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Group Support Systems (GSS) and their effects on group processes and outcomes have been an object of intense study for 10 years. This article takes a different perspective on the involvement of GSS in research. The authors address how GSS tools canfacilitate the process of developing and implementing research. A generic model of the research process is used to describe specific suggestions and examples-including three scenarios-for improving researcher efficiency and effectiveness. GSS can provide a variety of benefits to researchers, including basic meeting support for multiple researchers in developing elements of a research project; electronic recording of data from subjects; data analysis; and integration of information and data across the entire research process. Benefits of using GSS to facilitate/support the research process, the limitations of this approach, and the use of GSS to extend the research process beyond its current boundaries are reviewed.

A framework for using Group Support Systems (GSS) to aid learning about group problem-solving processes is presented. The authors describe a typical group problem-solving process and GSS. A framework for matching GSS tools to stages of the group problem-solving process is presented. The authors then detail how two simulations were developed for use with GSS. The simulations were used to provide students with experience in using GSS and in developing an agenda for group problem solving. Evidence of effectiveness of the simulations is presented. The authors conclude with considerations for developing simulations for presenting GSS and group problem-solving processes.

Groupthink is a problem thatplagues decision-making groups. This article reviews antecedent and procedural conditions leading to groupthink and examines productive meeting processes that can prevent groupthink. The article then explores the possible role that group support systems (GSS) may play in the development of these productive meeting processes. Group support systems are an advanced information technology that provide electronic support to groups involved in teamwork. This technology possesses certain inherent resources or structuralfeatures. This article proposes aframeworkfor the study of the effects of GSS on groupthink. It examines the effects of GSS structuralfeatures on antecedent and procedural conditions predisposing groupthink. Existing GSS research relevant to groupthink-related variables is reviewed. The review of GSS structural features and of existing GSS research indicates that GSS use might indeed be an appropriate method of preventing groupthink. Finally, the article proposes a methodologyfor the empirical study of the impact of GSS use on groupthink.

ABSTRACTEmerging group technologies are attracting attention from researchers and practitioners for the benefits they potentially offer in terms of communications, productivity, and decision‐making capabilities within an organization. To date, research in this area has focused on process or outcome variables, substantively ignoring organizational context issues. This paper reports on a field study that investigated users' perceptions of the impact of group support systems on power and influence within the organization. The study was conducted within a division of a major U.S. software company specializing in the development of business software tools for desktop PCs. Fifteen purposively selected managers and nonmanagers, spanning diverse functional areas, were extensively interviewed for this study. Evidence gathered suggested that group support systems are perceived to exert an equalizing force on power and influence by (1) increasing participation in the decision‐making process, (2) improving access to information, (3) improving access to persons, (4) reducing the "power distance" to key individuals, and (5) providing increased opportunities to influence the opinions of others. These results provide a basis for future studies that will attempt to clarify the relationships between organizational context and group technology usage.

Group decision making is essential in organizations. Group Support Systems (GSS) can aide groups in making decisions by providing tools and process support. GSS is especially useful for geographically or temporally distributed groups. Researchers of GSS have pointed out that convergence processes are hard to accomplish in GSS. Voting tools in GSS can be a valuable asset in alleviating the difficulty of convergence processes because voting is a concise communication of individual preferences with a well defined procedure that is accepted by group members. In addition, voting results can serve as a group memory of the convergence processes. Field observations by researchers have shown that using voting in GSS can lead to many positive outcomes. Researchers also suggest that rather than using voting blindly, voting should be used properly in GSS to achieve desired results. However, there is an insufficiency of theory and experiments in research of voting in GSS. Voting with the computation power and communication capability in GSS can have a pronounced effect on decision processes and outcomes. In order to gain better understanding of voting in GSS, a framework was developed by expanding existing frameworks of GSS with factors related to voting. These factors were scrutinized for their potential effects on processes and outcomes. Several ways of classifying voting methods were also discussed. The framework can be used as a guiding basis for future research and usage of voting in GSS. Functionalities of sophisticated voting tools to support group decision making were explored based on the proposed GSS voting framework, related theories and studies, and review of existing GSS voting tools and practices. Approaches for integration of sophisticated voting tools with existing GSS were also discussed. Data were collected from an exploratory experiment to examine the effects of bandwidth of voting methods. While there is no significant difference in levels of consensus between the two voting method bandwidth conditions, ...