Group Decision Support
Systems
Week 9
P&G
“Procter & Gamble Drives Ideation with
Group Support Systems”
Company background
Problem description
Proposed solution
Results
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Collaboration
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What is it?
“… making joint effort toward
achieving an agreed upon goal.”
Meeting is a common form of
collaboration
Why collaborate?
Why Collaborate?
Make Decisions
Synergy
Build Trust
Share Work
Build Consensus
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Review
Share the Vision
Share Information
Solve Problems
Socialize
Collaboration is Difficult
Waiting to speak
Domination
Fear of Speaking
Misunderstanding
Inattention
Lack of Focus
Inadequate Criteria
Premature Decisions
Missing Information
Distractions
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Ineffective
Collaboration
Wrong People
Groupthink
Poor Grasp of Problem
Ignored Alternatives
Lack of Consensus
Poor Planning
Hidden Agendas
Conflict
Inadequate Resources
Poorly Defined Goals
Collaboration is Expensive
 15 Million formal Sessions / day
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? Million Informal Sessions / day
 4 Billion Sessions / year
 30-80% Manager’s time
Fortune 500 Companies
3M Corporation Study
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Collaboration is Essential
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No one has all the …
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Experience
Knowledge
Resources
Insight, and
Inspiration
…to do the job alone
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Bottom line:
Collaboration is difficult, expensive, and yet
essential for today’s organizations
How Do People Collaborate?
Low
3 Levels of Collaboration Capability
Degree of
Collaborative
Effort
Sprinters
Level 1 Collected Work :
Uncoordinated Individual Efforts
Relay
Level 2 Coordinated Work:
Coordinated Individual Efforts
Crew
High
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Level 3 Concerted Work:
Concerted Team Effort
Meetings (a form of collaboration)
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Joint activity
Equal or near equal status
Outcome depends on participant’s
knowledge, etc.
Outcome depends on group composition
Outcome depends on decision-making
process
Disagreement settled by rank or negotiation
The Ideal Meeting
 Dozens of people attend
 Everyone …
talks at once
hears everything
understands
remembers
 The impossible dream?
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Traditional Meetings
Only ONE person can speak at a time
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GSS Meetings
By using the computer everyone can
SPEAK and be understood simultaneously
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Communication Support
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Vital
Needed for collaboration
Modern information technologies
provide inexpensive, fast, capable,
reliable means of supporting
communication
Internet / Web
Supporting Communication
 Evolution of Communication
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Word of mouth
Delivery persons
Horseback
Snailmail
Telegraph
Telephone
Radio
Television
Videoconferencing
Internet / Web…
A Time/Place
Communication Framework
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Groupware
 Lotus Notes / Domino Server
Includes Learning Space
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Netscape Collabra Server
Microsoft NetMeeting
Novell Groupwise
GroupSystems
TCBWorks
WebEx
Group Support Systems
 Goal: to support groupwork
 Increase benefits / decrease losses of
collaboration
 Based on traditional methods
 Nominal Group Technique
“Individuals work alone to generate ideas which are pooled
under guidance of a trained facilitator”
 Delphi Method
“A structured process for collecting and distilling knowledge
from a group of experts by means of questionnaires”
 Electronic Meeting System (EMS)
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GSS – Important Features
Process Gains:
 Parallelism
( simultaneous contributions )
 Anonymity
( promotes equal participation )
 Larger groups can participate
 Focus on content not personalities
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Triggering
Synergy
Structure
Record keeping
Process Loses:
 Free-riding
 Flaming
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(
(
(
(
stimulates thinking )
integrates ideas )
facilitates problem solving )
promotes organizational memory )
Benefits of Anonymity
 Ideas considered on
merit not source
 Overcome fear of
speaking up
 More ideas leads to
more quality ideas
 Defuses tough
political discussions
9#
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GSS Enabling Technologies
 Decision room
 Multiple use facility
 Web-based
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The Decision (Electronic Meeting) Room
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12 to 30 networked personal computers
Usually recessed into the desktop
Server PC
Large-screen projection system
Breakout rooms
Need a Trained Facilitator for Success
Decision Rooms
IBM Corp.
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More Decision Rooms
US Air Force
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Mobile Decision Rooms
Murraysville School District Bus
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On-Demand Decision Rooms
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Few Organizations Use Decision Rooms
 High Cost
 Need for a Trained Facilitator
 Requires Specific Software Support for
Different Cooperative Tasks
 Infrequent Use
 Different Place / Different Time Needs
 May Need More Than One
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Other Technologies
 Multiple Use Facility
 Cheaper
 Still need a facilitator
 Web-based
 Cheaper: no extra hardware needed
 Still need facilitator
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GroupSystems, Inc.
 From GroupSystems.com, Tucson, AZ
 Comprehensive groupware
 Windows and Web versions
 Leading software
 Tool: ThinkTank
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ThinkTank: Supported Activities
 Supported tools and activities:
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Agenda and Other Planning Activities
Electronic Brainstorming
Group Outliner
Topic Commenter
Categorizer
Vote
 Others…
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GSS Meeting Process
Iterate until
the solution is
reached…
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Step 1: Prepare an Agenda
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Prepare an
agenda
…
Step 2: Collect Information
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Brainstorm
Risk
Think about
the risks to
company if
they launch
a new line
of products
… think
about the
risks to the
company if
they launch
a new line of
sports
drinks…
Step 3: Refine Information
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Gather
Additional
Information
Capture
important
issues for
the listed
items
Step 4: Prioritize Options
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Prioritize Risk
Based on
Likelihood and
Impact
Use of
Alternative
Analysis Ballot
for two
Criteria
Step 5: Review Prioritized Options
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View and
Discuss
Results of
Voting
…
Step 5: Review Prioritized Options…
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Chose Risks
for Further
Analysis…
Step 5: Review Prioritized Options…
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Collect
Additional
Input On Risks
Collect
additional
comments on
top three
risks…
Step 5: Review Prioritized Options…
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Review
Comments on
Risks…
Step 6: Create an Action Plan
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Create an
Action Plan…
Step 7: Distribute Session Transcripts
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Create and
Distribute a
Final Report…
Last Words about GSS?
 Why Successful?
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Parallelism
Anonymity
Synergy
Structure
Record keeping
 Needs…
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Organizational commitment
Executive sponsor
Dedicated well-trained facilitator
Good planning
Creativity
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Is it a fundamental human trait or something
that can be learned?
Definition: Creativity is a characteristic of a
person that leads to production of acts, items
and/or instances of novelty
Creativity is the product of …
a genius vs. an idea generation environment
Creative people tend to have creative lives
CREATIVITY  INNOVATION
Idea Generation via Electronic Brainstorming
Creativity…
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What variables affects creativity
1.
2.
3.
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Cognitive variables: intelligence, knowledge,
skills, etc.
Environmental variables: cultural and
socioeconomic factors, working conditions, etc.
Personality variables: motivation, confidence,
sense of freedom, etc.
Creativity is fostered by
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Freedom
Permission-to-fail
Allow and Enable rather than Structure and
Control
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Creativity…
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Software that shows creativity
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Intelligent Agents (Softbots)
Creativity is an intelligent behavior
Software that facilitates human creativity
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ThoughtPath: promotes outside-the-box thinking
Creative WhackPack (Creative Think): whack you
out of your habitual thought process
IdeaFisher: provides language specific
universality - thesaurus
 Freedom, Collaboration, Prototyping
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