CHAPTER 15

DEALING WITH
MULTIATTRIBUTED DECISIONS
 MULTIATTRIBUTED DESCIONS
• Decision making includes both monetary
and nonmonetary considerations
(attributes).

• Value (as conceived by Aristotle in

350 B.C.) includes: (1) economic
(2) moral (3) aesthetic (4) social (5) political
(6) religious (7) judicial.
 EXAMPLES OF
MULTIATTRIBUTED DECISIONS
• Selection of 1st permanent professional job
by an engineering graduate
(insert Table 15-1)
 EXAMPLES OF
MULTIATTRIBUTED DECISIONS
• Selection of a CAD workstation
(insert Table 15-2)
 CHOICE OF ATTRIBUTES
• Each attribute distinguishes at least two alternatives

• Each attribute captures a unique dimension or facet of the

decision problem (i.e., attributes are independent and
nonredundant

• Attributes, in a collective sense, are assumed to be

sufficient for the purpose of selecting the best alternative

• Differences in values assigned to each attribute are

presumed to be meaningful in distinguishing among
feasible alternatives
DIMENSIONALITY OF THE PROBLEM

• Compensatory models – collapses all

information into a single dimension –
changes in the values of a particular
attribute can be offset, or traded off
against, opposing changes in another
attribute
• Noncompensatory models – retain the
individuality of the attributes as the best
alternative is being determined – full
dimensional analysis – trade-offs among
attributes are not permitted
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS

• Dominance
• Satisficing
• Disjunctive Resolution
• Lexicography
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS
• Dominance – screening method for eliminating inferior
alternatives

• Satisficing – method of feasible ranges – establishes

minimum or maximum acceptable values (the
standard) for each attribute

• Disjunctive Resolution – similar to satisficing, except

this method evaluates each alternative on the “best”
value achieved for any attribute

• Lexicography – especially suitable for decisions in

which a single attribute is judged more important than
all other attributes
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS -
Example

• Selection of a dentist
(insert Table 15-3)
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example

• Dominance
(insert Table 15-4)
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example

• Satisficing
(insert Table 15-5)
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example

• Ordinal Ranking of Attributes

(insert Table 15-6)
 NONCOMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example

• Lexicography
(insert Table 15-7)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS

• Basic principle behind all compensatory

models, which involve a single
dimension, is that values for all
attributes must be converted to a
common measurement scale such as
dollars or utiles.

• A utile is a dimensionless unit of worth.

 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example
• Nondimensional Scaling
(insert Table 15-8)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example
• Nondimensional Data
(insert Table 15-9)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example
• Hurwicz Procedure
(insert Table 15-10)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example
• Hurwicz Procedure
(insert Table 15-11)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Dentist Example
• Additive Weighting Technique
(insert Table 15-1)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Worth of Material
• Additive Weighting Technique
(insert Table 15-13)
 COMPENSATORY MODELS –
Worth of Material
• Additive Weighting Technique
(insert Tables 15-14 and 15-15)
 SUMMARY
Insert section 15.8