Decision Making in Complex Systems

Abstract

This chapter introduces the main concepts related to this book. The chapter starts offering a definition of complex systems and introduces some of their principal characteristics. Then the main stages for system analysis are shown. These are system description, system decomposition, study of subsystems, and, finally, integration/aggregation of results. Afterwards, the concepts of decision making and decision support systems are explained. Next, the evolution of decision support systems as well as an introduction into decision making in complex systems are introduced. It is clearly stated that the principal objective of complex system study and analysis is the possibility not only to understand and describe it, but fundamentally to be able to forecast, control and manage it. It is concluded in this chapter that the main motivations for writing this book are twofold. Firstly, there is a real need for the construction of frameworks for the design of decision support systems. In second place, we demonstrate the need for an interdisciplinary approach when facing decision making in complex systems. Lastly, this chapter confirms the usefulness of the multi-agent paradigm for complex systems modeling. A complete comparison between complex systems’ and multi-agent systems’ characteristics is performed.