This dissertation describes the successful implementation of a work group infrastructure to support electronic meetings. An exploratory study was undertaken to observe and document the broad range of activities necessary to implement an infrastructure for work groups in a field setting. Activities falling within the scope of this dissertation include the design of a set of work group software tools, the implementation of that software, the gathering of field data, and the interpretation of those data in reference to the software's impact. The dissertation also reports on the effects of the implementation on work group performance, group characteristics, task characteristics, and the technology itself. The final product of the study is a set of factors critical for the successful implementation of a work group infrastructure, including observations and insights related to facility design, software design, facilitation training, and management involvement.

Recent developments in information systems technology have made it possible for individuals to work together anonymously using networked personal computers. In this dissertation, a theory of anonymous interaction is proposed. Evidence is provided to suggest that anonymity has deindividuating effects on group process and can, therefore, influence group outcomes in several ways. Two experiments on anonymity in idea generation are presented. In Study 1, where subjects could leave at their discretion, identification kept them longer and caused them to type more, though there were no differences in the quantity or quality of the ideas across experimental conditions. In Study 2, where subjects were forced to stay, identifiability lost importance. Responsibility, however, rose in importance. Subjects with sole responsibility for their task produced more output than did subjects who shared responsibility. Taken together, these results forced us to reject the hypothesis that anonymous subjects would produce more output than would identified subjects. These results show that we cannot speak simply of the effects of anonymity on idea generation in computer-supported groups. With a straightforward interpretation of previous experiments on GDSS anonymity, it was hypothesized that anonymous subjects would produce more than identified subjects. They did not. It is clear that anonymity will lead to deindividuation, enabling participants to engage in uninhibited behavior. However, whether their behavior is productive or unproductive is determined, at least in part, by task, interaction, and technology.

This dissertation investigated the effects of group size, group member proximity and the interaction of these two variables on the performance of brainstorming groups in a synchronous, computer-mediated environment. A laboratory experiment was employed to manipulate the independent variables group size (4- and 8-member) group member proximity. Group member proximity was manipulated by allowing proximate groups to work in a single meeting room, while members of distributed group worked in separate rooms. The subjects, upper-level, undergraduate business students, were asked to identify and discuss all "people, groups and organizations" that would be affected by a proposed policy to require all undergraduate business students to have individual access to a personal computer. The computer-mediated brainstorming system allowed all group members to enter and share information simultaneously, as all communication was electronic. Group performance was assessed by counting the total number of unique solutions generated and by the sum of expert rated quality scores for each unique solution. Groups in all conditions contributed approximately the same number of comments and felt equally satisfied. Contrary to an ample body of noncomputer-mediated brainstorming research, large groups were more productive than small groups for both idea quantity and quality. Small groups were, however, more productive than large groups on a per person basis, as increased group size yielded diminishing returns. Remote groups were more productive than proximate groups. Group researchers have found that group interaction produces productivity gains and losses, each of which increase in strength as the group size increases. This research found group productivity losses for computer-mediated brainstorming to be relatively constant, as the technology mitigated productivity inhibitors in conditions where prior noncomputer-mediated research has found these losses to increase (i.e., larger groups).

Memory is a complex cognitive process which has been widely researched within the field of neuropsychology. In clinical studies of adults, the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is widely used. At this time there is no comparable clinical tool within the child literature pertaining to memory. There are studies which have extended the age limits of the WMS, but the youngest sample ranged from 10 to 14 years of age. The present research was conducted in two studies. The first study concerns the development of a memory scale for use with children aged six to twelve. This scale, Wilson's Adapted Memory Scale for Children (WAMS-C), was constructed utilizing the basic structure and subtests of the WMS. The scale was administered to 33 normal children, ranging in age from 6 to 12 years. It was hypothesized that the scale would reflect the developmental nature of memory as well as the relationship between memory and intelligence. The second study compared the memory skills of a learning disabled (LD) sample of children to those of a sample of normal learning (NL) children. A specific profile of academic achievement was used to define the LD children who participated in this study. (Reading and Spelling impaired, and relatively better Arithmetic skills). Research conducted by Rourke and his associates identified this subtype of LD children and provided predictions pertaining to their differential performance on verbal and visual tasks. The WAMS-C contains both verbal and visual memory tasks. It was predicted that these children would (1) do less well than NL children on the memory scale and (2) that these LD children would be impaired on the verbal memory portion of the WAMS-C, compared to NL children, but would exhibit equivalent performance on the visual memory tasks. The results of the studies showed the WAMS-C to reflect the developmental nature of memory and the relationship with intelligence. Also, LD children had significantly lower scores on the WAMS-C. However, neither the verbal or visual subtests differentiated between groups. Rather, subtests which may reflect short-term memory deficits and/or attentional problems appeared responsible for the differences found.

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An accurate television viewing choice model is an important tool for television industry executives, as well as advertisers. An efficient model can help television channels maximize ratings by improving both scheduling and the characteristics of their shows. On the other hand advertisers can predict ratings and demographic composition of audiences with better accuracy. Though there is considerable evidence to suggest that individual viewing choices are strongly affected by one's family members, quantitative models in marketing literature typically focus on the individual as the unit of analysis without incorporating the influence of family members. / Key Words: viewing choice modeling, television rating, group decision making / This thesis proposes a three-stage model to capture the process of household television viewing behavior. We divide the household viewing process into three sequential and interrelated decision stages (pre-decision, joint decision, and final-decision) according to the group decision making framework suggested in prior research. By defining utilities of different programme types on different channels, and weighting parameters of each family member, each family member's three decisions (pre-decision, joint decision and post-decision) are modeled as a function of these parameters with three sub-models. The model was estimated with maximum likelihood estimation, duly validated with simulation studies. Meanwhile, the model was extended to be time-dependent to allow past viewing history to influence current viewing choice, and applied on the people meter data for primetime telecasts on weekdays for the whole of 2006. The results indicate that our model has better prediction accuracy compared with models being currently used (Rust and Alpert 1984; Yang et al. 2010). Furthermore, we are able to demonstrate that models that ignore the influence of family members yield biased estimates. Our model also has better prediction accuracy compared with the traditional model proposed by Rust and Alpert (1984), and has more flexibility to fit households with different compositions. Finally, we find that there exist different household decision structures, initial latent preferences, and influences of past viewing history across different families and their members, and the heterogeneity can be explained by demographic variables. / Su, Lei. / "December 2010." / Advisers: Jessica Yuk-yee Kwong; Kin-nam Lau; Jian-min Jia. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-04, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-133). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

This study examines the impact of organisational culture and GSS (Group Support Systems) on small group decision-making as measured by group decision outcomes. Laboratory experiments were designed to investigate how two types of groups selected on the basis of having apparently different organisational cultures make decisions on a preference task, in situations where they were given one of two different means of support (face-to-face GSS support or manually structured support) to aid their decision-making. Organisational culture and GSS are the independent variables, whilst the dependent outcome variables were perceived decision quality, decision process satisfaction, decision satisfaction, unified commitment, collaborative climate, and group cohesiveness. The research results showed that manually-supported groups, those who were given simple physical decision-support aids and worked face-to-face, had higher perceived decision quality and decision process satisfaction but no significant differences in unified commitment, decision satisfaction, collaborative climate, and group cohesiveness were found when compared to face-to-face GSS???supported groups who were given electronic aids. One of the two groups drawn from environments where organisational culture was expected to be quite different, that is the Kensington Campus group had higher perceived decision quality, decision process satisfaction, unified commitment, and group cohesiveness but no significant differences in decision satisfaction and collaborative climate when compared with groups drawn from a campus of the same university, ADFA (Australian Defence Force Academy) Campus, one which is attended only by military students. Whilst compared with those of manually structured support on group outcomes, the impacts of GSS on group outcomes weakened when they performed a preference task, organisational culture was found to have a significant impact on group outcomes when both face-to-face GSS and manual settings were considered.

Two interesting challenges have been created in the traditional transportation planning process through recent adoption of more interactive roles by Federal, State and local transportation agencies and of those representing the communities being impacted by proposed transportation projects. First, the decision-making groups that formerly included solely transportation and related professionals now consist of professionals from state and local agencies and other stakeholders impacted by those proposed projects. Furthermore, the economic justification methodologies commonly used, such as the benefit/cost ratio, no longer provide a sufficient means for evaluation since they now must take account of non-quantifiable or qualitative impacts, such as local quality of life and sustainable development. These new challenges require a new way of thinking, and a new methodology to handle them. A new methodology is required not only to take qualitative performances into consideration, but also to accommodate the diversities created by those in the decision-making process. This research focuses on the alternative evaluation stage as it often demonstrates the above challenges. The objective of the proposed methodology is to develop "a continuous process of learning and understanding through communicative means by virtue of a fair and open framework in developing the group consensus rather than relying solely on the STATUS QUO." The new methodology that combines the advantages of three unrelated components is proposed to reduce the complexities in complex decision situations. The three components include the conflict resolution model (SANTA), the analytical method (AHP), and the group decision support system (GDSS). The proposed methodology also explores a new way to take advantage of the Internet which allows decision makers to make their decisions from any where at any time. A small-scaled pilot study was set up to test the methodology and the software developed according to the framework outlined by the proposed methodology. Many benefits are discovered by the participants' observations without their prior knowledge about the methodology and the software. Those benefits include Flexibility, Accessibility, Transparency, and Efficiency, or FATE. There are two possible applications of this new methodology, i.e., in real-world problem-solving situations and as a learning tool. / Graduation date: 2003

According to the IPCC (2007) fourth assessment report, small islands and coastal communities have a set of characteristics that makes them very vulnerable to climate change impacts, mainly sea-level rise and storm surges. Coastal hazards including inundation, salinisation of the water supply, and erosion threaten vital infrastructure that support coastal communities. Although Canada has the longest coastline in the world, little work has been done on impacts of climate change and adaptation to these impacts in the Canadian coastal zones. This research is part of an International Community-University Research Alliance (ICURA) C-Change, project to develop a multicriteria decision evaluation and support for the systems analysis of adaptation options for coastal communities toward adapting to environmental changes. This study estimates the vulnerability of coastal communities with respect to their environmental, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. It also applies a group version of the Analytical Hierarchy Process for identifying decisions that various stakeholders make on suggested adaptation strategies. This study develops a methodological framework that is applicable to various coastal and small island contexts. The application of the proposed framework is further discussed in a case study conducted on the communities of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), and Little Anse on Isle Madame, Nova Scotia. Specifically, the state of the Little Anse breakwater is analyzed and new adaptation options are presented and evaluated. This research has illustrated and applied a process of decision evaluation and support that explicitly engages multiple participants and critieria in complex problems situations involving environmental change in coastal communities.

According to the IPCC (2007) fourth assessment report, small islands and coastal communities have a set of characteristics that makes them very vulnerable to climate change impacts, mainly sea-level rise and storm surges. Coastal hazards including inundation, salinisation of the water supply, and erosion threaten vital infrastructure that support coastal communities. Although Canada has the longest coastline in the world, little work has been done on impacts of climate change and adaptation to these impacts in the Canadian coastal zones. This research is part of an International Community-University Research Alliance (ICURA) C-Change, project to develop a multicriteria decision evaluation and support for the systems analysis of adaptation options for coastal communities toward adapting to environmental changes. This study estimates the vulnerability of coastal communities with respect to their environmental, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. It also applies a group version of the Analytical Hierarchy Process for identifying decisions that various stakeholders make on suggested adaptation strategies. This study develops a methodological framework that is applicable to various coastal and small island contexts. The application of the proposed framework is further discussed in a case study conducted on the communities of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), and Little Anse on Isle Madame, Nova Scotia. Specifically, the state of the Little Anse breakwater is analyzed and new adaptation options are presented and evaluated. This research has illustrated and applied a process of decision evaluation and support that explicitly engages multiple participants and critieria in complex problems situations involving environmental change in coastal communities.