A consensus-based group decision support method

Important decision making in a typical Japanese organization is most often coordinated by a person or persons who, on the basis of discussions with a specially organized decision making group, generates plans, chooses one or more from among those plans for further consideration, and then explains and discusses the choices again with the group. This process is called ‘nemawashi,’ and because it is unstructured, it is difficult to develop a computer support system for helping coordinators in their work. To this purpose, a flexible mathematical model is introduced here. This model helps coordinators to prepare their recommendations on the basis of the preferences of individual decision group members, balanced by their individual degrees of influence within the organization. It also assists coordinators in persuading members who object to selected plans, and it provides a foundation for further development of effective support systems for consensus-based group decision making. [In Japanese.]