Comparison Between Face-to-Face And Computer-mediated On The Quality Of Decision-making In Idea-generation Task

Brainstorming is a technique that helps to overcome the restriction of evaluation that takes place in most business meeting, which was proposed by Osborn in 1953. Since then, brainstorming has been one of the most popular idea-generating methods. Previous research on brainstorming and related idea-generating techniques has generally found that interacting groups produced fewer ideas than equivalent numbers of nominal groups. Evaluation apprehensions, production blocking and free riding were said the three major causes for explanation of this fact. Some forms of production blocking were the primary impediment. With expansion of IT in the world, computer-aid and computer-support systems have been emerged rapidly in individual and group decision-making. Electronic brainstorming (EBS) is such a technique that focuses primarily on eliminating production blocking. It is expected to promote large group idea-generation, and presented evidence of both its effectiveness and why such effectiveness occurs.This study investigated the effects of group size (six-persons vs. three-persons), group type (nominal vs. interacting) and communication media (CM vs. FTF) on the number and the quality of unique ideas produced by decision-making groups. Subjects in each condition were given a task to help a poor student to earn enough money for learning and living in the school. The results showed: (1) The effective ideas and the creative ideas were influenced by production blocking and evaluation apprehensions. Production blocking was existed in the groups of face-to-face. As the size of face-to-face group increases, the production blocking in the group was seriously obvious. Evaluation apprehensions were existed in face-to-face group too, but were not influenced by group size. Evaluation apprehensions affected the number of creative ideas and ideas of violating social norm. (2) The breadth and the depthof idea-generation in each experimental condition were affected by the group types and the group size. Because anonymity and parallelism are the two important ways for group members to contribute creative ideas, computer-mediated groups were thought to be the best ones for group members to contribute creative ideas. In the view of the breadth of the ideas, six-person groups were better than three-person groups, and nominal groups were better than interacting groups. (3) CM groups spend much time on the idea-generation process than FTF groups. FTF groups were better than CM groups in terms of member's confidence on the quality of ideas produced by himself or the group he belongs to.