Why do you think members were direct and clear using GSS where they had not been in face-to-face discussion? What was persuasive about the visual representation that was not persuasive about the oral discussion?

The school board in a city near where one of us lives had been stymied for several meetings over an issue related to a tax increase for schools and what arguments members should make in the local media to sup- port the tax increase. Most of the members wanted to stress that the tax increase would mean higher salaries for teachers, more teachers in the system, and smaller class sizes. One very vocal member wanted to emphasize the deterioration of the buildings and the necessity for ba- sic facility maintenance. The board was stuck over this and other issues. Members didn't want to alienate the buildings member so, wanting to be polite, they worked hard to find positive things to say about his argu- ments. However, this just fueled his enthusiasm. The school board presi- dent decided to use the university's Decision Room, a room that had 20 terminals with capacity for full group support systems (GSS). Two faculty members assisted the school board; one served as chauffeur" to run the software while the other served as a neutral facilitator. The school board members typed their ideas into a terminal, where they appeared on a large, overhead screen that all could see. They were able to make anony- mous comments about each idea. Finally, they rated each idea on a scale of 1 to 5 and rank-ordered each one as well. The ratings and rankings were instantly tallied, and a bar chart was produced that visually reproduced their numerical assessments. It was clear from the ratings and rankings that the buildings member was an outlier in the group. His ideas were not sup- ported at all, which became obvious to everyone in the group, including him. This visual representation on the computer screen got through to him when the members' gentle oral comments had not. He dropped his insistence on the building maintenance platform for the tax levy