Michael Filzmoser

Impact of and Interaction between Behavioral and Economic Decision Support in Electronic Negotiations

In this study we compare the effects of two distinct approaches in negotiation support: negotiation analysis providing economic decision support, and mediation analysis offering behavioral decision support. Those negotiators with economic or behavioral decision support at their disposal were expected to reach better results. Furthermore, behavioral decision support would not only lead to more integrative behavior, but also to more satisfaction about process variables. The hypotheses were tested in a laboratory experiment with 224 undergraduate students from four European universities. Contrary to our expectations, economic decision support did not yield better results, but instead increased informal communication, whereas behavioral decision support led to fewer, but larger concessions. Satisfaction of subjects with the negotiation process and outcomes reflects the strength of the support approaches. The implications of these results and the impact of both types of decision support are discussed.

Simulation of automated negotiation

Durch die Automatisierung von Verhandlungen sollen bessere Verhandlungsergebnisse erzielt werden konnen als bei Verhandlungen zwischen Menschen und neue Koordinationsformen fur autonome Agentensysteme ermoglicht werden. Diese Arbeit beschaftigt sich mit der Simulation solcher Systeme fur automatisierte Verhandlungen, da operative Systeme zur Zeit noch nicht verfugbar sind. Die Arbeit basiert auf einer Erhebung und Diskussion der aktuellen Literatur im Bereich der Simulation automatisierter Verhandlungen. Existierende Ansatze weisen einige Unzulanglichkeiten bezuglich deren praktischer Umsetzbarkeit in einer offenen Umgebung wie dem Internet auf, wo automatisierte Verhandlungen nicht nur sehr schnell durchgefuhrt werden sondern sich auch Software-Agenten und Verhandlungsprobleme andern konnen. Diese Defizite thematisierend werden Verhandlungssysteme fur automatisierte Verhandlungen vorgeschlagen. Diese bestehen zum einen aus Software-Agenten, die generische Angebots- und Konzessionsstratgien verfolgen, zum anderen aus Interaktionsprotokollen, die es Agenten erlauben ihre Strategien vorubergehend oder permanent auszusetzen. Ergebnisse der Simulation dieser Systeme, mit Verhandlungsproblemen aus Verhandlungsexperimenten mit menschlichen Probanden als Input, werden fur unterschiedliche Ergebnisdimensionen -- Ubereinkunftshaufigkeit, Fairness, individuelle und kollektive Effizienz -- zwischen Systemen und auch mit den Ergebnissen der Experimente verglichen. Trotz fundamentaler Zielkonflikte zwischen den einzelnen Ergebnisdimensionen erzielen einige Systeme konsistent bessere Ergebnisse sowohl im Systemvergleich als auch verglichen mit den Ergebnissen der Experimente. Diese Systeme bestehen aus Software-Agenten die systematisch Angebote mit monoton abnehmendem Nutzen unterbreiten und erste Konzessionensschritte tatigen solange der Opponent bisherige Konzessionen erwidert hat. Das verwendete Interaktionsprotokoll zeichnet sich dadurch aus, dass es den Agenten erlaubt ungunstige Angebote zuruckzuweisen und damit neue Angebote des Opponenten einzufordern, durch diese Unterbrechung der eigenen Angebotsstrategie konnen ungunstige Verhandlungsergebnisse vermieden werden.

Standardized interpolated path analysis of offer processes in e-negotiations

We describe a new approach to analyze offer processes in electronic negotiations. Utility values associated with offers are interpolated to standardized points in time during the negotiation, thus enabling a comparison and aggregation of different negotiations. We illustrate the usefulness of this approach in an exemplary empirical study. Empirical results indicate that negotiators frequently make offers that destroy total value, and that concessions across a broad range of issues are needed for successful negotiations.

Key success factors of collaborative planning processes

Building design and planning is a typical instance of coordination and collaboration processes, where experts work together in fulfilling their own distinct planning tasks that build the basis for the realization of the joint building project. Increasing requirements on building performance, like resources and energy efficiency, resulting in growing project complexity call for a holistic view of the project rather than a fragmented one, as strengths in one domain cannot easily offset weaknesses in others. Traditional sequential planning processes fall short in fulfilling this requirement. This study compares sequential and integrated building design in a large laboratory experiment with student participants. The focus of the study was to examine the impact of personality traits on team performance in different planning procedures in a building planning experiment. We identified that the success of design processes relies on both skills and the personality traits of the team members. In the integrated plan...

Integration of Behavioral and Analytic Decision Support in Electronic Negotiations

This paper presents the e-Nego-motion research project which attempts to enhance understanding of effects of and interaction between behavioral and analytic decision support in e-negotiations. Systems providing both kinds of decision support were used in a laboratory experiment. Analyses show that behavioral decision support is requested most often for issues where experienced conflict is high. When consulted early in the negotiation phase, the diagnosis, analysis and advice functions of behavioral support increase the efficiency of agreements. This effect is even stronger if analytic decision support is available to subjects. Additionally, communication patterns influence the quality of negotiations independent of decision support. The more formal offers and counteroffers are exchanged, the higher is the efficiency of outcomes measured by joint utility. Overall, there are no significant differences in the number and quality of agreements between support approaches. Nevertheless, the satisfaction of subjects with process and outcomes reflects the strengths of the support approaches: Subjects with behavioral support are most satisfied with outcomes while subjects with decision support are most satisfied with the negotiation process.

Designing and evaluation procedures for interdisciplinary building information modelling use—an explorative study

Building information modelling (BIM) tools are increasingly present in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. This software tool chain requires not only new knowledge on the level of technology, but also people with knowledge related to skills and re-configuration of the process. There is hope that BIM tools will increase the degree of process integration and support the multidisciplinary planning practice. In order to test this assumption and gain first insights in multidisciplinary collaborative planning process using various BIM tools, an experimental study in a university course on multidisciplinary design was carried out. The results of our analyses indicate that BIM software is perceived as highly useful but not interoperable. The lack of interoperability and resulting problems are also the main topic of focus group discussions conducted after the course. Architects are less satisfied with the interdisciplinary planning process. Early coordination, concerning organization and softw...

THE IMPACT OF ANALYTICAL SUPPORT AND PREFERENCE DETERMINATION ON CONSISTENCY IN E-NEGOTIATIONS — A NEW METHOD AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS

This paper explores whether the decisions made by a negotiator during negotiations are consistent with her preferences. By considering the entire set of offers exchanged during a negotiation, the measures of consistency developed in this paper provide a compact representation of important behavioral characteristics throughout the negotiation process.The consistency measures developed in this paper are validated with data from an experimental study in which the impact of two factors on negotiation processes is studied: the availability of analytical support and imposed vs. elicited preferences. We find that negotiators behave more consistently when preferences are assigned to them by the experimenters than when their preferences are elicited. On the other hand, an impact of analytical support is only found when preferences are elicited. These results shed light on both the design of negotiation experiments and the development of negotiation support systems.

Experimentelle Analyse und Optimierung IT-gestützter interdisziplinärer Planungsprozesse

Die jungsten Entwicklungen in der Bauplanungs- und Bauindustrie zeichnen sich durch zunehmende Komplexitat von und steigende Anforderungen an Bauprojekte aus. Steigende Anforderungen und erhohte Komplexitat ergeben sich vor allem aus Nachhaltigkeit- und Energieeffizienzuberlegungen fur Gebaude und die erhohte Berucksichtigung der Lebenszyklusgesamtkosten von Gebauden. So lasst sich Solarenergie fur Beheizung oder Energiegewinnung beispielsweise nur bei geeigneter Ausrichtung des Gebaudes nutzen, eine Entluftung – und damit geringere Kuhlkosten – ist nur moglich wenn geeignete archetektonische Masnahmen, wie etwa ein Atrium, schon im Architekturmodel vorgesehen werden, das Verhaltnis von Gebaudeausenflache zu Gebaudevolumen das in der Architektur festgelegt wird hat, neben anderen Faktoren wie Nutzung, Oberflachenmaterialien, Isolierung, etc., betrachtliche Auswirkungen auf Temperaturaufnahme und –abgabe des Gebaudes und damit auf dessen Energieeffizienz, etc.

What Computers Can Tell Us About Emotions – Classification of Affective Communication in Electronic Negotiations by Supervised Machine Learning

Affective communication and emotions are an important part of negotiations. Negotiation support and negotiation support systems, however, tend to neglect this aspect given extant measurement difficulties. This study explores the possibilities of state of the art supervised machine learning techniques to classify emotions expressed in negotiation communication during electronic negotiation experiments. The affective content of the exchanged messages was determined by human coders and classified according to the circumflex model of affect. The output of this laborious activity, that can only be accomplished after a negotiation, which makes it irrelevant for negotiation support, was input to this study. Promising performance of some preprocessing and machine learning techniques was achieved. Especially the category of activating negative emotions, which is highly important in negotiations as it might reduce the prospects of reaching an agreement, was correctly classified quite often.

Development of BIM-supported integrated design processes for teaching and practice

Building Information Modelling (BIM) promises to integrate the fragmented disciplines of architecture, engineering and construction, and to optimize the life cycle performance of buildings. BIM cas...