Gerardine DeSanctis

Providing Decisional Guidance for Multicriteria Decision Making in Groups

Intelligent user interfaces, particularly in interactive group settings, can be based on system explanations that guide model building, application, and interpretation. Here we extend Silvers (1990, 1991) conceptualization of decisional guidance and the theory of breakpoints in group interaction to operationalize feedback and feedforward for a complex multicriteria modeling system operating within a group decision support system context. We outline a design approach for providing decisional guidance in GDSS and then test the feasibility of the design in a preliminary laboratory experiment. Findings show how decisional guidance that provides system explanations at breakpoints in group interaction can improve MCDM GDSS usability. Our findings support Dhaliwal and Benbasats (1996) conjecture that system explanations can improve decisional outcomes due to improvement in user understanding of decision models. Further research on intelligent agents, particularly in interactive group settings, can build on the concepts of decisional guidance outlined in this paper.

Learning in Online Forums

Information and communication technologies afford different levels and types of support for learning networks. We draw on our studies of video-conferenced classrooms, group discussion spaces, and online communities to suggest a framework for understanding how learning networks can benefit from various e-learning venues. We show how the design of computer-mediated environments influence the kinds of learning processes that are likely to unfold as business professionals interact with one another across time and space barriers. The extent to which participants experience these types of learning depends upon how the electronic environments are structured and, more importantly, on how participants manage their interaction processes. Though all venues provide access to distributed social resources, some settings are more effective than others in addressing the specific learning needs of knowledge workers.

Building A Global Learning Community

Communicating over differing continents and time zones is not an obstacle when the quality and tone of the communication are viewed as important as the project at hand.

Facilitating computer-supported meetings: A cumulative analysis in a multiple-criteria task environment

There have been many instances of the ineffective applications of new information technology. This article describes a program of enhancing the effectiveness of a new technology, Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS), through a series of studies which resulted in improvements in the technology itself as well as in how the technology is supported. Our approach emphasizes human facilitation and facilitative features embedded in the GDSS software.

Enacting language games: the development of a sense of ‘we-ness’ in online forums

A sense of ‘we‐ness’– enacted through collective identity and culture – is both crucial in online, remote contexts, and particularly difficult to develop in such settings. Using Wittgensteins concept of language games, we examine how participants of two online forums construct collective identity and culture through their discursive practices. We suggest a strong performative interpretation of the notion of language games, i.e. members of a community produce a sense of we‐ness through their participation in the language game while also defining their expected behaviours and actions. We illustrate how the notion of language games offers an approach for researching and analysing the emergence of collective identity and culture in online forums.

Bridging Distance, Time, and Culture in Executive MBA Education

Abstract This article summarizes student and instructor experiences in an innovative MBA program designed for working executives. We describe the social aspects of this learning process, especially with regard to learning in the distance mode. We note the challenges and opportunities of distance learning for students and faculty, and we identify critical components of learning success in programs that aim to link traditional university education with corporate life at an international level.

Managing the Ties between Central R&D and Business Units

OVERVIEW: The specific ways in which companies organize the relationship between central R&D and the business units vary considerably, this study shows. In the External Partnership Model, the CRD group performs minimal in-house research. The primary CRD role is to identify many different, external technologies and coordinate the introduction of those technologies to the business units. In the Relationship Manager Model, each CRD–BU interface is managed by one person who coordinates the specific BU and the various CRD functions that might interact with it. In the Individual Initiative Model, firms promote individual networking to build interactions between CRD and the business units. Several variations on these models are also evident. In addition to organizational structure, firms also implement processes to supplement and enhance communication and coordination between CRD and BUs. These mechanisms include funding, project screening, technology platforms, social facilitation, and documentation.

The Impact of Role Training in a User-Driven Group Support System Environment

We tested the proposition that training groups to use roles would improve performance in a user-driven, GSS-supported meeting. Two methods of role training, fixed and rotated roles, were compared against a control procedure in which no formal role training was provided. In a repeated measures experiment, half of the groups completed four generate-creative tasks, while the remaining groups completed three generate-creative tasks followed by one choice-intellective task. Both role training methods were successful in reducing the time spent by groups orienting themselves to the technology, particularly in the choice-intellective task context; however, decision quality or quantity did not improve with role training.

International Multifoods – Case A

The International Multifoods (IMC) case describes the attempt by a mid-sized company to strategically use information technology for competitive advantage. The managers in this company and its subsidiary, Vending Services of America (VSA), saw an opportunity to leapfrog the competition in the food service distribution industry through development of ‘the most advanced system available in the industry’. The goal of the Renaissance information system was to ‘leverage VSAs strength and consumer knowledge in assisting its customers’ and, in the process, bring much needed revenue growth to the IMC parent firm. The case provides an overview of the IMC and VSA companies, the plans for development of the Renaissance system, and the difficulties that arose as the system was pilot tested and prepared for roll-out.

Infrastructure for telework: electronic communication at Texaco

Support of global, cross-functional, and mobile workers in a large organization requires f~ responsive, and highly integrated electronic communication systems. This case illustrates the technical, social, and political complexities involved in developing such an infmshuctum in large fins. This study shows how the investment by Texaco in the late 1980s in ehxtronic communications systems enabled efficiencies in the divisional form of organization, but by the 1990s, this investment also served as a constraint toward further change toward a nehvork form of organization.