The Multiple Criteria Problem

Abstract

What constitutes a “multiple criteria decision making (MCDM)” problem? Clearly there must be some decision to be made! Such a decision may constitute a simple choice between two or more (perhaps even infinitely many) well-defined courses of action. The problem is then simply that of making the “best” choice in some sense. At the other extreme, there may be a vague sense of unease that we (personally or corporately) need to “do something” about a situation which is found unsatisfactory in some way. The decision problem then constitutes much more than simply the evaluation and comparison of alternative courses of action. It involves also an in-depth consideration of what it is that is “unsatisfactory”, and the creative generation of possible courses of action to address the situation. Much of the literature on met hods of MCDA may tend to suggest that the typical application is in the context of simple choice from amongst a given set of alternatives. In practice, however, most decision making problems of sufficient extent and import to warrant the use of the formal analytical tools discussed in this book will tend to be closer to the unstructured “feeling of unease” category. For this reason, we shall be giving attention to the structuring as well as the analysis and resolution of decision making problems.