Week 5 Project

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Enhancing Management Decision Making for Digital Firms (3 of 3)

(http://www.teamspace.com/)

Group Decision Support Systems

GDSS is an interactive computer-based system. It assists decision makers to solve unstructured problems and work together as a group rather than individually.

GDSS consists of hardware, people, and software elements. These are:

Hardware: Includes conference facilities such as chairs and tables. It should include some electronic hardware such as audiovisual equipment, computers, electronic display boards, and networking equipment.

People: Includes trained facilitators and participants with hardware and software support staff on call.

Speci�c GDSS Software Tools: Include tools that support group meetings such as:

Electronic brainstorming tools

Electronic questionnaires

Group dictionaries

Idea organizers

Policy forming tools

Questionnaire tools

Stakeholder identi�cation and analysis tools

Tools for setting priorities or voting

Together these elements have led to the creation of different types of GDSS from elaborate collaboration laboratories to simple electronic boardrooms. Their input is integrated on a �le server and can be viewed on a common, large screen. In most systems, integrated input is also viewable on the participant’s screen.

A GDSS helps decision makers arrive at decisions more ef�ciently. It increases the productivity of a meeting attended by more than four or �ve people. The documentation of a meeting by a group at one site is also usable as input for another meeting on the same project at another site which contributes to organizational memory. GDSS can lead to democratic and participative decision-making when used by project teams for frequent meetings.

Let’s now discuss the role of IS in redesigning an organization.