Group decision support systems and incentive structures
Introduction
The emerging phenomena of virtual corporations, virtual products, corporate alliances, distributed workplaces, and telecommuting require employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to meet, but not necessarily in one place at the same time. As a result, Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs) and teleconferencing systems may become increasingly important for these requisite meetings.
Substantial evidence has indicated that GDSSs can enhance creativity among group members [28], support negotiation [17], improve productivity [27], and increase group effectiveness and satisfaction 11, 25. By making the decision-making process more structured and by reducing evaluation apprehension through anonymous communication, GDSSs improve individual contributions resulting in enhanced group decision quality. Further, parallel communication afforded through a GDSS reduces production blocking and may help expedite decision making 1, 12.
However, GDSSs may foster a decision-making environment which is centered upon the individual, and thereby create a potential danger that overall group or organizational interests may not be well-served unless participants have a incentive to do so. The role of incentives in electronic meetings should, therefore, be of interest to all organizations that currently use or will use this technology in the future.
If incentives influence an individuals's motivation to participate, it may be possible to devise reward systems (incentives) to boost group performance or individual productivity in electronic meetings.
Section snippets
Previous research
What motivates individuals in a meeting to withhold information, contribute misinformation, participate as passive observers, or free load? Several perspectives from social psychology and economic agency theory help to explain such behaviors.
Subjects
Subjects for the experiment were recruited on a voluntary basis from several sections of an undergraduate MIS course. An incentive to participate in the experiment and to perform well was offered in the form of extra credit in the subjects' classes. The participants were randomly assigned to the various treatment groups, and a pre-meeting questionnaire was used to verify that differences among groups were not statistically significant. The group size was kept at eight persons, and a total of 40
Multivariate results
Table 1 lists the three hypotheses based upon previous research and experimentation in their substantive form. The first two hypotheses were concerned with main effects and the third one related to the interaction effect of the two factors.
H1: It was expected that groups with group-based incentives (GBI) would perform better than those with individual-based incentives (IBI).
The test result for H1 was highly significant in supporting the postulated assertion. This implies that group-based
The role of individual and group incentives
Based on organizational behavior and economic theory, we anticipated that group-based incentives would reduce member participation in brainstorming. This assertion was made on the basis of findings that the anonymity offered by electronic brainstorming encourages free-riding behavior unless members are encouraged to participate by linking rewards to their performance. However, experimental results indicated the opposite behavior: group-based incentives resulted in more participation than
Conclusion
This paper has explored the role of incentives on group performance. Experimental results strongly supported the hypothesis that group-based incentives result in superior performance in GDSS-supported decision-making groups.
Ashraf Shirani received the B.S. degree in city planning from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, the M.P.S. degree in regional planning from Cornell University, the M.B.A. degree from the University of Arkansas, and the Ph.D. degree in MIS from the University of Mississippi. He is an Assistant Professor of Business Computer Information Systems at Hofstra University.
References (40)
- et al.
Electronic brainstorming in small and large groups
Information and Management
(1994) - et al.
A comparison of synchronous and virtual legislative session groups faced with an idea generation task
Information and Management
(1997) - et al.
A comparison of two electronic idea generation techniques
Information and Management
(1996) - et al.
The effects of three social decision schemes on decision group process
Organizational Behavior and Human Performance
(1980) - et al.
Experiments in group decision making, 3: Disinhibition, deindividuation, and group process in pen name and real name computer conferences
Decision Support Systems
(1989) Knowledge sharing and negotiation support in multiperson decision support systems
Decision Support Systems
(1986)- et al.
Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure
Journal of Financial Economics
(1976) - et al.
Group decision making and communication technology
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
(1992) - et al.
Communication technologies and systems collaboration
Information and Management
(1992) - et al.
Experiences at IBM with group support systems: A field study
Decision Support Systems
(1989)
Group processes in computer mediated communication
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Some aspects of deindividuation: Identification and conformity
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Social facilitation of dominant responses by the presence of an audience and mere presence of others
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Information technology to support electronic meetings
MIS Quarterly
A foundation for the study of group decision support systems
Management Science
Groupware: Some issues and experiences
Communications of the ACM
Cited by (16)
Evaluating decision making performance in the GDSS environment using data envelopment analysis
2010, Decision Support SystemsRegret avoidance as a measure of DSS success: An exploratory study
2007, Decision Support SystemsImplementation of a group decision support system utilizing collective memory
2005, Information and ManagementImpact of heterogeneity and collaborative conflict management style on the performance of synchronous global virtual teams
2004, Information and Management
Ashraf Shirani received the B.S. degree in city planning from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, the M.P.S. degree in regional planning from Cornell University, the M.B.A. degree from the University of Arkansas, and the Ph.D. degree in MIS from the University of Mississippi. He is an Assistant Professor of Business Computer Information Systems at Hofstra University.
Milam Aiken received the B.S. degree in Engineering and the M.B.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma, the B.A. degree in Computer Science and the B.S. degree in Business from the State University of New York, and the Ph.D. degree in MIS from the University of Arizona. He is an Associate Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Mississippi.
Joseph G.P. Paolillo received the B.S. degree in Chemistry from Ohio University, the M.B.A. degree from the University of Delaware, and the Ph.D. degree in Management from the University of Oregon. He is a Professor of Management at the University of Mississippi.
- 1
E-mail: [email protected].
- 2
E-mail: [email protected].