Decision Analysis for Management Judgment, 6th Edition

4Decisions involving multiple objectives: alternatives to SMART

Introduction

Although SMART is a relatively simple method for supporting decision-makers who are faced with problems involving multiple objectives, some of the judgments required by the method can still be quite demanding. In this chapter, we consider a number of alternative methods which are designed to make judgments about multi-objective decisions easier. As we shall see, SMARTER simplifies the decision process by using linear value functions and an approximation method to estimate the decision-maker’s swing weights. Even Swaps avoids the need to estimate scores or weights altogether. Finally, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical-Based Evaluation Technique (MACBETH) allow decision-makers to express their preferences using words rather than numbers.

Smarter

The assessment of value functions and swing weights in SMART can sometimes be difficult tasks, and decision-makers may not always be confident about the numbers that they are providing for the decision model. As a result, the model may not accurately reflect the decision-maker’s true preferences. Because of this, Edwards and Barron¹ have argued for ‘the strategy of heroic approximation’. Underlying this strategy is the idea that, while a very simple decision-making model may only approximate the real decision problem, it is less likely to involve errors in the values elicited from a decision-maker because ...