Group Decision Making

Supplier selection, the process of finding the right suppliers who are able to provide the buyer with the right quality products and/or services at the right price, at the right time and in the right quantities, is one of the most critical activities for establishing an effective supply chain. On the other hand, it is a hard problem since supplier selection is typically a multi criteria group decision-making problem involving several conflicting criteria on which decision maker's knowledge is usually vague and imprecise. In this study, TOPSIS method combined with intuitionistic fuzzy set is proposed to select appropriate supplier in group decision making environment. Intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging (IFWA) operator is utilized to aggregate individual opinions of decision makers for rating the importance of criteria and alternatives. Finally, a numerical example for supplier selection is given to illustrate application of intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS method.

What is the state of the research on crowdsourcing for policymaking? This article begins to answer this question by collecting, categorizing, and situating an extensive body of the extant research investigating policy crowdsourcing, within a new framework built on fundamental typologies from each field. We first define seven universal characteristics of the three general crowdsourcing techniques (virtual labor markets, tournament crowdsourcing, open collaboration), to examine the relative trade-offs of each modality. We then compare these three types of crowdsourcing to the different stages of the policy cycle, in order to situate the literature spanning both domains. We finally discuss research trends in crowdsourcing for public policy and highlight the research gaps and overlaps in the literature.

Traditional, static negotiation theories focus on descriptions of various external factors that influence the outcome of negotiations. They are useful in predicting the negotiation outcome in a limited way, because the result of the negotiation is ultimately determined not only by objective facts, but is worked out during the negotiation itself. We propose a Dynamical Negotiation Network (DNN) model that links the negotiation outcome with the process of attaining that outcome. This model represents the negotiation process in terms of a dynamically constructed network of interconnected nodes of meaning. The structure of the network and dynamics of its creation determine the outcome of a negotiation. In the presented study, we examined 58 participants who negotiated in dyads. There were many objective facts; those that were taken into consideration, the order they appeared in the negotiation, what structure of relationships they formed, helped determine a 'shared reality' that drove negotiation outcomes. We show that the DNN model explains the outcomes of their negotiations more precisely than do the static elements of the situation.

This research explores the impact of dyadic side conversations on group norms within three- and four-person groups. The authors propose a link between dyadic communication and group norms such that the absence of dyadic communication enhances a norm of group unity, whereas its presence enhances a norm of faction-forming. In two studies, we demonstrate that the presence of dyadic communication opportunities can both help and hurt group performance and that this depends on a fit between the content of the norm and the wider social context. In negotiation tasks that benefit from group unity, the absence of dyadic communication results in a stronger focus on the group and its future as well as increased group performance. However, in problem-solving tasks that benefit from faction-forming, the mere presence of dyadic communication opportunities leads to increased openness to unique information, disagreement, and group performance.

Contracts are designed to govern the relations between business partners and allocate risk among them, yet they cannot mitigate all risks; hence, dispute resolution mechanisms have been developed to assist. According to research, arbitration is considered one of the most efficient legally binding dispute resolution mechanisms. Since initiating an arbitration case against business partners often severs the business relationship between them, predicting the arbitrator's decision becomes valuable to the arbitrating parties. To do so, arbitration prediction models are suggested in this paper through modeling the arbitrator's award in two stages: evidence admissibility and evidence evaluation. While arbitrators currently admit evidence in a relatively unsystematic way, this proposed admissibility framework systemizes the current practice by preserving its subjectivity, yet aligning it with the widely deployed rules of arbitration. This research further proposes an evidence evaluation model, providing a rapid answer to the famous commercial arbitration battle, discovery. While the current arbitrators' practice in allowing discovery is not systematic, the proposed optimization model is a tool that could systematically assist arbitrators trading between the arbitration key characteristic, efficiency, and justice. This is achieved by assigning weights to evidence parameters such as sufficiency and credibility, which in turn provide numerical measures to reduce the decision's subjectivity.

RESUMEN: Aunque el concepto de multifuncionalidad está plasmado, implícita o explícitamente, en el diseño de las políticas agrarias actuales, su consideración a la hora de analizar y evaluar sistemas agrarios es aún relativamente escasa en la literatura. Para tal fin se propone utilizar el Proceso Analítico Jerárquico (Analytic Hierarchy Process -AHP), técnica de decisión multicriterio discreta que se utiliza para la toma de decisiones complejas. La metodología AHP es expuesta junto con un procedimiento propuesto para medir el acuerdo relativo entre decisores y la uniformidad de las alternativas en la toma de decisiones en grupo. Finalmente, AHP es aplicado a la evaluación del olivar ecológico, integrado y convencional de Andalucía considerando criterios de distinta naturaleza -económicos, técnicos, socioculturales y medioambientales-con el fin de determinar la forma o formas de producción más interesantes globalmente en el medio-largo plazo para el conjunto de la sociedad en base al conocimiento de expertos en olivar.

To determine the weight vector and to aggregate the individual opinions are necessary steps in the classical methods for multi-criteria group decision-making problems in which the weight vectors of the decision makers and the criteria are incompletely known. In this paper, we propose a simple but e±cient approach which can avoid these steps by establishing some optimal models. To get the optimal group decision matrix, we¯rst propose two kinds of models among which the former focuses on minimizing the deviations between individual decision matrix and the ideal group one, while the latter aims at minimizing the deviations between the estimated group opinion and the ideal group one. To get the overall performances of alternatives, another two types of models are further established, one of which is to minimize the distance between the evaluation value under each criterion and the ideal overall value for each alternative, and the other is to minimize the distance between the estimated overall value and the ideal overall one. The proposed models can be used to deal with group decision-making under intuitionistic fuzzy, interval-valued fuzzy or other fuzzy environments, and can also provide the decision makers more choices by containing the parameter which can be assigned di®erent values according to di®erent actual situations. Several examples illustrate the practicability of the proposed methods.

Project selection is a real problem of multicriteria group decision making (MCGDM) where each decision maker expresses his/her preferences depending on the nature of the alternatives and on his/her own knowledge over them. Thus, information, as much quantitative as qualitative, coexists. The traditional methods of MCGDM developed for project selection usually discriminates in favour of quantitative information at the expense of qualitative information, and this is due to the capability to integrate this first type of information inside their procedure. In this article, two new multicriteria 2-tuple group decision methods called ''Preference Ranking Organisation Method for Enrichment Evaluation Multi Decision maker 2-Tuple-I and II" (PROMETHEE-MD-2T-I and II) are presented. They are able to integrate inside their procedure both quantitative and qualitative information in an uncertain context. This has been performed by integrating a 2-tuple linguistic representation model dealing with non-homogeneous and imprecise information data made up by valued intervals, numerical and linguistic values into the aggregation operators of Promethee methods. Although they have been developed for project selection problems, these proposed methods can be applied to all kinds of decision-making problems with heterogeneous and multigranular information.

Supplier selection, the process of finding the right suppliers who are able to provide the buyer with the right quality products and/or services at the right price, at the right time and in the right quantities, is one of the most critical activities for establishing an effective supply chain. On the other hand, it is a hard problem since supplier selection is typically a multi criteria group decision-making problem involving several conflicting criteria on which decision maker's knowledge is usually vague and imprecise. In this study, TOPSIS method combined with intuitionistic fuzzy set is proposed to select appropriate supplier in group decision making environment. Intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging (IFWA) operator is utilized to aggregate individual opinions of decision makers for rating the importance of criteria and alternatives. Finally, a numerical example for supplier selection is given to illustrate application of intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS method.

Effective policy mixes are expected to accommodate uncertainties in the future policy context by being flexible and adapt over time in expectation of a range of anticipated and unanticipated conditions. In response to shifts in the future policy context, while policy changes can manifest as increments to status quo over time, policymakers may also need to face the possibility of making major policy shifts to enable the transition into more appropriate policy regimes. In the context of socio-technical transitions, the switch to new policy alternatives can be facilitated by incorporating new policy actions into the suite of current policy strategies early on, which can also help accommodate the long lead-times on some decisions and actions. This paper is a conceptual piece that focuses on integrating policy design thinking into the crafting of conscious policy choices and mixes to enable socio-technical transitions while considering the likely changes in the future policy context.

This paper examines the influence children have on the behaviour of tourist parties while on holiday. It argues that the role of children has been under-researched and under-valued. A diary based space-time budget survey was used to collect information on the activities of 143 tourist parties staying in Cornwall, England, for a period of at least one week. The paper stresses the role of group decisions in purchasing tourism products while on holiday and the contrasting needs of two or more generations. Children were found to influence the behaviour of tourist parties either through their physical needs (e.g. arrangement of meal times, need for sleep) or through their ability to negotiate with parents. The results suggest the need for theories sensitive to the influence of group decision-making and the ability of children to influence group behaviour. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

This research was designed to examine the task-media fit hypothesis, an extension to media richness theory that predicts the objective performance of various media for a number of task types. To examine this model, dyads communicating through face-to-face, videophone, telephone (i.e., audio-only communication), or synchronous computer-mediated communication worked in a laboratory experiment to address an intellective or negotiation task. The intellective task required that each dyad member effectively share factual information that each individual independently held. The negotiation task required that each dyad member effectively share preferences based on personal values and reach an agreement. The results of the study provide mixed support for the task-media fit hypothesis. In general, the results for the negotiation task largely supported the theory while the results for the intellective task did not support the theory. These results help to clarify limitations and provide extensions to the theory by demonstrating how variations in task processes and communication media act to mediate task performance. The implications of these results for future research and practice are discussed.

User interfaces and visualisations are part of group problem solving. Technology is already a part of daily decision-making in multidisplay environments, both as communication tools and information devices. As these devices, such as large displays and visualisation tools become more accessible, there is an increasing opportunity to develop applications that enhance group decision-making abilities, rather than restrict them. This chapter presents the results of the empirical user study on the effect of the Highlighting-on-Demand concept on situational awareness and satisfaction with the group decision-making process in a real multidisplay environment. Highlighting-on-Demand interface enables a team member who is currently controlling the shared large display to draw attention of the other team members by highlighting certain visualisation. Displaying all alternatives on a shared large display fosters information sharing and the Highlighting-on-Demand interface enables group members to draw attention to certain visualisation, while keeping the other alternatives still in view. The results suggest that when group members use the Highlighting-on-Demand interface during the discussion, the satisfaction with the final group decision increases. Participants expressed willingness to use the Highlighting awareness support for visualising real data (e.g., biomedical, omics experiments) and manipulating how the data is visualised to discuss the experiment results with other team members in real project discussions.

A robust finding in social dilemma research is an increase in individual cooperative choice following group discussion about the dilemma. To elaborate the idea that this effect arises from the development of within-group consensus, groups of six made explicit group decisions about their subsequent individual choice. Perceived demonstrability of cooperativeness in the dilemma was manipulated through changes both to instructions and the incentives of the dilemma. As demonstrability decreased, so did the proportion of groups deciding to cooperate, leading to a reduction in the group discussion effect. Social decision scheme analysis supported the demonstrability-group decision hypothesis. The interaction between demonstrability, individual opinions and group process is proposed to explain the group discussion effect. keywords cooperation, group decision-making, group discussion, social dilemmas G P I R

Integrating dual-process models [Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y.(Eds.).(1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. NewYork: Guilford Press] with work on information sharing and group decision-making [Stasser, G., & Titus, W.(1985). Pooling of unshared information in group decision making: biased information sampling during discussion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1467–1478.], we predicted that groups with high epistemic motivation engage in more information-driven and less preference-driven ...

Conflict resolution in decision-making groups is studied using a System Dynamics model. The model is developed using a grounded-theory approach. Some preliminary results are shown. The results seem to be in line with much empirical research done in the management literature about conflict and conflict resolution at the group level of analysis. Ideas for further research are discussed.

This paper focuses on the comparison of individual and group decision making, in a stochastic inter-temporal problem in two decision environments,  namely risk and ambiguity.  Using a consumption/saving laboratory experiment,  we investigate behaviour in four treatments:  (1) individual choice under risk; (2) group choice under risk; (3) individual choice under ambiguity and (4) group choice under ambiguity.  Comparing decisions within and between decision environments, we find an anti-symmetric pattern. While individuals are choosing on average closer to the theoretical optimal predictions, compared to groups in the risk treatments, groups tend to deviate less under ambiguity. Within decision environments, individuals deviate more when they choose under ambiguity, while groups are better planners under ambiguity rather than under risk.  Our results extend the often observed pattern of individuals (groups) behaving more optimally under risk (ambiguity),to its dynamic dimension. JEL classification: C91, C92, D11, D91, E21

This article presents the development of a group facilitation technique (PROMOD -Procedural Moderation). The author points toward the importance of integrating theoretical assumptions, theory testing and basic empirical research with practical application. The results are based on the observation of various three-member task groups faced with a complex nonheureka problem. These comprise naturally interacting groups, simple arithmetic assembled groups of individuals without any interaction (synthetic groups), and groups in which a group technique of reduced interaction which focuses on individual contribution through facilitated knowledge elicitation is applied.The task involves decisions on what to do after a plane crash and ranking objects with regard to their importance for survival in an alarming situation . The group decision quality is determined by relating to conclusions reached by an independent expert. Results indicate that the observed teams performed best when the PROMOD procedure was applied.

This study contributes to the new and growing body of research on shared cognition by examining how individuals entering a group decision-making context with different perspectives of the issues to be discussed arrive at cognitive consensus. Cognitive consensus refers to similarity among group members regarding how key matters are conceptualized and was operationalized as shared assumptions underlying decision issues in the present research. Utilizing 37 student groups participating in a multiissue decision-making exercise, the study investigated antecedents and correlates of cognitive consensus. Results revealed that unanimity decision rule groups achieved more cognitive consensus than majority rule groups. In addition, group members inquiring concerning the reasons underlying others' decision preferences, accepting others' viewpoints as legitimate, and incorporating others' perspectives into their own interpretations of the issues was positively related to arriving at a greater degree of cognitive consensus. Cognitive consensus also positively influenced expectations regarding decision implementation and satisfaction. ᭧

This study investigated the effects of two group decision making techniques on a set of four problems in groups of sizes 3, 7, and 11. Participants included 192 male and 132 female undergraduates. Estimates that could be evaluated for accuracy for each of the problems were coUected for a series of three trials. One set of groups received face-to-face verbal feedback from each other, while the other set received written feedback. These data were compared to mean estimates obtained from randomly selected, pooled individual estimates. The results suggested that the pooled individual estimates were somewhat more accurate than those obtained from either of the interacting groups. At the same time, all individuals became more confident of their answers, suggesting the possibility of groupthink. No effects for different group sizes were found, possibly due to the constraints imposed by the structured nature of the two techniques.

In the past decade there has been a discussion on the need for and degree of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of problem structuring methods (PSMs). Some authors propose that PSMs are used in unique situations which are difficult to study, both from a methodological and a practical perspective.

Organizations would like to capture and merge the perceptions of key individuals into an organizational memory. Various cognitive mapping approaches have been used to identify and capture these perceptions. However, merging the cognitive maps of individuals into a collective cognitive map to represent the shared perceptions has been problematic. Due to the merging problems, the creation of collective cognitive maps is impractical for many organizational situations. In this paper, we describe and demonstrate a cognitive mapping based methodology and system that eliminates the merging problem, supports data collection, and provides data analyses to uncover both individual and collective cognitive maps.

a b s t r a c t Product-service system (PSS) approach has emerged as a competitive strategy to impel manufacturers to offer a set of product and services as a whole. A three-domain PSS conceptual design framework based on quality function deployment (QFD) is proposed in this research. QFD is a widely used design tool considering customer requirements (CRs). Since both product and services influence satisfaction of customer, they should be designed simultaneously. Identification of the critical parameters in these domains plays an important role. Engineering characteristics (ECs) in the functional domain include product-related ECs (P-ECs) and service-related ECs (S-ECs). ECs are identified by translating customer requirements (CRs) in the customer domain. Rating ECs' importance has a great impact on achieving an optimal PSS planning. The rating problem should consider not only the requirements of customer, but also the requirements of manufacturer. From the requirements of customer, the analytic network process (ANP) approach is integrated in QFD to determine the initial importance weights of ECs considering the complex dependency relationships between and within CRs, P-ECs and S-ECs. In order to deal with the vagueness, uncertainty and diversity in decision-making, the fuzzy set theory and group decision-making technique are used in the super-matrix approach of ANP. From the requirements of manufacturer, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is applied to adjust the initial weights of ECs taking into account business competition and implementation difficulty. A case study is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed integrated approach for prioritizing ECs in PSS conceptual design.

Despite an extensive use of the groupthink model in various areas of social science, there are few empirical studies testing groupthink and many criticisms of it. In order to better understand the concept of groupthink, and to set a foundation for future research, this paper summarizes previous empirical studies on groupthink and indicates problems (e.g., limited inclusion of variables and an inappropriate usage of measurement modes) that exist throughout those studies. Recommendations for future research are then provided. KEY WORDS Groupthink Group decision making Modes of measurement Janis (1972, 1982b) induced his groupthink model from descriptions of the settings, decision-making procedures, and outcomes of six major historical events in American governmental policy. Groupthink refers to the tendency for cohesive groups to become so concerned about group solidarity that they fail to critically and realistically evaluate their decisions and antecedent assumptions. According to Janis, this potentially fatal flaw in group decision making occurs when certain antecedent conditions, in addition to moderate or high group cohesiveness, are present. As shown in Exhibit 1, Janis (1982b) classified these antecedent factors into two categories; structural faults of the organization' and provocative situational contexts.* These two categories of antecedent factors, along with group cohesiveness, cause groupthink, which is manifested by eight ~yrnptoms.~ These eight symptoms of groupthink in turn cause seven symptoms4 of defective decision making that lower the probability of successful outcomes. The concept of groupthink is quite popular nowadays and has considerable practical value, because it not only is at variance with research results that indicate the performance of highly cohesive groups (e.g., Keller, 1986), but also provides a detailed description of how an important problem in cohesive decision-making groups occurs. Nevertheless, there are many problematic issues associated with the groupthink model. Problems exist both in the methodology that Janis used to derive the model and in the model itself. Though Janis' work is sometimes cited as an excellent example of the use of the case-study method in theory development (e.g., Forsyth, 1983, p. 33), his reliance on the case study approach has also led to criticisms (e.g., Tetlock, 1979). Regarding the model itself, Whyte (1989) argued that groupthink, although relevant, is an incomplete explanation for the occurrence of decision fiascos because it leaves out some important variables such as the notions of framing effects, risk seeking in the domain of losses, and group polarization. Further, even with the variables used in the model, Janis' broad hypotheses only link categories of variables with one another, leaving specific relationships among the variables up to the imagination of the readers. For example, Janis indicated that cohesiveness

Catering is the act of providing food and services or it may be defined as preparing or providing food for someone else to serve; or preparing, delivering and serving food at the premises of another person or event. The aim of this paper is to provide an analytical tool to select the best catering firm providing the most customer satisfaction. The customers of three Turkish catering firms were interviewed and the most important criteria taken into account by the customers while they were selecting their catering firms were determined by a designed questionnaire. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to compare these catering firms. The means of the triangular fuzzy numbers produced by the customers and experts for each comparison were successfully used in the pairwise comparison matrices. r

Results show significant differences were found in the confidence attached by groups to their decisions. Compared to face-to-face groups, vide-conferencing groups showed smaller increases in confidence in their decisions, especially if they were instructed to discuss their beliefs and assumptions underlying their estimates and not the estimates themselves. However, this confidence was more appropriate than that of the face-to-face groups. Further, video-conferencing groups reported modifying more of their beliefs during discussion. However, there were no significant differences between the two interaction media on the following outcome dimensions: accuracy; over-confidence; size of credible intervals; or improvement over average initial individual estimates. Implications for the design and application of advanced systems for decision-making support and research are discussed

We compared South Koreans with Australians in order to characterize cultural differences in attitudes and choices regarding risk, at both the individual and group levels. Our results showed that Australians, when assessed individually, consistently self-reported higher preference for risk than South Koreans, regardless of gender. The data revealed that South Koreans, regardless of gender composition, were willing to take greater risks when making decisions in group decision-making situations than when they were alone. This is a different pattern from that seen in the Australian sample, in which a risky shift was noted only among males. This difference was attributed to the influence of various cultural orientations (independent vs. interdependent relationship styles). This study also provides a discussion of the implications of these results in terms of cultural differences in attitudes and decisions regarding risk.

This paper presents a spreadsheet module developed with Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic to search for consensus when dealing with AHP in group decision making. On the basis of the theoretical results included in the paper Moreno-Jiménez et al. (2003), this spreadsheet module allows us to construct, in a local context (one criterion), the Consistent Consensus Matrix (CCM) corresponding to the core of consistency associated with the actors involved in the decision making process. By means of simulation techniques, this module provides, for each of the different values of the inconsistency thresholds considered, the preference structures derived from the interval incomplete matrix (CCM) that represents the group's core of consistency. This information will be used to establish consensus paths between the actors involved in the resolution process, one of the most important goals in distributed and participatory decision making.

This paper reviews a variety of studies in which multi-attribute utility theory (MALT) has been used successfully to aid group decision processes and discusses the incorporation of MAU in Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS). GDSS of various levels of automation have been proposed to aid group decision making. A number of commercial GDSSs arc available which arc capable of aiding generation of alternatives, their evaluation, and selection. Many authors have promoted the incorporation of quantitative decision making models in GDSS. The most appropriate quantitative tool for GDSS is MAU, but MAU has rarely been utilized. The cases reviewed illustrate that the use of MAU techniques is not prohibitively difficult or complex.

Motivated by concerns regarding the impact of cultural diversity on group interaction processes and a desire to extend the Social Influence Model of Technology Use, this paper discusses the impact of normative social influence on enhancing group media use and group decision making performance over time in different cultural group compositions. This paper proposes that the strength of attraction to the group influences the similarity in media perception and use of group members. The similarity of group media perception and use is proposed to influence group performance. Concurrently, group cohesion, similarity of media perception and use, and group performance are positively correlated over time. Since culture affects individuals' values, beliefs and behavior, this paper proposes that the degree of similarity in media perception and media use may differ when group composition varies by culture. Several propositions for empirical examination are highlighted. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the importance and implications of understanding cultural diversity and social influence on technology use and group performance.

Supplier selection, the process of finding the right suppliers who are able to provide the buyer with the right quality products and/or services at the right price, at the right time and in the right quantities, is one of the most critical activities for establishing an effective supply chain, and is typically a multi-criteria group decision problem. In many practical situations, there usually exists incomplete and uncertain information, and the decision makers cannot easily express their judgments on the candidates with exact and crisp values. Therefore, in this paper an extended VIKOR method for group decision making with intuitionistic fuzzy numbers is proposed to solve the supplier selection problem under incomplete and uncertain information environment. In other researches in this area, the weights of each decision makers and in many of them the weights of criteria are pre-determined, but these weights have been calculated in this paper by using the decision matrix of each decision maker. Also, normalized Hamming distance is proposed to calculate the distance between intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. Finally, a numerical example for supplier selection is given to clarify the main results developed in this paper.

A valuable, although little-used, case data analysis technique, Degrees of Freedom Analysis, is the subject of this article. Given the richness of case data and its prevalence in business marketing research, Degrees of Freedom Analysis has the potential to become an important addition to one's "research workbench." The technique, first proposed by Donald Campbell (Campbell, Donald, T.: "Degrees of Freedom" and the Case Study. Comparative Political Studies, 8, 178-193 [1975]), is described. Three business marketing applications are presented; the first two involve use of the technique to com-pare the extent to which four theories of group decision making are manifested in organizations. The third application illustrates how the technique can be used for theory development in the context of manufacturer-distributor relationships. Our contribution is in demonstrating how researchers can link "traditional" (i.e., logical positivistic) hypothesis testing procedures to examine theoretical propositions in case study research. This approach is one way of achieving a critical test

... These calculi have been applied by the authors to introduce a fuzzy majority (represented by a fuzzy linguistic quantifier) into group decision making and consensus formation models (Fedrizzi and Kacprzyk [4]; Kacprzyk [6, 8, 1012]; Kacprzyk and Fedrizzi [1416]; Kacprzyk ...

Complexity of exchanges in economic and social environments in general, and the complexity of water resources management issues specifically and direct relation to other sciences have caused the alone decision maker (DM) unable to consider all aspects of the water resources planning and management problems. Therefore, it is necessary to use the decision makers with different knowledge, skills and experiences and different relative importance (group decision-making) in this field of activity.

Abstract Two important challenges in policy design are better understanding of the design space and consideration of the temporal factors. Moreover, in recent years it has been demonstrated that understanding the complex interactions of policy measures can play an important role in policy design and analysis. In this paper, the advances made in conceptualization and application of networks to policy design in the past decade are highlighted. Specifically, the use of a network-centric policy design approach in better understanding the design space and temporal consequences of design choices are presented. Network-centric policy design approach has been used in classification, visualization, and analysis of the relations among policy measures as well as ranking of policy measures using their internal properties and interactions, and conducting sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulations. Furthermore, through use of a decision support system, network-centric approach facilitates ranking, visualization, and selection of policies using different sets of criteria, and exploring the potential for compromise in policy formulation. The advantage of the network-centric approach is providing the ability to go beyond visualizations and analysis of policies and piecemeal use of network concepts as a
tool for different policy design tasks to moving to a more integrated bottom–up approach to design. Furthermore, the computational advantages of the network-centric policy design in considering temporal factors such as policy sequencing and addressing issues such as layering, drift, policy failure, and delay are presented. Finally, some of the current challenges of network-centric design are discussed, and some potential avenues of exploration in policy design through use of computational methodologies, as well as possible integration with approaches from other disciplines, are highlighted.

What learning conditions are necessary to effectively support the knowledge-building enterprise in a learning community? To answer this question, the case-study method was employed to investigate collaborative knowledge building in a graduate level course designed to incorporate specific constructivist learning principles. These principles included (a) having a collective and authentic community goal to facilitate collaboration and engagement in the community, (b) using cooperative groups to provide for social negotiation and to promote multiple perspectives, (c) personally selecting of course readings and group decision-making to encourage ownership in learning, and (d) employing an integrated set of technology tools to archive the work of the community and facilitate communication. Results indicated that the instructional strategies designed into the course promoted collaborative knowledge building and the acquisition of key concepts through self-directed learning strategies. Results also pointed out the types of technological support required to implement an effective community of learners. A proposed set of guidelines is discussed to assist instructional designers in the design and development of collaborative, knowledge-building environments.