Human versus automated facilitation in the GDSS context

Many group decision support systems (GDSS) are currently being used with the help of a human facilitator who guides the group members through their use of the decision models. Another way to guide the use of these systems is to embed some facilitation mechanisms into the GDSS itself (i.e., automated facilitation). Using the adaptive structuration theory (AST), this study investigated the tradeoffs associated with human facilitation and automated facilitation. Groups using a multicriteria decision model in the context of a resource allocation task were exposed to one of two experimental conditions: (1) human facilitation, or (2) automated facilitation. Results indicated that automated facilitation, embedded in the GDSS, was as effective as human facilitation in enhancing the faithfulness of appropriation of the technology.