Recently, information technology support for group decision processes is increasingly involved in asynchronous communication among distributed groups. There are a few researches on GDSS of asynchronous and distributed mode. These researches mostly concentrate on structuring of the argumentation among distributed participants to maintain a common perspective on the decision problem. Some experiments were performed using sequential simple text statements to show that asynchronous and distributed decision making would not be effective without a comprehensive problem representation model. Researchers point out that the need for structured group argumentation techniques is greater in the asynchronous dispersed setting than in the face-to-face setting.
In this thesis, two layer representation model and group decision making process using the proposed model is suggested. Two layer representation model consists of problem representation layer and argumentation layer. The objective of problem representation layer is to maintain a common perspective of the decision problem. Argumentation layer facilitates interactions among participants. Two layer representation model has effective features for participants to have a common conception of the problem. Sample decision meeting was conducted using this model.
