Affiliations: Graduate School of Engineering, Shibaura Institute of
Technology, Saitama, Japan | Information Processing Center, Toyota Technological
Institute, Aichi, Japan | Saitama Medical School, Saitama, Japan | Graduate School of Engineering, Shibaura Institute of
Technology, Saitama, Japan
Abstract: Group Problem Solving is a mechanism which all the participants
collaboratively solve a problem by utilizing their knowledge and experience.
Therefore, if this mechanism is used skilfully for problem solving, it is more
effective in solving a problem than solving the problem for oneself. However,
since it is not easy to use the mechanism effectively, the success of Group
Problem Solving depends on whether or not a coordinator is skill. Therefore, it
is desired to implement a system to support group problem solving process
strongly, so that all the participants can effectively utilize their knowledge
and experiences in the process. The authors introduced Kepner-Tregoe program
(strictly speaking, only "Problem Analysis"), which is a method for
management, into the system as a method, and then they developed the system
over WWW. They conducted an experiment on usability of the implemented system,
and then they elicited some issues about coordinator support facilities of the
implemented system, and improved the system. Furthermore, they conducted an
experiment on usability of the improved system, and showed that the coordinator
support facilities of the improved system were effective.
Keywords: Kepner-Tregoe program, group problems solving, group coordination, WWW
