Abstract
The thinking framework for group decision support systems (GDSS) proposed by Colin Eden 30 years ago is revisited. Like the source paper, this chapter is a personal take on the topic; however it is a personal take rooted in substantial experience in the broad area of decision-making and modeling and in some specific narrow areas of decision support. There have been major developments in the broad context surrounding GDSS, including the improved understanding of decisions on the conceptual side, and many aspects of computer development, such as artificial intelligence and big data on the technical side. Considering the volume of these changes, it is surprising how much the observations, arguments, and conclusions offered in the source paper are still valid today. The most important component of any GDSS is still the facilitator, and the most valuable ingredients of the GDSS process are the participants’ intuitions, creativity, opinions, arguments, agendas, personalities, and networks. The outcome of the GDSS process is only valuable if it is politically feasible. Today we have a better understanding of transitional objects and their role in the GDSS process; their significance is the second after the facilitator. Artificial intelligence can be useful for GDSS in several different ways, but it cannot replace the facilitator.
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Notes
- 1.
This notion of strategic does not necessarily refer to the overall corporate strategy but can also mean strategy at the level of an organisational unit or team, whatever we are supporting with the GDSS.
- 2.
Maxim, technically a chiasmus, usually attributed to Albert Einstein (allegedly he once wrote it on his blackboard), but it seems that it was first brought together, at least in writing by Cameron (1963: 13).
- 3.
It is the Doctus KBS (www.doctuskbs.com), started and owned by Zoltán Baracskai.
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Dörfler, V. (2021). Looking Back on a Framework for Thinking About Group Support Systems. In: Kilgour, D.M., Eden, C. (eds) Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49629-6_32
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