Computer decision support for senior managers: encouraging exploration

This paper discusses issues involved in designing a computer-based decision support system for senior decision makers in business organizations. It is based on the authors' experiences of developing and using such a system over several years in a number of large U.K. companies. The paper focusses upon the nature of decision-making for senior managers and emphasizes the highly political and turbulent environment in which they work, and the implications this has for designing a system which can compete for the attention of a busy manager. Rather than describe “another system” we are anxious to discuss the problems involved in creating decision support systems that will be practical, and assist with decisions that “really matter”.