Conflict Management in Dialectical Inquiry, Devil's Advocacy and Consensus-Based Decision Making Approaches in a GSS Environment

Previous research in Dialectical Inquiry (DI), Devil’s Advocacy (DA) and Consensus (C) based approaches has primarily evaluated outcome variables such as the performance outcome quality, process and solution satisfaction and attraction to group. However, no prior study has looked at the process level variables such as the type and management strategies of conflict, nor the productivity of the conflict resulting from the use of these approaches. This study looks into the generation and management of conflict in DI, DA and C based approaches to decision making in a GSS environment. The primary objective is to find out if there is a superior decision making approach in the GSS environment, and the circumstances under which it will prevail. We take a laboratory based experimental research approach that consists of 37 groups averaging 5 members each and compares the consensus-based (C) approach against dialectical inquiry (DI) and devil's advocacy (DA) approaches to decision making. The results suggest that DA and DI approaches are superior to the C approach in group decision making under GSS environment. However, a mixed result is established in the comparison of DA and DI approaches, in turn indicating the importance of carefully selecting the right approach for different stages of group decision process.