A study of the effect of communication channel and authority on group decision processes and outcomes

Experimental research on Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) has generally focused on idea generation and choice tasks. The experiments have typically consisted of groups whose members share the same objectives and do not have a formally designated leader. This paper reports on the results of an experiment in which the groups worked on a mixed-motive task. A key feature of the study is that the participants did not have the same information (information asymmetry). The experimental study consisted of a 2 x 2 factorial design. The two factors were communication channel (face-to-face vs. computer mediated communication) and group leadership mode (group with a leader vs. groups without leader). The results indicate that there are differences in perceived as well as actual performance between groups meeting same place/same time (decision room) and groups meeting same time/different places (distributed communications environment). The presence or absence of a formal leader did not appear to have substantive effects. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.