ore than half the cost of the development of complex computer-based information systems (IS) is attributable to decisions made in the upstream portion of the software development process; namely, requirements specification and design [20]. There is growing recognition that research on how teams actucilly go about making requirement determinations and design decisions can provide valuable insights lor improving the quality and productivity of large-scale computer-based IS development efforts [9,12,23]. Traditional models of group dynamics, group decision making, and group development are not rich enough to thoroughly explain the real-world complexities faced by software design teams. Most of this research was performed on tasks that were shorter, less complex and did not require the extensive integration of knowledge domains that characterizes soltware systems design [9,12].Knowledge is the raw material of software design teams. For complex projects, knowledge from multiple technical and functional domains is a necessity [12]. Ideally, a software design team is staffed so that both the levels and the distribution of knowledge within the team match those required for the successful completion of the project. Because of knowledge shortfalls such as the thin spread of application domain knowledge in most organizations, however, this is seldom the case [12]. In general, individual team members do not have all of the knowledge required for the project and must acquire additional information before accomplishing productive work. The sources of this information can be relevant documentation, formal training sessions, the results of trial-and-error behavior, and other team members. Group meetings are an important environment for learning, since they allow team members to share information and learn about other domains relevant to their work.Productive design activities need to revolve around the integration of the various knowledge domains. This integration leads to shared models of the problem under consideration and potential solutions. A software design team seldom starts its life with shared models of the system to be built. Instead, these models develop over time as team members learn from one another about the expected behavior of the application and the computational stiuctures required to produce this behavior. This means that team members need to be speaking the same language (or, at least, dialects whose semantics are similar enough to facilitate communication and understanding) in order to share knowledge about the system.Knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, and knowledge integration are significant, time-consuming activities that precede the development of a design document. The purpose of this article is to examine how these activities unfolded over time inside an actual software design team. Two related questions with respect to this team will be resolved: 1) How do the group members acquire, share, and integrate project-relevant knowledge? 2) Do the levels of participation in these activities differ ac...

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Managerial decision making is regarded as among the most important functions of senior managers. The presence of easily accessible, reliable information contributes to effective decision making. Sources of information may be oral, written, or computer-based. The computer-based information sources remain the least studied in the context of executive decision making because executives have tended to use other managers and their own intuition as their primary information sources. Recently though, computer-based information systems directly tailored for use by executives have begun to be implemented within organizations. Such systems, referred to as Executive Information Systems, may help executives make faster and higher quality decisions, an increasingly important requirement for executives given such trends as globalization and heightened competition. This study uses survey responses of 91 high level managers to empirically examine the relationship of executive information system use by managers with decision making speed, problem identification speed, information availability, and the involvement of subordinates in decision making. The study found that when used frequently and over time, executive information systems are positively related to perceived problem identification and decision making speed for senior and middle managers. Whether such effects lead to higher quality decisions are topics for further study. In addition, the frequency of use of executive information systems is shown to be related to a perceived increase in information availability although the length of time the system is in use is not related to perceived information availability. This suggests that the information needs of senior and middle managers is malleable and systems designed to support the decision making of managers need to be flexible to adapt to changing information needs. Lastly, the study found that the use of executive information systems does not reduce the reliance of senior or middle managers on their subordinates to help in decision making. This may be because the involvement of subordinates does not necessarily connote a consistent positive or negative behavior among American managers, whereas speed and information are consistently considered as positive. The implications of the results for a previously developed theory of the effects of advanced information technology on organizational design, intelligence, and decision making are discussed.

The concept of decision support systems that emerged in the seventies offered the promise of computer-based tools that would enable decision makers to develop better and more creative solutions to the problems they face. The realization of this promise depends on the validity of two assumptions: (1) individuals can be helped to be more creative and (2) software, appropriately designed, can provide this help. Evidence from creativity research supports the first assumption. This paper explores the second assumption. A set of guidelines for designing DSS is developed from the creativity literature and two hypotheses involving the use of a DSS developed in accordance with these guidelines are proposed. To test these hypotheses, an experiment involving three groups of auditors from a “big eight” accounting firm was conducted. Each group was asked to respond to two different decision situations. Two groups were given separate versions of a DSS specifically selected because it contained features that were thought to enhance creativity. Another group was given no software. The results of the experiment indicate significant differences in the creativity of the responses generated by the three groups. Possible explanations for these differences are explored.

This paper reports the results of a study that examined the way that professionals used a particular decision aid, spreadsheet software, to address a business-oriented task. The professionals were divided into four groups, depending on whether they were experts or novices in the functional area of business represented by the task and on whether they were experts or novices in the use of spreadsheet software. The physical interactions as well as the thought processes underlying these interactions were captured. Results of the study indicated that a lack of expertise in spreadsheet software usage inhibited the application of functional area knowledge. The behavior and outcomes of the functional area expert/spreadsheet novice group did not match those of the functional area expert/spreadsheet expert group. In fact, they paralleled more closely those of the other two groups that did not possess functional area knowledge. Results of the study also indicated that individuals need to obtain a level of expertise in using a decision aid before they are able to apply their functional area knowledge to the problem at hand.