Computer-Aided Deliberation: Model Management and Group Decision Support

The paper highlights principles of group process as an important component of group activities in planning and policy making. The management of a variety of models utilized in organizational planning is discussed. Descriptions of the features and functions of the hardware and software environment, along with scenarios for use of the environment, illustrate critical issues in group deliberation. A particular model, stakeholder identification and assumption surfacing, is used to illustrate aspects of model management and planning process implementation. Findings of the group decision support system (GDSS) research are discussed in terms of anonymity of participation, facility design, need for multiple public screens, use of knowledge and data bases, communication network speed, methodological approach, software design, mixing of manual and electronic sessions, group size, composition, satisfaction of the users and model management systems. In general, the research results from experiments and case studies reflect our findings from observation of 40 groups.