Decision support systems – dawn or twilight for management science?

Abstract

Decision support systems (DSS) is a movement aimed at ‘improving the performance of knowledge workers in organizations through the application of information technology’ as stated in one definition. But ‘improving the performance of knowledge workers’ is a field management scientists know something about. Is the information technology now moving into this field, and are the computer enthusiasts establishing a hegemony in our age-old hunting grounds? Yes, and it is even worse – DSS is moving into the boardrooms and the offices of CEOs, and providing the company's top decision makers with computer support … for planning and decision making: “executive support is a system that achieves a coupling of an individual's intellectual resources with those of the machine”. Is, then, the doctrine and the methodology of management science becoming obsolete? Is this the twilight for management science? No, but probably the dawn of a new paradigm!