Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation

Publication of the Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation marks a milestone in the evolution of the group decision and negotiation (GDN) eld. On this occasion, editors Colin Eden and Marc Kilgour asked me to write a brief history of the eld to provide background and context for the volume. They said that I am in a good position to do so: Actively involved in creating the GDN Section and serving as its chair; founding and leading the GDN journal, Group Decision and Negotiation as editor-in-chief, and the book series, 'Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation' as editor; and serving as general chair of the GDN annual meetings. I accepted their invitation to write a brief history. In 1989 what is now the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) established its Section on Group Decision and Negotiation. The journal Group Decision and Negotiation was founded in 1992, published by Springer in cooperation with INFORMS and the GDN Section. In 2003, as an ext- sion of the journal, the Springer book series, 'Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation' was inaugurated.

D. Marc Kilgour is Professor of Mathematics at Wilfrid Laurier University, Research Director: Conflict Analysis for the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Systems Engineering at University of Waterloo. His main research interest is optimal decision-making in multi-decision-maker and multi-criteria contexts, including deterrence and counter-terrorism, power-sharing, fair division, voting, negotiation, and infrastructure management.

Colin Eden is Associate Dean and Director of the International Division of the University of Strathclyde Business School. He is Professor of Strategic Management and Management Science. His major research interests are into the relationship between operational decision making practices and their strategic consequences; the processes of strategy making in senior management teams; making strategy; managerial and organisational cognition; 'soft OR' modelling approaches and methodologies, including particular emphasis on the role of cognitive mapping; the theory of consultancy practice; the process and practice of 'action research'; and the modelling of the behaviour of large projects disruptions and delays, including issues of the dynamics of productivity changes, and learning curves; and the use of group decision support in the analysis, negotiation and making of strategy.