Decision making with multiple criteria
Course duration: 8 h
Deciding is a very complex and difficult task. When the task is too complex or the interests at stake are too important, it quite often happens that we do not know or we are not sure what to decide and, in many instances, we resort to a decision support technique. The focus of this course will be on methodologies for the decision aiding, i.e. a set of explicit and well-defined rules to collect, assess and process information in order to be able to make recommendations in decision and/or evaluation processes. After a general introduction on the decision making problems with multiple criteria, the most used techniques and algorithms to represent and to aggregate preferences will be illustrated. However, as all the evaluation and decision models, including those whose formal character inspires respect and trust, are not perfect and suffer limitations, decision models will be analysed in a critical way with the aim of fostering reflection and awareness in the use of such techniques.
Short course description:
Decision making and decision aiding. Formulation of a multiple criteria decision problem: alternatives, indicators, preferences. Classification of problems: optimization, ranking rating. The utility function method: characteristics and critical issues. Overview of outranking methods. Examples of application.
Pre-requisites: Background in basic Operational Research; notions about classification and characteristics of optimization techniques.
Tutor
Prof. Giuseppe Bruno
Country: Italy
Place of employment: Department of Industrial Engineering, Università di Napoli Federico II, Chair of Management Engineering study courses, www.giubruno.wordpress.com