published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy

A software architecture for strategic-management support-systems is developed, with an underlying principle that new additions to the library of planning tools in such support systems should not have to be new programming efforts. The current status of group decision support is surveyed and the lack of a software architecture for such systems is noted. The software architecture that has been developed is intended to guide the development of such support systems and is based on a library of procedural abstractions called elemental-engines. Selected sets of elemental-engines are assembled into synthesized support drivers which support an even higher level of abstraction, that of the generic logic supporting a family of planning tools. Thus, a family of planning tools may be expanded by the simple creation of text files, containing the dialog of the new tool. The work looks first at the nature of strategic management decision-making, then to work done in group decision support systems. A framework for software development, particularly in the area of list-processing is presented. A data structure to support such list processing is developed and discussed. An example of the software architecture is presented via the code for the initial planning-tool developed. This code was then generalized into the library of elemental-engines and a set of synthesized support drivers. This library of planning-tools, built around the architecture is described, and the use of the tools in a planning session is evaluated. Some possible extensions with respect to a decision laboratory are suggested. The laboratory incorporates features developed in the evolution of using computers to support human decision-making, with software written according to the architecture presented.

Aided by advances in information technology, decision support systems (DSS) are widely used throughout organizations. These DSS are limited to support of specific structured and semi-structured management tasks for individual decision-makers and use primarily quantitative models. The next step in the evolution of DSS is to support complex, unstructured decision processes using qualitative, creativity enhancement models. The purpose of this research was to design, implement and evaluate an automated system to support complex, unstructured group decision processes. Idea generation and management in organization planning has been chosen as the domain for the system. A DSS architecture has been developed that includes a process management system component in addition to traditional data, dialogue and model management components. A group DSS and knowledge-based management system approach are central features of the system architecture. Software engineering methods were used to design, implement and evaluate the technical feasibility of the prototype system. Action research using participant and structured observation methods was used to study the (1) dynamics of the idea generation process during automated brainstorming, (2) influence of the technology on the idea generation process and (3) satisfaction of the planners with automated brainstorming for idea generation in a group setting. The findings of the research indicate that automated, networked idea generation can assist groups of planners in generating ideas during planning sessions. These ideas were accurately represented and stored and efficiently retrieved using a semantic inheritance network and frame knowledge management system implemented using a specially-designed knowledge representation language developed by the author. Over 100 planners from a variety of organizations used the system. Data indicated that computer brainstorming changed group dynamics, especially group interaction and participation. The anonymity provided by EBS neutralized social inhibitions and, in combination with the capability for parallel idea generation on the computer network, helped equalize participation. Minimal group interaction occurred. Planners using interactive computer brainstorming reported high levels of satisfaction with the process and outcome of the planning session.

Information systems have become an essential part of every business organization's production and management process. It is critical to an enterprise to integrate its organization and information systems. However, the lack of computer-supported tools for modeling organization and information systems has put their integration far beyond our reach. In this research, a metasystem approach that can integrate organization and information system modeling by means of group decision support systems (GDSS) and computer-aided software engineering (CASE) has been proposed. A prototype system, called MetaPlex, has been designed and implemented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. The emphasis in design and implementation of MetaPlex has been on making the underlying knowledge representation expressive enough to meet modeling requirements and ensuring that the user interface is easy for managers and users to use. The use of a GDSS makes it possible to capture strategic assumptions and business objectives, as well as structures of an organization, from managers through face-to-face group meetings. The application of the metasystem concepts in generating GDSS tools makes the customization of a GDSS environment possible. Because of GDSS environment driven by a metasystem can be used to acquire information about a target system from multiple experts in a structured format that can be integrated with CASE tools, this approach provides a basis for a seamless integration of GDSS and CASE tools to support both organization and information system modeling.

This dissertation describes partial requirements for the Plexsys Development Environment (DE) for developing and implementing Management Information Systems (MIS). A DE is a complete and unified set of concepts, techniques, and tools (methods) that aid in normative requirements analysis, elicitation and ideation of unique requirements, modeling, analyzing, and performing design transforms. A framework is proposed as an aid for evaluating existing MIS analysis and design methods, and for developing a complete DE. A MIS produces decision support information and performs the transaction processing task. Part of this dissertation is to formalize the analysis and modeling of transaction processing. As part of this process, a modeling language and processing requirements are proposed. A design transform is proposed that develops logical system requirements given a set of decision support and transaction processing information requirements. This transform uses a formalization of the output decomposition process. In order to automate the transform, functional data types are defined. Further, constant data processing requirements are defined. Using the Plexsys software base as a model, the concept of the Enterprise Software Development Library (ESDL) is proposed. This library contains software tools specifically for the extension of programming languages for the business data processing environment.

Since the mid-1960s, the Communist Party and government of the Soviet Union have allocated substantial resources for introducing computers into industrial enterprises. This dissertation assesses the results of this program by addressing three fundamental questions: (1) To what extent have computerized management information systems been absorbed into Soviet enterprises? (2) What has facilitated or hindered absorption? (3) What is the long-range potential for computerized enterprise management information systems (ASUPs)? Although computing has had a revolutionary impact on the way that business is done in the United States, no such effect has been obtained in the USSR. Mainframes have been installed in a relatively small number of large Soviet enterprises, but computing has failed to become an integral part of management with the exception of some routine accounting and planning applications. A handful of time-sharing centers provide computing services for other enterprises. At the superstructure level, which comprises primarily those organizations positioned above the enterprise, the Soviet enterprise is subject to conflicting or misdirected incentives and a great deal of bureaucratic interference. ASUPs have been constrained because informal, marginal, or illegal procedures and relationships necessary to manage Soviet enterprises are not amenable to computerization; the payoff from computing is small, while the risk is great; and other parts of the system have failed to adapt to it. At the infrastructure level, which provides computing services to enterprises, the overall quality of hardware, software, and systems design has been poor. Even within the constraints on applicable usage, ASUPs have failed to live up to their potential. The focus of the Soviet computing effort is shifting away from enterprise management into other areas which are somewhat more isloated from the surrounding system: process control, robotics, and computer-aided design and manufacturing. Further efforts within the ASUP program are being directed towards time-sharing centers to provide services to smaller enterprises and national standards for accounting applications. The incremental absorption of management applications will continue, but without major systemic changes, its impact will remain marginal.

This dissertation investigates vocal behavior, measured using standard acoustic and commercial vocal analysis software, as it occurs naturally while lying, experiencing cognitive dissonance, or receiving a security interview conducted by an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA).In study one, vocal analysis software used for credibility assessment was investigated experimentally. Using a repeated measures design, 96 participants lied and told the truth during a multiple question interview. The vocal analysis software's built-in deception classifier performed at the chance level. When the vocal measurements were analyzed independent of the software's interface, the variables FMain (Stress), AVJ (Cognitive Effort), and SOS (Fear) significantly differentiated between truth and deception. Using these measurements, a logistic regression and machine learning algorithms predicted deception with accuracy up to 62.8%. Using standard acoustic measures, vocal pitch and voice quality was predicted by deception and stress.In study two, deceptive vocal and linguistic behaviors were investigated using a direct manipulation of arousal, affect, and cognitive difficulty by inducing cognitive dissonance. Participants (N=52) made verbal counter-attitudinal arguments out loud that were subjected to vocal and linguistic analysis. Participants experiencing cognitive dissonance spoke with higher vocal pitch, response latency, linguistic Quantity, and Certainty and lower Specificity. Linguistic Specificity mediated the dissonance and attitude change. Commercial vocal analysis software revealed that cognitive dissonance induced participants exhibited higher initial levels of Say or Stop (SOS), a measurement of fear.Study three investigated the use of the voice to predict trust. Participants (N=88) received a screening interview from an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) and reported their perceptions of the ECA. A growth model was developed that predicted trust during the interaction using the voice, time, and demographics.In study four, border guards participants were randomly assigned into either the Bomb Maker (N = 16) or Control (N = 13) condition. Participants either did or did not assemble a realistic, but non-operational, improvised explosive device (IED) to smuggle past an ECA security interviewer. Participants in the Bomb Maker condition had 25.34% more variation in their vocal pitch than the control condition participants.This research provides support that the voice is potentially a reliable and valid measurement of emotion and deception suitable for integration into future technologies such as automated security screenings and advanced human-computer interactions.