161 GSS FOR COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS ENGINEERING Group Decision and Negotiation 9:161–183, 2000 © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands Using GSS to Design Organizational Processes and Information Systems: An Action Research Study on Collaborative Business Engineering GERT-JAN DE VREEDE Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 5 - 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands GARY W. DICKSON College of Management, North Carolina State, University Raleigh, NC 27565, USA Abstract During an action research study a collaborative business engineering approach was developed, applied, and evaluated. Key characteristic of the approach is its focus on the participative design of organizational processes and supporting information systems. Following the approach, various design activities are carried out in close cooperation with groups of stakeholders supported by a Group Support System (GSS). This paper describes and reflects on the execution of these collaborative design activities in a police organization. Lessons learned with respect to GSS and collaborative design are formulated. Key insights illustrate the stakeholders’ perception of the group technology and the way in which it facilitated an efficient design process. Key words: group support systems, business engineering, action research, organization design, information systems design 1. Introduction It is commonly recognized that organizations find themselves in a changing, demanding environment, see e.g. (Huber 1984; Lewin and Stephens 1993). Behaving like purposeful systems (Ackoff and Emery 1972), organizations are subject to a constant need to adapt their structures, processes, and technologies in order to meet new demands from their environment (Burns and Stalker 1961; Lawrence and Lorsch 1967). In response, organizations are often inclined toward applying Information Technology (IT) to automate or support their current processes. Among others, Hammer (1990) claims that more substantial gains and improvements can be achieved by applying IT as support for changing or reorganizing the current way of working. There is evidence which supports Hammer’s assertion, e.g. (Davenport and Short 1990; Drucker 1991; Hammer 1990; Meel 1994).