DSJ Special Topic Forum 2009

Special Topic Forum

New Frontiers in Collaborative Decision Making

Associate Editor Team

Paulo B. Goes, University of Connecticut

José A. Pino, University of Chile

Asoo Vakharia, University of Florida

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in collaborative decision making in a variety of business settings. One major reason for this could be the increase in globalization of business operations leading to geographically dispersed executives and decision makers. Information technology plays a key role in supporting and facilitating collaborative efforts in these settings and the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) addresses issues in the design, development, and implementation of information technology tools to support group decision making. Some of the well-known IT tools developed in this arena and used extensively today include web 2.0, social networks, wikis, multi-player games, and virtual team environments. From a business perspective, collaborative IT-based tools are vital enablers to address multiple strategic and tactical problems. These include new product design and development, coordination of virtual teams located across continents, vendor and outsourcing management, designing effective and efficient supply chains, and knowledge management systems

There are a few documented success stories in the application of IT to support business decision making. For example ECR (Efficient Consumer Response) is one mechanism which has been used to enhance collaborative decision making in the supply chain. Another emerging concept in global corporations is the “24-Hour Knowledge Factory,” which can be used to support the collaborative efforts between globally dispersed team members. However, what seems to be lacking is a focus in terms of problem settings and corresponding tools/technologies to support collaborative decision making. It is time, therefore, to reflect on the value of IT tools and their applicability to support and enhance collaborative decision making. This is the major motivation underlying this STF in the Decision Sciences Journal.

Topics of Interest for this special issue on the use of IT tools to support collaborative decision making include, but are not limited to:

·       Evaluating the current state of the fields of CSCW and decision making.

·       Reviewing, extending, and developing theoretical paradigms linking these fields.

·       New IT models, methods and techniques to enhance collaborative decision making.

·       Application of IT tools in supporting decision making in:

o      New Product Design and Development,

o      Supply Chain Management, and

o      Managing Virtual Teams.

·       Managing knowledge “factories.”

Building on the editorial mission of Decision Sciences, this STF seeks manuscripts utilizing diverse research approaches such as empirical, simulation, and/or analytical research methods. Articles published in this STF must meet Decision Sciences high standards of research rigor and originality, while embracing managerial relevance, not only in the research problem studied, but also in their impact on enhanced decision making. STFs consist of a collection of three to five articles that are published in a regular issue along with other peer-reviewed articles.

Manuscript preparation and submission instructions can be found on journal’s web site at http://decisionsciencesjournal.org/Help/Author/author_Guidelines.cfm. In the cover letter, please indicate that your submission is for the New Frontiers in Collaborative Decision Making STF. Please note that the deadline for submissions has been revised to March 1, 2009.

Associate Editor Team

Given the interdisciplinary nature of Decision Sciences, the Associate Editor Team has expertise in both information technology and supply chain management. It is the goal of this STF to foster interdisciplinary knowledge and publish high impact interdisciplinary research that can impact future research in multiple domains.

Paulo Goes, Guest Associate Editor, is the Gladstein Professor of Information Technology and Innovation at the School of Business of the University of Connecticut. He received his PhD from the University of Rochester. His research interests are in the areas of design and evaluation of models for e-business, emerging technologies, online auctions, database technology and systems, and technology infrastructure. His research has appeared in several journals including Management Science, MISQ, ISR, Journal of MIS, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Computers. Dr. Goes is senior editor of Information Systems Research, and is or has recently been associate editor of Management Science, Decision Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, Production and Operations Management and the INFORMS Journal on Computing. In 2004 he co-chaired WITS, the Workshop on Information Technology and Systems, and was recently elected the WITS Organization President. He has recently co-chaired the Third Statistical Challenges in eCommerce Research Symposium and is co-chairing the 12th Conference on Information Systems and Technology in Seattle, November 3-4, 2007.

Jose A. Pino, Guest Associate Editor, is a full professor at the University of Chile (Computer Science Dept.). He has been President of the Chilean Computer Science Society and President of CLEI (the Latin American Association of Universities in Computer Science). He has been chairman of his dept. and director of the PhD program in computer science (University of Chile). His fields of research are CSCW and human-computer interaction. His publications include six co-authored books, research papers presented at international conferences and published in journals; his journal publications have appeared in J. of the ACM, Decision Support Systems, Communications of the ACM, Group Decision and Negotiation, Interacting with Computers, Educational Technology and Society, Information Research, Information Technology & People.

Asoo J. Vakharia, DSJ Associate Editor, is the Beall Professor of Supply Chain Management, and director of the Center for Supply Chain Management in the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida. Currently he also serves as chair of the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management in the College. Asoo's research primarily focuses on e-business and coordination issues in supply chains and he has published papers in several academic leading journals including the Decision Sciences Journal, the European Journal of Operational Research, IIE Transactions, the Journal of Discrete Applied Mathematics, the Journal of Operations Management, the Naval Research Logistics Journal, and the Production & Operations Management Journal. He is a senior editor for the Production and Operations Management Journal, an associate editor for the Decision Sciences Journal, and an area editor for Operations Management Research.

This CfP was obtained from WikiCFP