Consensus model for large-scale group decision support in IT services management

Abstract

IT-based services management in organizations frequently requires the use of decision making approaches. Several multi-criteria and group decision making models have been proposed in the literature to facilitate this kind of processes. However, there are some important aspects when a large number of experts take part in group decisions, that have not been considered yet in organizational contexts, such as: the existence of multiple subgroups of experts with different attitudes and/or interests, the necessity of applying a consensus reaching process to make highly accepted collective decisions, and the problem of dealing with heterogeneous contexts, since experts belonging to different areas might prefer to provide preferences in different information domains. This paper presents an attitude-based consensus model for IT-based services management, that deals with heterogeneous information and multiple criteria. An example that illustrates its application to a real-life problem about selecting an IT-based banking service for its improvement is also presented.