Abstract
Experimental research on Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) has generally focused on democratic groups whose members typically share the same objectives. In organizations, however, there are many situations where groups have a leader who has the power to override the group's recommendation, the objective of the leader may not be the same as the objective of each member, and not everyone may have the same information. This paper reports the results of an experiment in which the groups, having a designated leader, worked on a mixed-motive task. Within this context, we analyze group decision outcomes and processes for groups that use a face-to-face channel of cormnunication and those that utilize computer mediated communication. We compare performance of the leader and members with respect to an objective measure of performance, the efficient frontier. The results indicate that for this task groups using face-to-face channel outperform groups using computer mediated communication.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Biocca, F., T. Kim, and M. Levy. (1995). “The vision of virtual reality,” in F. Biocca and M. Levy (eds.), Communication in the age of virtual reality. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Burke, K., and L. Chidambaram. (1995). “Developmental Differences Between Distributed and Face-to-Face Groups in Electronically Supported Meeting Environments: An Exploratory Investigation,” Group Decision and Negotiation 4(3).
Chidambaram, L., and B. Jones. (1993). “Impact of communication Medium and Computer Support on Group Perceptions and Performance: A Comparison of Face-to-Face and Dispersed Meetings,” Mis Quarterly 17(4), 465–489.
Cohon, J.L. (1978). Multiobjective Programming and Planning. Academic Press, A subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers.
Daft, R.L., R.H. Lengel, and L.K. Trevino. (1987). “Message equivocality, media selection, and manager performance: Implications for information systems,” MIS Quarterly 11(3), 355–366.
Daft, R.L., and R.H. Lengel. (1986). “Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design,” Management Science 32(5), 554–571.
Festinger, L., A. Pepitone, and T. Newcomb. (1952). “Some Consequences of Deindividuation in a Group,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 47, 382–389.
Gallupe, R.B., and J.D. McKeen. (1990). “Enhancing Computer-Mediated Communication: An Experimental Investigation into the Use of a Group Decision Support System for Face-to-Face Versus Remote Meetings,” Information & Management 18, 1–13.
Hiltz, S.R., K. Johnson, and M. Turoff. (1991). “Group Decision Support: The Effects of Human Leaders and Statistical Feedback in Computerized conferences,” Journal of Management Information Systems 8(2), 81–108.
Hoyle, R.H., and A.M. Crawford. (1994). “Use of individual-level data to investigate group phenomena,” Small Group Research 25(4).
Jessup, L.M., and D.A. Tansik. (1991). “Decision making in an Automated Environment: The Effects of Anonymity and Proximity with a Group Decision Support System,” Decision Sciences 22, 266–279.
Lee, S., (1991). “The Impact of Office Information Systems on Potential Power and Influence,” Journal of Management Information Systems 8(2), 135–151.
Lim, I.H., K.S. Raman, and K.K. Wei. (1990). “Does GDSS promote more democratic decision making? The Singapore Experiment,” IEEE 23, 59–68.
Lim, L.H., K.S. Raman, and K.K. Wei. (1994). “Interacting effects of GDSS and Leadership,” Decision Support Systems 12, 199–211.
McGrath, J.E. (1984). Groups: Interaction and Performance. Prentice-hall Inc.
McGrath, J.E., and A.B. Hollingshead. (1993). “Putting the 'Group' Back in Group Support Systems: Some Theoretical Issues About Dynamic Processes in Groups with Technological Enhancements,” in L.M. Jessup and J.S. Valacich (eds.), Group Support Systems. McMillan.
Nunamkaer, J.F., et al. (1991). “Electronic Meeting Systems to Support Group Work,” Communications of The ACM 34(7), 41–61.
Prentice-Dunn, S., and R.W. Rogers. (1989). Deindividuation and self-regulation of behavior, in P.B. Paulus (ed.), Psychology of group influence (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Raman, K.S., B.C. Tan, and K.K. Wei. (1993). “An Empirical Study of Task Type and Communication Medium in GDSS,” Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, IEEE Computer Society.
Rhee, H.S., et al. (1995). “Effects of Computer-Mediated Communication on Group Negotiation: An Empirical Study,” Proceedings of the 28th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, IEEE, 270–279.
Ruble, T.L., and K.W. Thomas. “Support for a Two Dimensional Model of Conflict Behavior,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 16, 143- 159.
Ruble, M.R. (1984). “An empirical test of a decision support system in a group decision making environment, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University.
Shannon, C., and W. Weaver. (1949). The Mathematical Theory of Communication. University of Illinois Press, Urbana-Champaign.
Sharda, R., S.H. Barr, and J. McDonnell. (1988). “Decision Support System Effectiveness: A Review and an Empirical Test,” Management Science 34(2), 139–159.
Siegel, J., et al. (1986). “Group Processes in Computer-Mediated Communication,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 37, 157–185.
Short, J., E. Williams, and B. Christie. (1976). The Social Psychology of Telecommunications. John Wiley & Sons.
Straus, S.G., and J.E. McGrath. (1994). “Does the Medium Matter? The Interaction of Task Type and Technology on Group Performance and Member Reactions,” Journal of Applied Psychology 79(1), 87–97.
Stuer, R.E. (1989). Multiple Criteria Optimization: Theory, Computation, and Application. Malabar, Florida: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company.
Westrum, R. (1972). Communications Systems and Social Change. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Chicago.
Zigrus, I., S. Poole, and G. DeSanctis. (1988). “A Study of Influence in Computer-Mediated Group Decision Making,” MIS Quarterly 12(4), 625–644.
Zimbardo, P.G. (1969). “The Human Choice: Individuation Reason and Order versus De-individuation Impulse and Chaos,” in W.J. Arnold and D. Levins (eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (17), Lincoln, NA: University of Nebraska Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barkhi, R., Jacob, V.S./. & Pirkul, H. An Experimental Analysis of Face to Face versus Computer Mediated Communication Channels. Group Decision and Negotiation 8, 325–347 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008621423120
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008621423120