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factors some of them I will indicate as being:
presented. If one considers the ubiquitous role
and practice of conversations in many decision
processes, and the top-level character of these,
then it appears promising to explore the possibil-
ity of substantially improving decision quality in
organizations through computer support of the
social interactions involved in decision-making.
A structure for a CODSS has been presented
as mapping in itself the configuration of organi-
zational domains of an organization. Each orga-
nizational domain has associated its unit decision
process (UDP) and its compound decision process
(CDP). It becomes natural that the interface with
users be framed through such a map, each user
addressing or relating with decision processes
occurring in the organizational domains to which
he belongs.
A formalism to base the support of interac-
tion among users and the collecting of users'
contributions has been presented. Users may
have the power to take decisions or not, be DMs
or non-DMs, but, in principle, all members of
an organizational domain are deemed as poten-
tial contributors to decisions. Being a potential
contributor includes raising issues to be decided.
To exploit further the potential advantages of
a CODSS, this should allow perceiving decision
processes as state transition flows, with associated
devices to enable polling and voting on issues,
linking and classifying decision processes. This
raises the possibility of mapping through a CODSS
the global decision process of an organization.
Improved decisions quality
Improved motivation and satisfaction of
people
Improved efficiency of the global and
the local decisions processes of the
organization
Organizational learning
All these in turn should translate into more
value per persona produced by the organization.
To get estimates of the value's increase is a difficult
task, given that a not-yet-tried concept is being
proposed and given that unpredictable, relevant
gains to expect, may come from non-linear effects
of interaction among people that a CODSS may
enable. However, logically deriving bounds from
a set of reasonable assumptions may give a first
map of possibilities.
The following questions to address relate to
how one must design a CODSS so that people
using it start to produce better decision processes
with minimal learning. Design should also aim (i)
smooth integration in the culture and established
ways of interaction among people and (ii) effec-
tive integration in the global information system
of the organization. In requiring smooth integra-
tion in the culture, one does not mean that this
culture will not change because of the organization
adopting a CODSS.
A standing question, only pointed above, is
how a structure of a CODSS will treat organiza-
tional domains that intersect other organizational
domains without being included in them. More
exactly, how such relation will be reflected in the
linking of the UDPs involved.
potential benefits and pitfalls
At the individual decision level, the basic fact
giving a potential gain for DMs is that a CODSS
can ease or facilitate:
concLusion
To perceive more potential relevant issues
for decision as any member can raise an
issue.
This chapter has developed concepts for Con-
versation-Oriented Decision Support Systems
(CODSSs). Several ideas converge in the concepts
To get an enlarged perception about the is-
sue to be decided upon, that may translate
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