HISTI
HISTI
Group Decision Support Systems and Executive Support Systems
Introduction to GDSS
Introduction to GDSS
Many business decisions involve a group of people. While a person might be responsible for the final decision, meetings can be used to enable everyone to have a say, analyze the potential effects on each area, and persuade others to accept an agreed decision. There is a problem, though: decisions that involve groups of people have additional complications. Someone has to organize and control the meeting. During the meeting, people may compete to make comments and get their options heard. Someone has to take notes of the meeting and votes have to be counted.
Information systems can help with situations involving group decisions; tools can be used to share data and documents, message systems can be used to share comments and early drafts of work, and bulletin boards can be used to let everyone express opinions and evaluations. In the late nineteen eighties, an additional tool known as a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) was defined.