Comparison: Group Model Building Workshops of Two SMEs from the Basque Industrial Sector

Abstract: Group Model Building (GMB) is a methodology which involves a target group in the business of model formulation and conceptualization. It is crucial to obtain extended formal models and accelerate group decision support for future model building. In this paper the development of two GMB workshops for two Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) from the Basque Industrial Sector is presented. These workshops focused on one problem: the analysis of the commitment of workers to the organization. Each session in each company was of four-hour duration and involved eight workers and two facilitators. This article highlights the importance of involving decision-making agents from each company in the reflection and process of finding solutions for their problem. The results suggest that in spite of the inherent differences and distinct features of each company, both have important similarities when tackling the same problem. These similarities could be translated to a general pattern conceptual model, which could be simulated as a generic model in the future.

Key words: group model building; collaborative modeling; industry

JEL code: L