Date of Award

12-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Kevin P. Grant, PhD

Abstract

The research contributed to the study of Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) in field experiments involving real managers making real decisions. This research was conducted by the Air Force Institute of Technology with the Air Force Armstrong Laboratory to evaluate the efficacy of using GDSS technology in an Air Force decision making environment. This study compared facilitated GDSS, facilitated manual, and unfacilitated manual decision making processes. This study focused on performance and secondary outcomes resulting from GDSS effects versus process structure effects. The research evaluated two performance outcomes: GDSS efficiency in terms of decision speed and effectiveness in terms of consensus. Post-process questionnaires were used to compare groups with respect to the participant's perceptions. The study concluded that GDSS, process structure, and group dynamics impacted performance. GDSS groups experienced lower decision speeds and consensus compared to facilitated manual groups which, in turn, experienced lower decision speeds and consensus compared to unfacilitated manual groups. Participants perceived the GDSS process as more difficult than the facilitated manual process. Likewise, participants perceived the facilitated manual process as more difficult, more structured, and producing more conflict than the unfacilitated manual process. These findings are consistent with other field studies which concluded that small groups or groups performing less complex choice-type tasks may not benefit from use of a GDSS.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GSO-LAS-92D-01

DTIC Accession Number

ADA258968

Comments

Presented to the Faculty of the School of Logistics and Acquisitions Management of the Air Force Institute of Technology

The author's Vita page is omitted.

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