Group strategic decision making: asynchronous GSS using structured conflict and consensus approaches

This longitudinal experiment investigated the efficiency effectiveness and group member perceptions of dialectical inquiry (DI) and constructive consensus (CC) approaches to strategic decision making in an asynchronous (distributed) Computer-Mediated-Communications (CMC) environment. There were no dQ,%erences between DI and CC groups in terms of decision effectiveness. DI groups required signljicantly more asynchronous meeting time to complete their recommendations and had higher perceived depth of evaluation than CC groups. CC groups reported greater decision acceptance and willingness to work together again than DI groups. Relatively few experiential eflects were observed. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for Group Support Systems research and design. INTRODUCTION Research on face-to-face (FtF) groups has indicated that groups that try to reach consensus on a decision without following any specific procedures, often suffer “process losses” such as unequal participation, failure to generate and explore a number of options before reaching a decision, and a lack of critical examination of ideas. In FtF groups procedures such as brainstorming, Nominal Group Technique, and structured conflict procedures such as Dialectical Inquiry (DI) can decrease process losses and improve the outcomes of group decision making [29, 3 1, 321. In DI, the group as a whole is divided in half, with one subgroup charged with developing a plan or proposal, and the other sub-group charged with coming up with criticisms and a counter-proposal or counter-plan. Previous studies in the field of organizational strategic decision making have demonstrated that DI and similar structured conflict approaches, such as “devil’s advocate” (DA) procedures can improve the quality of decisions [22, 24, 3 1, 32, 331. To what extent do the findings about FtF groups apply to groups supported by computer based Group Cameron Ford Rosalie Ocker Frederick Ferront Malcolm Worrell Kenneth Johnson Department of Psychology Upsala College East Orange, New Jersey 0701.5 Graduate School of Management