Decision support system for coordination in hierarchical structures

Group decision support in organizations with a hierarchical structure is discussed. The structure of an organization should be suitably designed to deal with problems which might arise in it, and its efficiency should be amplified by supporting cooperation among its members. To do this, a framework is proposed in which not only explicit communication among its members is facilitated, but also their decision making is supported by a facility for implicit communication among them, via a field in which influence among their operations and interventions are analyzed. The field, called the intention transmission field (ITF), is used by decision makers to notify their colleagues of intentions behind their operations. The mechanism of the ITF is described. Decision makers can adjust their plans for problem solving to be consistent with strategies of colleagues by referring to the ITF