Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)

During the 1980s, researchers realized that computerized support to managerial deci­sion making needed to be expanded to groups because major organizational decisions are made by groups such as executive committees, special task forces, and departments. The result was the creation of group decision support systems.

A GDSS or group decision support system is the interactive software or computer system based system which allows the solution of unstructured and semi structured problems by the group of managers or decision makers. The goal of Group Decision Support Systems is to improve the productivity of decision-making meetings, either by speeding up the decision-making process, by improving the quality of the resulting decisions, or both.

The following are the major characteristics of a Group Decision Support Systems:

•  Its aim is to support the process of the  group decision makers by offering automa­tion of sub processes  by using tools of information technology
•  It is a specially designed information system, not merely a configuration of already-existing system components. It can be designed to address one type of problem or different group-level organizational decisions.
•  It encourages generation of ideas, resolution of conflicts, and freedom of expres­sion. It contains built-in mechanisms which discourage growth of the negative group behaviors, like groupthink and destructive conflict miscommunication.

The first generation of Group Decision Support Systems was designed to support face-to-face meetings in a decision room. Today, support is provided mostly over the Web to virtual groups. The group can meet at the same time or at different times by using e-mail, sending documents, and reading trans­action logs. GDSS is particularly useful as the controversial decisions should be made. Group Decision Support Systems applications require a facilitator when done in one room or a coordinator or leader when done using virtual meetings. GDSS could enhance the decision-making process in several methods or ways.

Questionnaire:

• What is Group Decision Support Systems?