Microlevel Structuration in Computer-Supported Group Decision Making

The theory of Structuration focuses on how actions by members of social collectives create the structures that enable and constrain future action. Most previous research on Structuration in groups and organizations used qualitative case studies because Structuration is quite complex. This study introduces a method for the study of Structuration in larger samples of groups or organizations. A category system for the identification of structuring moves is described, along with several methods for characterizing short- and long-term trends in Structuration processes. The method is used to study how groups incorporate a computerized group decision support system (GDSS) into their decision processes. GDSSs are part of a class of new computer and communication technologies designed to help groups improve their meetings and make better decisions. Because GDSSs must be used by a group rather than an individual, social processes are critical in determining their effects on group outcomes. GDSSs influence groups by structuring their activities, and structurational processes are critical mediators of the impacts of GDSSs on group decision making. The study focused on the effects of restrictiveness of GDSS technology on Structuration processes and, in turn, on the relation of Structuration to a key group outcome, consensus change. The results suggest that two major types of structuring processes occur in computer-supported groups and that the nature of structuration is related to degree of consensus change.     

Improving group decisions by better pooling information: a comparative advantage of group decision support systems

This study compared a group decision support system (GDSS) with face-to-face (FTF) group discussion on characteristics of information exchange and decision quality. Participants given conflicting information tended to share more of their unique data and engaged in more critical argumentation when using the GDSS than when meeting FTF. Conversely, when information was consistent among members, there were no such differences between FTF and GDSS groups. The GDSS groups significantly outperformed the FTF groups in agreeing on the superior hidden profile candidate, especially when there was a lack of prediscussion consensus. Individual-level analyses revealed that members of GDSS groups that did not have a prediscussion consensus tended to experience stronger preference shifts toward the group's consensus decision.     

团体决策支持系统和团体讨论对团体决策的影响

通过模拟实验的方法,探讨了团体决策支持系统（GDSS）和团体讨论对团体决策的影响。以大学生为被试,运用小组决策任务,对小组决策过程进行了研究。实验记录了在有无GDSS的支持和有无团体讨论两个变量所决定的4种实验条件下,小组决策取得结果的正确性和组内的一致性。用ANOVA方法分析了4种条件下的实验结果,发现GDSS能提高团体决策的正确性,而团体讨论将有助于成员做出一个正确的、一致的决策     

Leadership Style,Anonymity, and Creativity in Group Decision Support Systems: The Mediating Role of Optimal Flow

ABSTRACT Prior research indicates that flow, a psychological state characterized by concentration, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation, may be linked to creativity of individuals participating in computer-mediated meetings. A laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of leadership style (transactional contingent reward and transformational) and anonymity level (identified and anonymous) on flow and creativity of 159 undergraduate students working in groups performing a creativity task using a Group Decision Support System (GDSS). Results demonstrated that flow mediated effects of leadership on creativity in a GDSS context, and its role may be moderated by anonymity. Results also indicated that both flow and anonymity were required for enhancing creativity in a GDSS context. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Decision Development in Small Groups V Test of a Contingency Model

This study tested a model of the factors that influence groups to follow various paths as they make decisions. Three panels of contingency variables, which indexed the nature of the group's task and group structure, were used to predict properties of the group's developmental path. The decision path properties included type of decision path, the complexity of the path, the amount of disorganized behavior the group engaged in, and the relative emphasis on various types of decision activity, such as orientation, problem analysis, and solution development. The contingency variables were quite effective in predicting decision paths and their properties. Group structure variables were stronger predictors than were task variables. Results suggested that significant revisions in the original contingency model were necessary. Most notably, the groups appeared to be much more rational in adapting their paths to the contingencies than we had originally supposed they would be.     

Theoretical Frameworks for the Study of Structuring Processes in Group Decision Support Systems

Most theoretical perspectives used to explain the use and effects of communication and decision support technologies assume some form of technological determinism. Inconsistencies in the research findings have prompted theorists to reject the assumptions of technological determinism in favor of an emergent perspective. To date, only adaptive Structuration theory (AST) offers the promise of satisfying two requirements for explanation based on an emergent perspective: recursivity and unique effects. The current article reviews the application of AST to the study of a relatively recent technology in the work place—group decision support systems (GDSS). Next it discusses AST's challenge to capture, dynamically and precisely, GDSS processes and outcomes. In response to these concerns, self-organizing systems theory (SOST) is reviewed and applied to problematic areas in GDSS research with the aim of advancing AST.     

Interactional Influence in the Structuring of Media Use in Groups Influence in Members’Perceptions of Group Decision Support System Use

The aim of this study is to examine the ways in which individuals’perceptions of media use are influenced by others. Traditional theories of media use have proposed that perceptions of media use are shaped by individuals’demographic characteristics and the media's characteristics. However, three recent theories—critical mass theory, social influence model of media use, and adaptive structuration theory—suggest that individuals’perceptions of media emerge as a result of their interaction with others in their social network. Results from a longitudinal study of 30 group decision support system (GDSS) groups and 25 non-GDSS groups over a 3-week period indicate that interactional influence was a better predictor of individuals’perceptions of media use than were individuals’demographic characteristics or characteristics of the media.     

Group vs individual information processing: The effects of outcome feedback on decision making

Recent theories of individual decision making have emphasized the role of environmental feedback on decision performance and confidence. However, in relation to group decision making, feedback has received only minor attention. This study compared individual and group decision performance and confidence on a multicue personnel decision task under three different feedback conditions. Individuals and five-person groups decided whether to promote 48 different job candidates, and rated how confident they were in each of their decisions. Feedback as to the correctness of their decisions was provided after (a) every decision (Total Feedback), (b) only those decisions to promote the candidate (Partial Feedback), or (c) after none of the decisions (No Feedback). Results indicated that groups performed best under total feedback, while individuals performed best under partial feedback. In addition, greater amounts of feedback reduced individuals' confidence but had little effect on group member confidence. Implications for both current theory in decision making and group vs individual information processing are discussed.     

The Influence of Decision Makers' Goals on Their Concerns About Procedural Justice1

Two studies examine how decision makers' goals of enhancing organizational effectiveness and promoting positive interpersonal relations shape their decision making when they are allocating scarce resources among group members. Past research has conceptualized this problem as one of balancing between the use of two distributive justice principles: equity and equality. The studies reported examine the degree to which authorities are also concerned about issues of procedural justice. The results suggest that experienced decision makers—both managerial and administrative—believe that when trying to maintain positive interpersonal relations it is as important to use decision-making procedures that will be regarded as fair (procedural justice) as it is to allocate outcomes in ways which will be regarded as fair (distributive justice). Decision makers' definitions of procedural justice are also examined.     

The Rank-Order Effect in Group Decision Making

Many studies indicate that group discussion candisproportionately reflect information known by all group members,at the expense of information known to only one group member, andthis is associated with suboptimal group decisions (Stasser &Titus, 1985). The present study examined the impact of threeprocedural factors on information sharing and quality of groupdecision: (a) group decision procedure (an instruction to "rankorder the alternatives" vs "choose the best alternative"), (b)information access during group discussion (reliance on memory vscomplete access), and (c) communication technology (computer vsface to face). Three-person groups worked on an investment decisionthat was structured as a hidden-profile task where criticalinformation was distributed unevenly prior to group discussion. Thedata provided support for a rank-order effect: Groups instructedto rank order the alternatives, compared to groups instructed tochoose the best alternative, were more likely to fully consider allof the alternatives, exchange information about unpopularalternatives, and make the best decision. But these effects onlyoccurred in face-to-face groups. In computer-mediated groups, therewas general information suppression and no effect of group decisionprocedure. Access to information during group discussion increaseddiscussion of both unique and common information, in theface-to-face conditions, but had no effect on group decisionquality. Taken together, the data suggest that procedural aspectsof group discussion may help overcome the impact of prediscussionpreferences on information processes and group decision.     

The Effects of Decision Outcome Dispersion Upon Organizational Decision Making

The effects of varying decision outcome dispersion on organizational decision making were investigated under individual and group decision making conditions. Thirty-six female and pg]36 male subjects made decisions for organizational decision scenarios in which outcomes affected primarily the decision maker, people other than the decision maker, or a group of which the decision maker was a member. Subjects rated their levels of perceived risk and confidence in their decisions and made decisions within a simulated context of either a small or a large organization. Results indicated that subjects perceived significantly less risk and more confidence in their decisions when outcomes affected primarily themselves rather than others regardless of whether the decisions were made individually or by a group. Males perceived their decisions as significantly more risky than females. Induced organizational size did not significantly influence decision making.

     

The Effect of a Computerized Decision Aid on the Development of Knowledge

This study provides evidence on how the use of a computerized decision aid affects knowledge acquisition. While the intent of such computer-based decision aids is to improve and support unaided human judgments, it is unclear whether the use of the aids actually facilitate knowledge transfer. Seventy-six subjects completed a hypothetical decision task where one of two types of decision aids was used: an expert system or traditional textual materials. Results suggest that those using a computer-based decision aid acquired and encoded in memory less declarative knowledge than those using textual reference materials. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

愿望采择发展水平对幼儿情感决策的影响

选取148名4岁儿童, 运用实验法考察了幼儿的愿望采择发展水平对其情感决策的影响。结果表明: (1) 幼儿的愿望采择水平对其情感决策具有显著影响。情境中他人愿望信息充足时, 幼儿会采择他人愿望并以此为线索为他人决策, 但对线索的利用程度受其愿望采择水平的制约。(2) 在无关于他人愿望信息提示的条件下, 4岁儿童为他人与为自己的情感决策不存在显著差异。(3) 4岁儿童能够采择他人的单一愿望, 但其冲突愿望采择能力还不成熟。     

The effect of implicit and explicit practice in the development of decision making in volleyball serving

This experiment investigated the effect of explicit, implicit, and sequential learning (implicit-explicit) on the acquisition and retention of decision-making skill in volleyball. The participants were 60 female novices, ages 10 to 12 years. The experimental groups followed three different methods of training: (a) explicit practice for the development of declarative knowledge, (b) implicit practice for the development of the procedural knowledge, (c) sequential practice (implicit first and then explicit), and (d) control group that participated only in the measurements. A pre-test, a post-test, and a retention test measured the response time and accuracy of the decision-making skill. Analysis indicated that all experimental groups improved over time while the control group did not. The sequential group was faster and more accurate than the implicit group, and the latter was faster and more accurate than the explicit one. The sequential group outperformed implicit and explicit groups on both speed and accuracy of decision. It seems that both explicit and implicit processes, when they take place in sequence, interact positively, and this method improves speed and accuracy of decision making rather than when each mode of learning (implicit or explicit) occurs separately. If the role of working memory is reduced at the early stages of learning, the accumulation of declarative knowledge (explicit learning) may benefit from accumulation of procedural knowledge and enhance decision-making skill.     

The Adaptive Use of Recognition in Group Decision Making

Applying the framework of ecological rationality, the authors studied the adaptivity of group decision making. In detail, they investigated whether groups apply decision strategies conditional on their composition in terms of task‐relevant features. The authors focused on the recognition heuristic, so the task‐relevant features were the validity of the group members' recognition and knowledge, which influenced the potential performance of group strategies. Forty‐three three‐member groups performed an inference task in which they had to infer which of two German companies had the higher market capitalization. Results based on the choice data support the hypothesis that groups adaptively apply the strategy that leads to the highest theoretically achievable performance. Time constraints had no effect on strategy use but did have an effect on the proportions of different types of arguments. Possible mechanisms underlying the adaptive use of recognition in group decision making are discussed.     

规则聚焦对创业决策的影响机制

在创业决策的研究中,决策规则是一个被忽视的问题。研究调查了277名创业者,对被试的四种规则聚焦水平进行了协方差分析和分组回归分析。结果发现,因为规则聚焦的不同,创业决策的效标存在较大差异,且机会识别与创业决策之间的关系存在紧密性、选择性和偶发性三种关联模式。     

Information Suppression and Status Persistence in Group Decision Making The Effects of Communication Media

This experiment investigated the conditions under which a member with information critical for making the best group decision will positively influence the group's final choice. The impact of two factors on group decision quality, information exchange, and perceptions of influence was examined: (a) status differences among members (equal-status vs. mixed-status groups) and (b) communication media (face-to-face vs. computer-mediated communication). Three-person groups were composed such that the critical information required to make the best decision was given only to the low-status member in the mixed-status groups and randomly assigned to one member in the equal-status groups. The results indicated that the mixed-status groups made poorer decisions and made fewer references to critical information than equal-status groups, regardless of the communication medium. Computer-mediated communication suppressed information exchange and the perceived influence of group members, suggesting that the relation between status and communication media is more complex than proposed in past research.     

Cost-Benefit Determinants of Decision Process and Accuracy

Both costs and benefits were manipulated in monetary terms in a business relocation task in an effort to test cost-benefit models of decision making (e.g., Beach & Mitchell, 1978). Results indicated that both information costs and awards significantly affected depth, variability, and latency of search. Effects of cost of information on decision accuracy were mediated primarily by depth of search. The strongest support for cost-benefit models of decision making consisted of the very large difference between experimental conditions and a control condition to which costs and rewards were not manipulated. Future research should further explore the importance of cost-benefit manipulations and the impact of decision process variables on decision accuracy.