Chapter 14

An approach to multicriteria decision making based on pairwise comparisons for elements in a hierarchy.

A concept developed to assess the quality of the judgments made during a series of pairwise comparisons. It is a measure of the internal consistency of these comparisons.

A numerical measure of the degree of consistency in a series of pair wise comparisons. Values less than or equal to 0.10 are considered reasonable.

Variables that are added to the goal equation to allow the solution to deviate from the goal’s target value.

An equation whose right-hand side is the target value for the goal; the left hand side of the goal equation consists of (1) a function representing the level of achievement and (2) deviation variables representing the difference between the target value for the goal and the level achieved.

A linear programming approach to multicriteria decision problems whereby the objective function is designed to minimize the deviations from goals.

A diagram that shows the levels of a problem in terms of the overall goal, the criteria, and the decision alternatives.

The matrix obtained by dividing each element of the pairwise comparison matrix by its column total. This matrix is computed as an intermediate step in the synthesization of priorities.

A matrix that consists of the preference, or relative importance, ratings provided during a series of pairwise comparisons.

Priorities assigned to goals that ensure that the satisfaction of a higher level goal cannot be traded for the satisfaction of a lower level goal.

An approach to multicriteria decision making that requires the user to assign weights to each criterion that describe the criterion’s relative importance and to assign a rating that shows how well each decision alternative satisfies each criterion. The output is a score for each decision alternative.

A mathematical process that uses the preference or relative importance values in the pairwise comparison matrix to develop priorities.

A value specified in the statement of the goal. Based on the context of the problem, management will want the solution to the goal programming problem to result in a value for the goal that is less than, equal to, or greater than the target value