power can result in
some form of conflict.

Anonymity

One common method used to control sources of potential


conflict and to support other MDM processes is participant
anonymity, i.e. vote.
In many cases anonymity results in the generation of more and
better information.

Tools used in MDM environment to support the processes


and activities related to the decision making process.
Usual group meeting description .. (Gray 1981).
New technologies and telecommunications
MDM support technologies can be classified based on
decision maker styles .

The four basic levels of MDM technology:


1. Organisational Decision Support System (ODSS): A complex
system of computer based technologies- including those that
facilitate communication- that provides support for decision
makers.
2. Group Support Systems (GSS): A collective of computer based
technologies used to aid MDM in identifying and addressing
problems, opportunities, and issues.
3. Group Decision support System (GDSS):A collective of
computer based technologies designed to support the activities
and processes related to MDM.
4. Decision Support System (DSS): a computer program under the
control of one or more persons that provides staff within
organisations with support tools capable of enhancing the results
of the decision making process.

Some of the Gain


1.
2.
3.
4.

Collective has greater knowledge than a single participant.


Allows for synergistic results.
Interaction stimulates the generation of knowledge.
Participants can improve individual performance through
learning from others.

Some of the Losses


1.
2.
3.
4.

Can block the production of ideas.


Can produce information overload much faster.
Relative collection of speaking time is reduced with MDM size
Increase opportunities of socialising over goal focus.

Types by features offered in support of the multi-participant


decision-making activities:
1. Reduce communication barriers.

2. Reduce uncertainty and noise.

3. Organize decision process.

Types by technology used:


1. Electronic boardroom.
2. Teleconference room.
3. Group network.
4. Information centre .
5. Collaboration laboratory.
6. Decision room.

Groupware: A particular type of MDM support technology


specifically focused on issues related to collaborative
processes among people. You can think of it as a tool that,
when deployed and used appropriately, positively affects
that way people communicate with each other, resulting in
an improvement in the way people work.

Current market leaders of Groupware:


Lotus Notes

Microsoft Exchange
Oracle Office
GroupWise
Team Office

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy