The Effect of Using Group Decision Support System in Value Management Workshops: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Group Decision Support System (GDSS) is a set of techniques, software and technology designed to focus and enhance the communication, deliberations and decision-making of groups. Previous research conducted in the last two decades has demonstrated that GDSS is successful in improving the efficiency, reliability and quality of the group decision-making process. Value Management (VM), which is a group decision-making process, has limitations, and there is a strong demand for improvements in the implementation of VM. This research has been conducted to design a GDSS prototype system, named Interactive Value Management System (IVMS), to investigate the effect of its application in VM workshops. The paper begins with an introduction to the problems of implementing VM in construction. It then proceeds to describe the features of the system. This is followed by a review of literature to discuss under what circumstances there is more possibility for GDSS usage to improve the performance of VM workshops. An experimental study designed to investigate the effect of using the system in VM workshops is described and the results are discussed. Findings from this research indicate that the proposed GDSS prototype is supportive in overcoming the problems and difficulties in VM workshops.