Collaborative discussion and decision-support in a manufacturing organization

Most work activities in organizations involve problem discussion, interpretation and decision-making. Literature has shown that an understanding of the nature of groups and their organizational work context is essential to the designs of systems to support these activities. Andon is a CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) system, designed to support discussion during problem-solving processes in a manufacturing organization. This paper addresses the reuse of results from participatory techniques applied to the Andon interface design to propose an artificial agent structure aimed at improving decision-making in workgroups.