Conflict management and group decision support systems

Computers promise to change collaborative work in profound ways. They are likely to have special impact on processes which require fine judgments, foresight, and handling of large amounts of information, such as decision-making and strategic planning. Several authors (Huber, 1984; Kraemer and King, 1986) have discussed the potential benefits of decision support systems for organizational decision-making.

Group decision support systems (GDSSs) combine communication, computer, and decision support technologies to support problem formulation and solution in group meetings. Communication technologies include electronic messaging, local and wide-area networks, teleconferencing, and store-and-forward facilities. Computer technologies include multi-user operating systems, fourth generation languages, databases, data analysis facilities, and data storage and modification capabilities. Decision support technologies include agenda-setting decision modelling methods (such as decision trees, risk analysis forecasting methods, and multiattribute utility functions), structured group methods (e.g., Nominal Group and Delphi Techniques), and rules for directing group discussion. DeSanctis and Gallupe (1987) have distinguished two levels of GDSS. A level 1 GDSS provides features to eliminate communication barriers, such as large screens for display of ideas, voting solicitation, and anonymous input of ideas and preferences. A level 2 GDSS provides problem-structuring techniques, such as automated planning tools, modelling packages, and information libraries. Level 2 thus represents an enhanced GDSS, as opposed to Level 1, which is a communication medium only.

GDSSs can be tailored to tackle critical situations decision-makers face. One of the most ubiquitous and potentially troublesome situations is interpersonal conflict. Several features of GDSSs can play a key role in conflict management, including methods for the identification of conflict, structured agendas that guide the group through discussion of the conflict, utilities for clarifying the nature of the problem and for generating alternative solutions, and structures that promote members' participation. A few GDSSs have been specifically designed to manage conflicts (e.g., Sainfort, Gustafson, and Bosworth, 1987). However, these tend to be concerned with specific problem types, such as family conflict, and are not well-adapted for dealing with general conflicts.

In this article we will focus on how a nonspecialized multipurpose GDSS influences conflict management in groups. It is this type of GDSS that groups will most often use to deal with conflicts. Groups will not always have the time or inclination to switch into specialized conflict management routines, and what routines there are will rarely fit the specific problems groups face. Moreover, to assume a special routine is needed to deal with conflicts is to assume conflict is somehow distinct from group decision-making. On the contrary, we believe conflict is part and parcel of all collaborative work. So we will study how varying levels of conflict emerge and are handled within a GDSS.

The GDSS used for this search is a “generic”, level I system, version 1.0 of the University of Minnesota SAMM GDSS system (DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1987; Desanctis, Watson, and Sambamurthy, in press). The level 1 version of SAMM is designed to facilitate group communication and organize group interaction. It was purposely designed to embody a widely-used decision procedure, Dewey's Reflective Thinking Model, along with a few popular methods of deciding—rating, ranking, and voting. It purposely omits some of the more advanced features that could and would be incorporated in Level 2 systems (and are available in later versions of SAMM). This was done so we could compare work by groups using the GDSS with that of groups using manual versions of the same procedures.

In the next section we will first consider the effects GDSSs are likely to have on conflict management and advance several research questions and predictions. Following this we will describe a study designed to ascertain these effects.