A seleção de fornecedores é uma atividade extremamente importante para o desenvolvimento estratégico das organizações. Nessa atividade, vários critérios, alternativas e tomadores de decisão devem ser considerados no processo de tomada de decisão, o que pode trazer complexidade ao processo. Várias técnicas multicritérios são utilizadas para a avaliação e seleção de fornecedores; porém as técnicas baseadas na teoria fuzzy vêm sendo amplamente aplicadas devido à sua capacidade de modelar incertezas das avaliações dos tomadores de decisão. Entretanto, poucas técnicas são capazes de tratar adequadamente o processo de tomada de decisão em grupo. Desta maneira, esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo estudar e comparar técnicas baseadas na teoria fuzzy para tomadas de decisão em grupo, aplicadas à seleção e avaliação de fornecedores. A proposta limita o estudo às técnicas baseadas nas representações hesitant fuzzy, intuitionistic fuzzy e suas variações intervaladas. O estudo inclui quatro fases: revisão sistemática de literatura; modelagem computacional das técnicas; aplicação das técnicas implementadas e análise dos resultados, incluindo análise comparativa entre as técnicas. A implementação das técnicas seguiu um modelo proposto de tomada de decisão em grupo, considerando as particularidades das representações fuzzy usadas. Foi realizada uma aplicação piloto na seleção de fornecedores em uma indústria de fiação têxtil. Os resultados foram analisados quanto à sua congruência, adequação para decisão em grupo, interação com o usuário, complexidade computacional e capacidade de modelar incertezas. Como resultado, observou-se que as parametrizações, hesitações, e imprecisões adicionais interferem diretamente nos resultados. Além disso, são apontadas vantagens e desvantagens da utilização das representações para os critérios de comparação analisados. / The supplier selection is an important activity that contributes for the organizations\' strategic development. In this activity, several criteria, alternatives and decision makers must be considered in the decision-making process, which can bring complexity to the process. Several multi-criteria techniques are used to evaluate and select suppliers; but techniques based on fuzzy theory have been widely applied because of their ability to model uncertainties in decision making evaluations. However, few techniques are able to adequately manage the group decision making process. In this way, this research aims to study and compare techniques based on fuzzy set theory for group decision making processes, applied to supplier selection. The proposal of this study is limited to the fuzzy representations hesitant fuzzy, intuitionistic fuzzy and their interval-valued generalization. This research\'s development includes four phases: a systematic literature review; computational modeling; application of the implemented techniques and analysis of the results, including comparative analysis of the techniques. The implementation of the techniques followed a proposed model of group decision making, considering the particularities of the fuzzy representations used. A pilot application was developed in the supplier selection problem in a textile spinning industry. The results were analyzed for their congruence, suitability for group decision, interaction with the user, computational complexity and the ability to model uncertainties. As a result, it has been observed that the parameterizations, hesitations, and the different inaccuracies directly interfere with the results. In addition, advantages and disadvantages of using the representations for the analyzed comparison criteria are pointed out.

<p>Сложеност процеса доношења одлука у водопривреди лежи у чињеници да су проблеми који се решавају често слабо структурирани, због чега је неопходно њихово учвршћивање хеуристичким техникама до нивоа када се проблем може решити применом математичких модела вишекритеријумске оптимизације и анализе.<br />Групно доношење одлука у водопривреди није новост у свету, али коначнаг одређења методологије у овој области још увек нема. Постојање конфликата између различитих страна, заинтересованих за проблематику водопривреде, између врста коришћења вода, као и самих корисника вода указује на сложеност проблемтике. Сложеност увећава постојање великог броја алтернатива, које треба вредновати према великом броју критеријума.<br />Методологија избора учесника у доношењу одлука у водопривреди и одређивања њихових међусобних значаја, који је предложена у дисертацији, заснована је на коришћењу техника стратегијског менаџмента, прогностичких метода, гласачких метода, метода вишекритеријумске анализе и оптимизације и ГИС технологијама.<br />Досадашњи систем управљања водним ресурсима у Србији има слабости јер није у довољној мери заснован на корисничким захтевима, а свака промена захтева обично доводи до дуготрајне процедуре за измену статуса корисника, или измену квалитативних и квантитативних захтева у односу на водне ресурсе.<br />Развијени партиципативни модел, који подрзумева дефинисање конзистентног поступка за избор учесника у процесу управљања сливом, као и одређивање њихових међусобних односа и значаја, у садашњим условима и условима пуне изграђености Регионалног хидросистема демонстриран је на примеру слива реке Криваје.<br />Слив Криваје одабран је због вишеструке сложености водопривредне проблематике, јер је вишенаменски, вишекориснички, са поделама надлежности, како локалних самоуправа, тако и водопривредне делатности. Такође, Криваја је прекогранични водоток, што проблематику усложњава и у међудржавном, ресурсном, економском и политичком смислу. Методологија приказана у дисертацији примењива је и на друге сливове, &#39;оптерећене&#39; вишенаманским, вишекорисничким конфликтима, као и конфликтима надлежности.<br />Основна карактеристика модела је конзистентна структуираност, модул консензусног одлучивања у конфликтним и хазардним условима и употреба савремених математичко-компјутерских метода и модела и информационих технологија који, поред осталог, синергијски указују на доминантне учеснике у процесу одлучивања.</p> / <p>Složenost procesa donošenja odluka u vodoprivredi leži u činjenici da su problemi koji se rešavaju često slabo strukturirani, zbog čega je neophodno njihovo učvršćivanje heurističkim tehnikama do nivoa kada se problem može rešiti primenom matematičkih modela višekriterijumske optimizacije i analize.<br />Grupno donošenje odluka u vodoprivredi nije novost u svetu, ali konačnag određenja metodologije u ovoj oblasti još uvek nema. Postojanje konflikata između različitih strana, zainteresovanih za problematiku vodoprivrede, između vrsta korišćenja voda, kao i samih korisnika voda ukazuje na složenost problemtike. Složenost uvećava postojanje velikog broja alternativa, koje treba vrednovati prema velikom broju kriterijuma.<br />Metodologija izbora učesnika u donošenju odluka u vodoprivredi i određivanja njihovih međusobnih značaja, koji je predložena u disertaciji, zasnovana je na korišćenju tehnika strategijskog menadžmenta, prognostičkih metoda, glasačkih metoda, metoda višekriterijumske analize i optimizacije i GIS tehnologijama.<br />Dosadašnji sistem upravljanja vodnim resursima u Srbiji ima slabosti jer nije u dovoljnoj meri zasnovan na korisničkim zahtevima, a svaka promena zahteva obično dovodi do dugotrajne procedure za izmenu statusa korisnika, ili izmenu kvalitativnih i kvantitativnih zahteva u odnosu na vodne resurse.<br />Razvijeni participativni model, koji podrzumeva definisanje konzistentnog postupka za izbor učesnika u procesu upravljanja slivom, kao i određivanje njihovih međusobnih odnosa i značaja, u sadašnjim uslovima i uslovima pune izgrađenosti Regionalnog hidrosistema demonstriran je na primeru sliva reke Krivaje.<br />Sliv Krivaje odabran je zbog višestruke složenosti vodoprivredne problematike, jer je višenamenski, višekorisnički, sa podelama nadležnosti, kako lokalnih samouprava, tako i vodoprivredne delatnosti. Takođe, Krivaja je prekogranični vodotok, što problematiku usložnjava i u međudržavnom, resursnom, ekonomskom i političkom smislu. Metodologija prikazana u disertaciji primenjiva je i na druge slivove, &#39;opterećene&#39; višenamanskim, višekorisničkim konfliktima, kao i konfliktima nadležnosti.<br />Osnovna karakteristika modela je konzistentna struktuiranost, modul konsenzusnog odlučivanja u konfliktnim i hazardnim uslovima i upotreba savremenih matematičko-kompjuterskih metoda i modela i informacionih tehnologija koji, pored ostalog, sinergijski ukazuju na dominantne učesnike u procesu odlučivanja.</p> / <p>The complexity of the decision-making process in water management lies in the fact that problems, to be solved, are often poorly structured, making it necessary to strenghten them by heuristic techniques to the level where problem can be solved by using mathematical models of multi-criteria optimization and analysis.<br />Group decision-making in water management is not unknown, but the final determination of methodology in this area is still missing.<br />The existence of conflicts between the various parties interested in the issue of water management, between a type of water use and water users themselves, indicates the complexity of the problems. The complexity increases the presence of a large number of alternatives that must be evaluated against a number of criteria.<br />The methodology of selection of participants in decision-making in water management and determining their mutual importance; importance of each one among the others; importance of each of them among the group; importance of each of participants, which is presented in the dissertation, is based on the use of techniques of strategic management, forecasting methods, the voting methods, multi-criteria analysis and optimization, and GIS technologies.<br />The current system of water resources management in Serbia has a weakness because it is not sufficiently based on user requirements, and any requirement&rsquo;s change usually leads to time-consuming procedures for changing the status of users, or alteration of qualitative and quantitative requirements in relation to water resources.<br />Developed participatory model, which implies defining a consistent procedure for the selection of participants in the river basin management, as well as determining their relationships and importance in current terms and conditions of the full construction of the Regional hydro system, has been demonstrated on the example of the basin of the Krivaja river.<br />Confluence Krivaja has been chosen because of multiple complexities of water management issues, its multipurpose, multi-user, the division of responsibilities among local self-governments, as well as water management work. Also, Krivaja is cross-border watercourse, which complicates the issue in the interstate, resource, economic and political sense. The methodology presented in the dissertation is also applicable to other basins &#39;loaded&#39; by multipurpose and multi-user conflicts, as well as conflicts of jurisdiction.<br />The basic characteristic of the model is consistent structure, the module of consensual decision-making in conflict and hazardous conditions, and the use of modern mathematical-computerized methods and models, as well as information technologies which, among other things, the synergistic indicate the dominant participants in the decision-making process.</p>

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-09-16T11:56:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marinaldo Oliveira Santos_.pdf: 2682832 bytes, checksum: f39463fc89972fe2230fe980b0b16e05 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-16T11:56:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marinaldo Oliveira Santos_.pdf: 2682832 bytes, checksum: f39463fc89972fe2230fe980b0b16e05 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-18 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / A avaliação de desempenho funcional é uma das principais ferramentas de gestão de pessoas, seus resultados dão subsídios ao gestor para o planejamento de ações e políticas de melhorias, visando metas individuais e organizacionais. O caso selecionado para o estudo é a Avaliação Periódica de Desempenho (APED), regulada pelas normas legais representadas pela Lei n. 1.534 de 29 de dezembro de 2004 e pelo decreto n. 2.551 de 13 de outubro de 2005. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo propor melhorias no modelo atual de avaliação de desempenho dos servidores públicos do estado do Tocantins visando ao aprimoramento do instrumento de medição de desempenho por meio do emprego da abordagem de auxílio multicritério à decisão (AMD). Para alcançar este objetivo, foi adotada uma abordagem que combina os métodos AHP e PROMETHEE II, e ainda suas extensões para decisão em grupo, a abordagem de Agregação Individual de Prioridades (AIP) para o AHP e o PROMETHEE GDSS para o PROMETHEE II. Os resultados obtidos pela pesquisa propiciaram o aprimoramento do instrumento de avaliação atual da APED, por meio da definição de pesos para os avaliadores, competências e fatores de avaliação. Somado a isso, a partir do instrumento aprimorado, foi possível reformular o cálculo da nota final do avaliado empregando uma agregação aditiva. Com esses resultados, espera-se a melhoria efetiva do modelo atual de APED, que possibilitará a apresentação de resultados mais precisos em conformidade com o desempenho real das atividades laborais do funcionário, viabilizando a definição de políticas de qualificação de pessoal, valorizando o servidor público a fim de promover, de forma mais eficiente, os serviços públicos. / Functional performance evaluation is one of the main people management tools, its results give the manager subsidies for the planing of actions and improvement policies in order to achieve individual and organizational goals. The case selected for the study is Avaliação Periódica de Desempenho (APED), regulated by legal norms represented by the Law n. 1,534 of December 29, 2004 and the Decree 2,551 of 13 october, 2005. In this thesis I shall propound improvements to the current model of perfomance evaluation of public employees of Tocantins state in order to improve the perfomance measurement instrument through the use of multi-criteria decision aid - MDA approach. To achieve this goal, I adopted an approach that combines the AHP and PROMETHEE II methods, and also their extensions to group decision, the Aggregation Individual Priorities approach (AIP) for AHP and PROMETHEE GDSS for PROMETHEE II. The results obtained by the research, led me to the improvement of the current evaluation tool (APED), by defining weights for evaluators, skills and evaluation facts. Added to this, from the improved instrument, it was possible to reformulate the calculation of the final grade of evaluated using an additive aggregation. With these results it is expected the improvement of the current model of (APED), which will allow the submission of further accurate results in accordance with actual performance of labor employee activities, allowing the definition of qualification of personnel policies enhancing the public employee to provide more efficiently the public services

Un des fondements de l’Ingénierie Système réside dans la compréhension et la formulation des exigences de différentes parties prenantes pour mieux maîtriser et contrôler la complexité du système à concevoir. L’évaluation des performances du système nécessite par ailleurs la prise en compte des expertises interdisciplinaires qui peuvent être incertaines, voire incomplètes. La prise en compte des interdépendances entre plusieurs domaines d’activité dans la conception et le déploiement d’un système de mobilité urbaine durable est un bon exemple, qui reflète la problématique de l’élicitation des connaissances pluridisciplinaires, puis de leur utilisation dans la définition d’une architecture distribuée. Le renouveau de la mobilité urbaine a en effet fait émerger des alternatives aux déplacements habituels, faisant place à la mobilité douce, à l’usage raisonnée des véhicules personnels, à la multimodalité et à l’inter-mobilité. Dans ce contexte, la convergence tend à s’opérer vers des plateformes numériques offrant des services variés, à la demande, adaptés aux besoins immédiats des usagers. Ces services sont généralement développés par des acteurs du secteur privé qui détiennent à la fois l’expertise et la technologie pour les déployer. Il s’agit donc, pour les pouvoirs publics considérés comme organe de contrôle et de régulation de la mobilité, de définir quelles infrastructures et quels services offrir et selon quelles modalités. Le travail de recherche effectué dans cette thèse vise à proposer puis valider, une démarche générale pour accompagner les décideurs des villes dans la conception et la mise en place des solutions de mobilité du futur. Un cadre méthodologique prenant en compte l’aide au choix de politiques et de partenaires cibles a pour cela été proposé, basé sur une méthode d’analyse multicritère, dans un cadre de décision collective et sous incertitude. Un méta-modèle d’un système de mobilité durable a ensuite été élaboré, à partir des connaissances élicitées d’un ensemble de standards et référentiels, de même qu’une architecture distribuée du système. Afin d’étudier la faisabilité de l’implémentation de cette architecture, en considérant le point de vue de l’aide à la décision, une roadmap de mise en œuvre a enfin été proposée, basée sur un système de recommandations visant à optimiser la réalisation de projets de mobilité nouveaux / One basics of System Engineering consists in understanding and formalizing the requirements ofdifferent stakeholders in order to better control and handle the complexity of the system to bedesigned. The evaluation of the system's performance also requires taking into accountinterdisciplinary expertise, which may be uncertain or ill-known. The consideration ofinterdependencies among several fields of activity in the design and deployment of a sustainableurban mobility system is a good example, which reflects the issue of the elicitation ofmultidisciplinary knowledge, then its use in the definition of a distributed architecture. The renewalof urban mobility has indeed given rise to alternatives to the usual forms of travel, leading to softmobility, rational use of personal vehicles, multi-modality and inter-mobility. In such a context,convergence is tending towards digital platforms offering various services, on demand adapted tothe immediate needs of end-users. These services are usually developed by private companieswho have both the expertise and the technology to deploy them. It is therefore a matter for thepublic authorities, considered as a regulating and controlling organism of the urban mobility, todefine which infrastructures and which services to offer and under which conditions. The presentresearch work aims at proposing and validating a general method to assist city decision-makers inthe design and implementation of mobility solutions for the future. A methodological frameworktaking into account a support in the choice of targeted policies and partners was proposed for thispurpose, based on a multi-criteria analysis method, within a group decision-making framework andunder uncertainty. A meta-model of a sustainable mobility system was then elaborated, based onthe knowledge elicited from a set of standards, as well as a distributed architecture of the system.In order to study the feasibility of implementing this architecture, from a decision support point ofview, a deployment roadmap was finally proposed, based on a system of recommendationsaiming at optimizing the implementation of new mobility projects.

Brownfield restoration and remediation is a growing concern across the United States. Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties with real or perceived contamination. Successfully restoring these properties requires strong stakeholder collaboration, including the local community. The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities of creating a community garden on a residential brownfield site located in a low-income, high-minority neighborhood and to gain a better understanding of how a community based project develops and impacts individuals from the community. Specifically, the study investigated who chose to participate in the project, what motivated individuals to become involved and remain committed, and how individual's understanding of the project's risks and plans changed throughout his/her involvement. The case study followed 17 participants through the first year of the Emerson Street Garden, a brownfield restoration project in the King Neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon. Findings showed that individuals were attracted to different styles of outreach materials based on their own personality and preferences. The desire to improve the community was an important motivation for all the participants but personal motivation was not connected to knowledge retention. While the Emerson Working Group was successful at distributing knowledge to all its members, individual's flexibility to new ideas was critical for continued involvement in the working group. In conclusion, the study found that a "one-size-fits-all" method for engaging community members in urban restoration and renewal projects does not exist; however, there are best practices that can be applied to most situations. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

The present work explores improvements in group decision-making. It begins with a practical example using state-of-the-art techniques for a complex, high-risk decision. We show how these techniques can reveal a better alternative. Although we created an improved decision process, decision-makers were apt to protect their own organizations instead of the project. This tendency was reduced over the course of the decision-making process but inspired the first conceptual component of this work. The first concept describes the “Cost of Conflict” that can arise in a group decision, using game theory to represent the non-cooperative approach and comparing the outcome to the cooperative approach. We demonstrate that it is possible for the group to settle on a non-Paretto Nash equilibrium. The sensitivity of the decision-maker weights is revealed which led to the second conceptual portion of this work. The second concept applies social network theory to study the influence between decision-makers in a group decision. By examining the number and strength of connections between decision-makers, we build from intrinsically derived weights to extrinsically derived weights by adding the network influences from other decision-makers. The two conceptual approaches provide a descriptive view of non-cooperative decisions where decision-makers still influence each other. These concepts suggest a prescriptive approach to achieving a higher group utility.

¡§Individual¡¨is the basic analytic unit in a pluralistic society. Especially, phenomenon of public affairs is essence of the problem and is based on individual cognition, hidden in group behavior. The individual cognition forms group judgment and interpersonal influence in the group. This interpersonal influence process may simplify as the power relations between group members, the communication network and the interaction form in the group, and the opinion relations within the group (French, 1956). The conflict is the essential situation of interpersonal influence and also is one kind of relational form and phenomenon for group judgment. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the interpersonal influence and conduct interpersonal mutual cooperation in the public affairs area. The group decision-making (or judgment) can be explored based on observable individual preference and group decision-making. That can infer unobservable interpersonal influence. This interpersonal influence process transforms the individual judgment into the group decision-making. There are two stages in interpersonal influence process, including opinion formation for individual members, and compromise among group members. Namely, the individual might revise his or her preference voluntarily. The group integrates the revised members¡¦ judgments into group decision-making. That is, the group process resembles the process which individual integrates multi-cues like information integration theory (IIT) (Friedkin, 2005; Sniezek et al., 1989). The average cognitive algebra pattern in IIT may measure the interpersonal influence effectively. The theories of group decision-making are still insufficient. For example, social power theory and social comparison theory explain the concept of choice shift, but not positivism. Social decision scheme (SDS) employs decision scheme to predict the group decision-making, but it is insufficient for explaining the group decision-making process. Although social dilemma explores both individual level and group level, it cannot provide the weighting method. Cognitive conflict paradigm (CCP) discusses judgment policy shift, but preference shift is still not mentioned. Although CCP focuses on interpersonal learning, it does not propose how to weight interpersonal influence. The functional measurement theory in IIT may supplement insufficiencies in these theories.. The research utilizes the concept and the method of IIT, which prodivides experimental validity for explaining the complex interpersonal influence process by using social weight. This research uses budget allocation as discussion cases. Interpersonal conflicts are divided by the cognitive conflict and the interest conflict. By using social judgment theory (SJT), this research can analyze cognitive difference in the case of cognitive conflict. Besides, using quasi-experimental procedure in IIT, the findings of this research include: 1. In the group process, group members¡¦ judgments are integrated to group decision-making based on unequal-weight rule mostly. Members¡¦ social weights are different and depend on the level of members¡¦ preferences. 2. The members in different groups have the same preferences initially. Although social weights of these members are not significant difference in statistic, these members still appear the differences between individuals. 3. In cognitive conflict case, the group consensus is not consistently accompanied by cognitive consensus. 4. The group influence results from normative social influence, rather than from informational social influence. 5. It shows that there is negative correlation between social weight and normative effect. Besides, social weight and comprise degree also show negative.correlation 6. The cognitive feedback and the outcome feedback don¡¦t affect decision-making result. 7. The relationship between social weight and the degree of satisfaction is not supported. The social weight and the fairness of decision-making process show significant correlation 8. The subjects¡¦ decision-making performances in the study don¡¦t show significant difference

iv In this study, an Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) based approach was developed in order to measure the performance of customer-based Research and Development projects being executed in T&Uuml / BTAKSAGE, Defense Research and Development Institute, under the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. In order to evaluate project performance, many criteria, containing various subcriteria were determined. In order to handle the interdependencies among the criteria and the sub-criteria, ANP was used. The ANP model generated in this study is a hybrid model consisting of both a hierarchy and a network. The pairwise comparison matrices that were built up for defining the importance and influences of the criteria/sub-criteria in the ANP model were formed as interval judgments from a group decision making process, based on data obtained from a questionnaire conducted among the experts in the Institute. From the interval pairwise comparison matrices, weight intervals for the sub-criteria were determined and these bounds were used as assurance region constraints in a super-efficiency DEA model, through which the project ranking was obtained. Taking into consideration that there may occur some missing values in some projects for some of the sub-criteria, the superefficiency DEA model was extended to handle missing data. The model was applied to a real case study on performance evaluation of the ongoing customer-based projects in the Institute. For comparison purposes, the case study was also solved by two other approaches.

Information technology has played several important roles in group decision making, such as communication support and decision support. Little is known about how information technology can be used to persuade members of a group to reach a consensus. In this dissertation, I aim to address the issues that are related to the role of visual representation technology (VRT) for persuasion in a forecasting context. VRTs are not traditional graphical representation technologies. VRTs can select, transform, and present data in a rich visual format that facilitates exploration, comprehension, and sense-making. The first study investigates conditions under which teams are likely to increase the use of VRTs and how the use of VRTs affects teams' consensus development and decision performance. The second study evaluates the effects of influence types and information technology on a choice shift. A choice shift is the tendency of group members to shift their initial positions to a more extreme direction following discussion. A choice shift is also called group polarization. To complement my first two studies, I conduct a laboratory experiment in my third study. I explore the effect of VRTs and team composition on a choice shift in group confidence.

In this dissertation, I examine how IT can support individuals, and in turn their organizations, in learning about and knowing their external environment on the Web. Specifically, I examine novel-knowledge discovery in the context of the multi-level organizational learning process, focusing on cognitive developments and changes to mental models. Novel knowledge is defined as knowledge that is potentially strategically important to the organization, not currently known to the organization, indirectly relevant and therefore difficult to find. Novel knowledge is proposed to be one of three different types of knowledge that organizations seek to discover in their environment. A theoretical framework is developed to identify the sets of tool characteristics, collectively referred to as levels, which are proposed to support the discovery of different types of knowledge, as well as different modes of learning and learning processes. In addition, extensions to the 4I organizational learning process model are proposed, specific to searching and learning on the Web: 1) adding a fifth process – information foraging and search-term development, and 2) adding a fourth level to the learning process – the machine-level. A competing theories approach is used to develop a rich understanding of knowledge discovery and learning on the Web. Understanding which types of tools are useful in different learning contexts has implications for learning effectiveness and may help firms understand how to “manage” their learning. Tools for the discovery of highly novel knowledge are less prevalent than tools to support the other levels of knowledge discovery. Accordingly, a design theory for novel-knowledge discovery tools is proposed based on organizational learning theories. An instantiation of the design theory, a novel-knowledge discovery tool, is developed and tested within the organizational learning process and compared to tools at the other two levels of knowledge discovery. In addition, different processes involved in using a novel-knowledge discovery tool at the group level are examined. Three separate studies were conducted, including a lab and field experiment, and case study. The results are proposed to demonstrate how novel-knowledge discovery tools can support organizational learning. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-26 09:25:31.367