Decision Support Systems Wisdom

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Knight and McDaniel, 1979

According to Knight and McDaniel (1979), "Basically, there are three occasions when organizations are faced with nonroutine decision situations and must use collegial or political structures to make choices. The first occasion arises when the organization is faced with scarce resources. Then the organization must answer the question 'What are we doing that we can stop?' The second case occurs when the organization has excess resources. The question is 'Can we do something that we haven't done before?' The third case develops when the organization feels the need for systems improvement. The fundamental question in this case is 'Can we do what we are now doing better?' (p. 142) "

from Knight, K.E., and R.R. McDaniel, Jr. Organizations: An Information Systems Perspective. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1979.

appeared in DSS News, January 6, 2002, Vol. 3, No. 1