SODPM: A sequence-oriented decision process model for unstructured group decision problems

Abstract

Many approaches to the solutions of modern unstructured decision problems mainly involve modelling, information technology and group behaviour. The work of group decision-making can be viewed as a type of process plan that is reflected by its problem structure within which the thinking space is wide and innovative. This paper presents a Sequence-Oriented Decision Process Model (SODPM) that is based on the defined sequence of problem elements to help solve unstructured problems. A GDSSP (Group Decision Support System for Personnel Promotion) that embeds a predefined mechanism to perform decision process, decision model and decision choice is developed to experimentally demonstrate the SODPM. Empirical evaluation was conducted to derive the results for the research problems that include efficiency and group satisfaction. There were remarkable results: the SODPM can serve as a facilitative vehicle for opinion convergence and group satisfaction is highly positive. While the demonstrated domain for the example presented is personnel promotion, the proposed SODPM can be utilized to help solve the similar class of unstructured problems in other domains also.