Directed forgetting in organisations: the positive effects of decision support systems on mental resources and well-being

Decision makers in organisations are often overtaxed by huge amounts of information in daily business processes. As a potential support strategy, this study examined ‘directed forgetting’ (Bjork, 1970) in a simulated sales planning scenario. We assumed that the availability of a computer-based decision support system (DSS) triggers the forgetting of decision-related background information. Such directed forgetting should not only release memory capacities for additional tasks but also enhance decision quality and decrease strain of decision makers. Assumptions were tested in an experimental study with N?=?90 participants. Consistent with our assumptions, results revealed a higher recall of decision-unrelated information, higher decision quality and higher well-being when participants could use a DSS as compared to two Control conditions without a DSS. Moreover, directed forgetting effects were qualified by participants’ trust in the DSS. This study provides the first evidence for directed forgetting effects cued by information systems in a business context.

Practitioner summary: Information overload is an increasing challenge in modern business organisations. Extending findings from basic memory research, this study shows that availability of a computer-based decision support system triggers forgetting of decision-related background information, which in turn increases users’ mental resources for additional tasks, decision quality, and well-being.     

Automating Hypermedia for Decision Support

Many ‘first generation’ hypermedia systems were designed to support applications, which do not require the dynamic and general characteristics necessary for our domain --- decision support systems (DSS). The heart of our research is a dynamic model of hypermedia incorporating virtual structures and computation, which we call generalized hypermedia. Generalized hypermedia broadens and automates the ‘static’ or non-virtual notion of first generation hypermedia for a knowledge-based DSS shell. The shell provides a hypermedia-style interface for navigating among DSS application models, data and reports. Such a shell should support applications in a variety of fields, e.g., engineering, manufacturing, finance, and therefore must provide hypermedia support as general, system-level functionality Generalized hypermedia superimposes a hypermedia network on a DSS application, generating all hypermedia nodes, links and link markers dynamically from the application's standard, non-hypermedia knowledge base. In this paper we demonstrate how automating hypermedia can enhance decision making with a DSS. We describe generalized hypermedia and discuss the challenges presented to it by a dynamic, real-time environment.     

The Importance of Active Exploration,Optical Flow,and Task Alignment for Spatial Learning in Desktop 3D Environments

The Decision Support Systems (DSS) field has grown rapidly, drawing technology from many disciplines and pursuing applications in a variety of domains but developing little underlying theoretical structure and poor linkage between research and practice. This article presents a classification scheme for DSS techniques that provides a common theoretical framework for DSS research and also structures and simplifies the process of designing application systems. The classification system is functional, grouping DSS techniques according to their ability to provide similar kinds of support (i.e., functions) to a human decision maker. It is also cognitively based, defining the kinds of support that decision makers need in terms of architectural features and procedural aspects of human cognition. The classification is expressed as a taxonomy, encompassing six primary classes of decision support techniques representing the six general kinds of cognitive support that human decision makers need. The six classes are process models, which assist in projecting the future course of complex processes; choice models, which support integration of decision criteria across aspects and/or alternatives; information control techniques, which help in storage, retrieval, organization, and integration of data and knowledge; analysis and reasoning techniques, which support application of problem-specific expert reasoning procedures; representation aids, which assist in expression and manipulation of a specific representation of a decision problem; and judgment amplification/refinement techniques, which help in quantification and debiasing of heuristic judgments. Additional distinctions are provided to distinguish the individual techniques in each of these primary categories. The taxonomy also has practical use as a design aid for decision support systems. The kinds of decision support needs represented by the taxonomy are general and can be used to guide the analysis and decomposition of a given decision prior to decision aid design. Specific needs for assistance can then be tied to specific computational techniques in the taxonomy. Methodological suggestions for using the taxonomy as a design aid are given.     

Empirical evaluation of a decision support model for adopting software product line engineering

ContextThe software product line engineering (SPLE) community has provided several different approaches for assessing the feasibility of SPLE adoption and selecting transition strategies. These approaches usually include many rules and guidelines which are very often implicit or scattered over different publications. Hence, for the practitioners it is not always easy to select and use these rules to support the decision making process. Even in case the rules are known, the lack of automated support for storing and executing the rules seriously impedes the decision making process.ObjectiveWe aim to evaluate the impact of a decision support system (DSS) on decision-making in SPLE adoption. In alignment with this goal, we provide a decision support model (DSM) and the corresponding DSS.MethodFirst, we apply a systematic literature review (SLR) on the existing primary studies that discuss and present approaches for analyzing the feasibility of SPLE adoption and transition strategies. Second, based on the data extraction and synthesis activities of the SLR, the required questions and rules are derived and implemented in the DSS. Third, for validation of the approach we conduct multiple case studies.ResultsIn the course of the SLR, 31 primary studies were identified from which we could construct 25 aspects, 39 questions and 312 rules. We have developed the DSS tool Transit-PL that embodies these elements.ConclusionsThe multiple case study validation showed that the adoption of the developed DSS tool is justified to support the decision making process in SPLE adoption.     

Task constraints and user-system interaction process under personnel decision support

Abstract

An experiment involving a simulated decision support system was carried out to examine the patterns of user-system interaction and decision information utilization under personnel decision support. A computer simulation program of personnel decision support was developed, using actual personnel management data from eight Chinese enterprises, and the process tracing techniques were adopted. Thirty-six subjects (users) participated in this experiment. A 2 × 2 design of task constraints was formulated including two forms of decision information representations (chunking vs. random) and two types of time pressure (3 minutes vs. 1 minute). The results showed that, in interacting with decision support systems, users’ weights of decision information attributes were closely correlated with the types of information search patterns. Under high time-pressure and chunking representation condition, more selective search strategies were adopted with a similar pattern of the sequential search as it was under low time-pressure. The user-system interaction revealed a linear additive process of information utilization. Implications of the results are discussed in relation to the design of effective decision support systems for complex decision situations.     

Characteristics and implementation of decision support systems

Three types of information systems related to DSS's termed genuine DSS's, are difined: the traditionally built DSS, the MIS prototype, and the spurious DSS. The latter uses DSS tools and techniques for other purposes than decision support, such as control. It is shown that a number of features facilitate building genuine DSS's.     

Understanding Data-Driven Decision Support Systems

Abstract

It is important for managers and Information Technology professionals to understand data-driven decision support systems and how such systems can provide business intelligence and performance monitoring. Data-driven DSS is one of five major types of computerized decision support systems and the features of such systems vary across specific implementations. Different development packages also impact the capabilities of data-driven DSS and hence criteria for evaluating data-driven DSS development software are important to understand. Overall, this article builds on an historic foundation of prior decision support systems theory.     

Mapping the intellectual structure of research in decision support systems through author cocitation analysis (1971–1993)

This study applies factor analysis of an author cocitation frequency matrix derived from a database file that consists of a total of 23,768 cited reference records taken from 944 citing articles. Factor analysis extracted eleven factors consisting of six major areas of DSS research (group DSS, foundations, model management, interface systems, multicriteria DSS, and implementation) and five contributing disciplines (multiple criteria decision making, cognitive science, organizational science, artificial intelligence, and systems science). This research provides hard evidence that the decision support system has made meaningful progress over the past two decades and is in the process of solidifying its domain and demarcating its reference disciplines. Especially, much progress has been made in the subareas of model management such as representation, model base processing, model integration, and artificial intelligence application to model management leading towards the development of a theory of models. To facilitate the transition from the pre- to post-paradigm period in DSS research, this study has completed important groundwork.     

A computing theory for collaborative and transparent decision making under time constraint

In this paper, we present a computing theory on the accelerated critical point of selection of proper strategies between collaboration and competition and its mathematical analysis for collaborative and transparent decision making under “time constraint”, i.e., cost of time pressure, which decision makers face in negotiation. Web 2.0 provides a useful digital environment to support various time-stressed human behaviors for collaborative decision making. However, little research has examined the collaborative behavior under time constraint on the Internet in its designs and implementations on electronically supported decision making. Those systems are implemented in black boxes so that we need transparent designs of decision support systems to promote collaboration by time-stressed decision makers. The essential problem on collaborative decision making under time constraint is the discovery and evaluation on the critical point of selection of proper strategies between collaboration and competition. Most of the current decision support systems accept the half of maximum acceptable time for negotiation as a critical point, a priori, though that conventional point is often late for proper decision making. The proposed theory shows that a critical point is to be accelerated at the one-third of maximum acceptable time for negotiation. We have formulated the proposed computing theory based on mathematical formulation, and checked its feasibility in its applications to a case study. The proposed theory promotes collaborative and transparent decision making in consideration of the properties of stakes under time pressure by selecting the strategy of collaboration or competition at the much earlier stage.     

Survey of collaborative drawing support tools

Along with recent experiments in the design of communication or computer tools for supporting various kinds of group working, the development ofcollaborative drawing systems has emerged as a notable research area within the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. This paper reports a survey of the experiments in collaborative drawing support tools with an objective of reviewing how the issues of supportingcollaborative design have been addressed by the research prototypes. The survey is presented in three parts: (1) findings from the observations of group interaction in drawing and design activities, (2) a framework for classifying the design issues experimented with by prototypes developers, and (3) a categorisation of the current prototype systems by interrelating the patterns of group use observed with the system features classified. The survey indicates that there are currently at least three different strategies of developing collaborative drawing support tools, which reflect the existence of diversified understanding and technological responses to what and how human collaboration in design may be supported.     

A View of Software Development Environments Based on Activity Theory

We view software development as a collaborative activity that is typically supported by a software development environment. Since these environments can significantly influence the collaborative nature of a software development project, it is important to analyze and evaluate their capabilities with respect to collaboration. In this paper, we present an analysis and evaluation of the collaborative capabilities of software development environments using an activity theory perspective.The discipline of software engineering (SE) emerged to study and develop artifacts to mediate the collective development of large software systems. While many advances have been made in the past three decades of SE's existence, the historical origins of the discipline are present in that techniques and tools to support the collaborative aspects of large-scale software development are still lacking. One factor is a common ``production-oriented' philosophy that emphasizes the mechanistic and individualistic aspects of software development over the collaborative aspects thereby ignoring the rich set of human-human interactions that are possible over the course of a software development project.We believe that the issues and ideas surrounding activity theory may be useful in improving support for collaboration in software engineering techniques and tools. As such, we make use of the activity theory to analyze and evaluate process-centered software development environments (PCSDEs).     

A note on communicating between information systems based on including degrees

In order to study the communication between information systems, Gong and Xiao (2010, International journal of general systems, 39, 189–206) proposed the concept of general relation mappings based on including degrees. Some properties and the extension for fuzzy information systems of the general relation mappings have been investigated there. In this paper, we point out by counterexamples that several assertions (Lemmas 3.1 and 3.2, Theorems 4.1 and 4.3) in the aforementioned work are not true in general.     

Dialectic decision support systems: System design and empirical evaluation

Many complex and unstructured decisions are hindered by a lack of clear understanding of various underlying assumptions and perspectives involved in the decision process. At present, the traditional decision support systems (DSS) pay little attention to the elicitation of underlying assumptions and perspectives in dealing with complex issues. We argue that the Socratic dialectic inquiry is an effective method for dealing with unstructured problems that are complex and require the involvement of different perspectives in DSS. In this paper, we propose a design for Dialectic Decision Support Systems (DDSS), in which dialectical processes are integrated with traditional DSS in order to provide support for individual decision makers. We then formulate a conceptual model for identifying factors that contribute to the efficacy of DDSS in comparison to traditional DSS. The empirical test of the model supports the superior efficacy of the DDSS and identifies factors that contribute to it. The contributions of this research are in generating support for stimulating critical thinking, dealing with complex decision issues and identifying creative solutions.     

Decision Tradeoff Using Example-Critiquing and Constraint Programming

We consider constructive preference elicitation for decision aid systems in applications such as configuration or electronic catalogs. We are particularly interested in supporting decision tradeoff, where preferences are revised in response to the available outcomes. In several user-involved decision aid systems we designed in the past, we were able to observe three generic tradeoff strategies that people like to use. We show how a preference model based on soft constraints is well-suited for supporting these strategies. Such a framework provides an agile preference model particularly powerful for preference revision during tradeoff analysis. We further show how to integrate the constraint-based preference model with an interaction model called example-critiquing. We report on user studies which show that this model offers significant advantages over the commonly used ranked-list model, especially when the decision problem becomes complex.     

一种多企业协作的ERP与DSS整合构架设计

由于传统的ERP系统不具备决策支持能力,ERP与决策支持系统(DSS)的整合成为企业信息系统的必然发展趋势。然而仅仅如此,得到的决策支持力还是不够的。将这种整合在单个企业内部进行扩展完善,并发展到多个企业之间,能进一步提高各个企业的信息系统决策支持能力,并使之最大化。基于这样的思路,我们提出了一种多企业协作的ERP与DSS整合构架。     

Managerial problem identifier (MPI): Integrating expert system and decision support technologies

In the past, managers have relied upon narrowly focused decision support systems (DSS) to facilitate the conventional decision process. Due to the human tendency to absorb only partial information, this technology has been underutilized. More contemporary theory advances the integration of Expert Systems (ES) with DSS to overcome the deficiencies found in conventional decision support systems. This paper presents a prototype Managerial Problem Identifier (MPI) that integrates decision support and expert systems. The interaction of financial accounting trends are analyzed by the expert system. The objective is to identify potential problems that might be responsive to early interaction.     

Applying machine learning to model management in decision support systems

Model management systems have become increasingly important in handling complicated decision problems in decision support systems (DSS). Aiming at overcoming the weaknesses of currently used model management systems, we present a new framework of model management system which is capable of performing model manipulation more effectively. The new approach incorporates machine learning to acquire model manipulation knowledge, stored in the form of schemata, and to refine these acquired schemata. In addition, we also address two issues that have so far been overlooked in the DSS literature: (1) to refine existing model representations as more experiences are accumulated and (2) to create model selection heuristics adaptive to the DSS environment.     

Moving towards a collaborative decision support system for aeronautical data

The recent effort in global information standardization within the aviation industry has triggered an increased need for aviation data to be readily available, accurate and easy for stakeholders to use. Aviation management systems are generally based on old proprietary disparate systems, so there is a growing need for a system which could act as a collaborative decision support system, where the same right data can be provided at the right time to the right users. This system would not only eliminate the need to manually retrieve required information from multiple systems and reduce the possibility of human error, it would also allow the discovery of any hidden knowledge, a task otherwise not possible from separate systems. This paper presents our proposed approach to build an integrated system for data-intensive collaborative decision support. Each stage in the proposed framework is explained, including a section on the performance evaluation of the proposed system.     

Competition and cooperation in information systems innovation

Information systems may be strategic and may have competitive impact on a firm and its industry. Properties of an innovation or an environment that may predict the competitive impact have already been studied; now the process of determining an information systems strategy must be addressed.Recent work in economics addresses a game theoretic approach to selecting strategy for an innovation, where the decision maker's key choice is when to adopt the innovations. A strategy can be selected, based upon: beliefs concerning cost of development as a function of time of introduction; and estimates of profits, with and without the innovation, and with and without introduction by competitors.This work can be modified to relate more closely to the selection of a strategy for an information systems innovation. Most specifically, since many information systems are expensive, offer scale advantages, and are available to all members of an industry, cooperation through consortium development may make more sense than competition. Thus the key aspects of an investment decision in strategic information systems are timing, as an early or late developer, and cooperation, as an independent innovator or as a member of a development consortium.