Abstract
In this paper, we present a discussion board system (DBS) with a facilitator function that we developed for the purpose of facilitating discussions that require decision-making that incorporates diverse values and opinions. Its function is to constantly extract nouns from the utterances of discussion participants and display them on the DBS on each participant's personal computer. Items to be decided in the discussion are displayed together with a frame (called a “box”), and each participant puts the displayed keywords in the box according to their own opinions and intentions. No other participant can see what the individual is doing. The color of any keyword that all participants put in the same box changes to green. Furthermore, comments are automatically presented based on the time when each participant last spoke and the time when the keyword was moved. This is intended to encourage participants who appear to be less involved to join the discussion. Experiments with the DBS suggested that it might be possible to capture the will of participants who disagree but do not speak. However, it was also deemed necessary to post comments that encourage participants to express their intentions independently, and to have a mechanism that can link the motivated manifestation of intentions to appropriate actions.
Highlights
In recent years, the realization of “diversity management” has become an issue for Japanese companies
The existence of a facilitator [3] is thought to have a certain effect on reducing the peer pressure among participants and appropriately advancing discussions based on various viewpoints
The facilitator encourages other participants to speak so that a small number of hardline opinions and peer pressure do not lead to a conclusion
Summary
The realization of “diversity management” has become an issue for Japanese companies. In situations where the hierarchical relationships [1] among individuals is clear, such as meetings within a company, the “peer pressure” [2] [3] that must be synchronized with the remarks of superiors hinders participation. This is a factor that causes participants to hesitate to express various perspectives. The facilitator inspires participation in the discussion by asking the participants questions, summarizing and paraphrasing the opinions they present, and organizing the story so that the overall understanding is deepened. Identifying the right time, the facilitator encourages participants to reach conclusions and encourage consensus building
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