Visualizing Arguments and Analysis of Business Meetings by Considering the Emotional Aspects of Arguments

Abstract

This study proposes a method of visualizing and analyzing arguments based on the emotional aspects that are discussed during the decision-making process of business in order to determine problems that exist and the causes of failure in the planning process. When difficulties regarding business change occur, they result in emotional opinions being expressed during business meetings. These opinions are useful in identifying difficult situations as well as conflicting view-points that exist between stakeholders. By tracking emotional responses through the decision-making process, it is possible to identify the essential points of success or failure of a business transformation. This paper establishes emotional attributes for analyzing business discussions by arranging aspects of arguments in business meetings. Next, quantification method Type-3 is used to visualize the structure of discussions in terms of categorized aspects of arguments that include emotional attributes expressed by emoticon. This way it is easy to recognize conflicting opinions and the point of breakdown in business meetings, and then steps are taken to resolve the issues. This method also examines some examples that are accumulated in the business system transformation model (BSTM) that proves useful. Finally, operational problems and possibilities of this method are discussed.