SUPPORTING OPTION GENERATION.

Recent psychological research on option generation suggests that humans are pitifully poor option generators and that various 'brainstorming' techniques represent the principal (if not only) means for supporting option generation. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that this conclusion is premature. The first half of this paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding the role of option generation. The second half of the paper (a) discusses the role of decision support system technology and a delivery mechanism for option generation support, and (b) uses the theoretical framework presented in the first half of the paper to identify how various analytical methods can be used in combination with brain-storming methods to support option generation.