THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO PROBLEM-SOLVING AND DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS

This paper discusses some of the critical issues in the study and desi gn of decision support systems (DSS). The contributions and limitation s of the hard or mathematically oriented approach to DSS design are al so reviewed. This is followed by a brief overview of the various soft or less mathematical system methodologies. It is suggested that some o f the difficulties faced by current DSS research are due to limitation s inherent in the underlying methodologies, in particular, those based on a hard or a mathematical perspective. Finally, the paper explores the rapidly expanding literature on soft systems methodologies, and as sesses what it has to offer DSS research and applications.