information and knowledge that disturb their own perceptions
of problems.
In making decisions and handling supporting information for
decision making, various types of technical systems are often em-
ployed. One often speaks of hardware and software, with hard-
ware being constituted by technical equipment such as radio gear
or computers. Software is the support that these technical sys-
tems need to function, e.g., a certain radio channel or a computer
program. By using hardware and software, one can attain various
objectives, such as:
- Providing information that is accurate, more complete and
more rapidly distributed. - Reducing strains on coordination.
- Reducing a group’s negative influences by shifting the focus
from normative influences (controlling through rules) to in-
formative influences (controlling through information). - Increasing accessibility to information for the purpose of more
rapidly establishing an understanding of a task.
Technical support to both groups and decision makers has in-
creased but the effects, however, are still unclear (Duffy, 1992).
In some cases, technical support creates more problems than it
remedies. There is always a certain amount of risk involved in
becoming dependent on technical support for decision making.
Should the technical system fail that one has become dependent
on, it may no longer be possible to make correct decisions.
Distributed decision-making
When it comes to practical work with making decisions and wor-
king with supporting information for decision making, there can
be reason to distribute the rights to make various types of decisions
or authorities among several different individuals into socalled de-
cision domains. A functioning organisation builds on various types
or degrees of authorities that are distributed over the entire system
and normally also among several different individuals.
Distributed decision making embraces and is based on two aspects
(Brehmer, 1994):
- A physical aspect that entails that a single individual can only
affect a limited area. - A cognitive aspect that entails that a single individual can only
process a certain limited amount of information.