Observations on GDSS interaction: chauffeured, facilitated, and user-driven systems

A description is given of the outcome of the use of group decision support systems (GDSS) under three modes of user interaction. One set of groups worked on a judgmental task using a chauffeured GDSS. Another set of groups worked on the same task under the direction of a facilitator. A third set performed the task in a setting in which each group member interacted freely with the GDSS (user-driven). Performance differences among the groups were detected in that chauffeured and facilitated groups achieved higher degrees of consensus than did user-driven.<>