Kieran Mathieson
Ethical decision making is difficult. Decision makers with
cognitive, emotional, social, and philosophical limits have
incomplete information about ambiguous, dynamic situations, where
the consequences of action are uncertain. This paper describes
Dioptra, a decision support system that can help people become more
effective ethical decision makers. Dioptra adds structure to the
decision process, supports various communication modes from
face-to-face to fully distributed teams, helps DMs avoid cognitive
and other biases, and addresses dysfunctional group behavior.
Dioptra is a flexible system, potentially useful for many other
applications besides ethical decision support. Dioptra is intended
to be used by mindful people in organizations with an ethical
culture. The system will be of limited use if these conditions are
not met.
