The Two Processes of Group Decision Making and the Effects of GDSS

Abstract

The effects of the Group Decision Support Systems(GDSS) are empirically analysed by many researchers, and we need to understand their results in term of the process-aspect of the group decision making. The group decision making has two processes: One is the divergent process where the group members form theopinions depending on their world views, and the other is the convergent process where the group members integrate their opinions constructing the new world view.This Paper reviewed GDSS researches in terms of these two processes and found that the positive effects of GDSS on the divergent prosess and the ambiguity effects on the convergent proceess. We need to understand the convergent process to construct GDSSsupporting that process.