Decision and Decision-maker in an Industrial Environment developed around the observation that two different decision-makers, faced with the same problem, may not make the same decision. The book proposes explanations for this, ranging from the wholly rational to the irrational, and analyzes different factors in decision-making, such as the intention of the decision-maker, the environment in which their decision is made or the process leading to decision-making. While the common belief is that everything in an industrial environment stems from reasoned decisions, analysis of common practice shows that this is not always the case. This book offers an original perspective by presenting the decision making mechanism from the point of view of the decision maker and their handling of a specific decision-making problem. To learn more about the decision-maker s motivations when faced with these situations, the authors provide a review of the history of decisionmaking and the major trends in decision-making theory. The concepts and methods are presented with illustrations based on the use of an MES, an industrial management software package.

Decision and Decision-maker in an Industrial Environment developed around the observation that two different decision-makers, faced with the same problem, may not make the same decision. The book proposes explanations for this, ranging from the wholly rational to the irrational, and analyzes different factors in decision-making, such as the intention of the decision-maker, the environment in which their decision is made or the process leading to decision-making.While the common belief is that everything in an industrial environment stems from reasoned decisions, analysis of common practice shows that this is not always the case. This book offers an original perspective by presenting the decision making mechanism from the point of view of the decision maker and their handling of a specific decision-making problem.To learn more about the decision-maker's motivations when faced with these situations, the authors provide a review of the history of decisionmaking and the major trends in decision-making theory. The concepts and methods are presented with illustrations based on the use of an MES, an industrial management software package.

Foreword ixPreface xiiiChapter 1 Decision and Decision Context 11.1 Introduction 11.2 A fleeting look at some of the great civilizations 51.2.1 Method of investigation 51.2.2 The ancient Near-East 61.2.3 Ancient Egypt 101.2.4 India 121.2.5 China 161.2.6 Ancient Greece 211.2.7 The Arab-Muslim world 251.2.8 The Western world 281.3 Conclusion 33Chapter 2 Decisions: The Process 372.1 Introduction 372.2 Why a decision process? 402.3 The notion of process 432.4 Decision-making: rationality or intuition 442.5 The classical theory of rationality 462.5.1 The search for a numerical value 462.5.2 Fundamentals 472.5.3 Operational research 482.5.4 Game theory 522.5.5 Taking account of uncertainty: towards procedural rationality 532.5.6 A return to the decision process 562.5.7 Summary and analysis 602.6 Procedural rationality theory 622.6.1 The search for a satisfactory solution 622.6.2 The basics 642.6.3 The school of Herbert Simon 662.6.4 Extensions to Simon's process 742.6.5 Procedural rationality and artificial intelligence 832.6.6 A return to the decision process 842.6.7 Summary and analysis 872.7 Conclusion 89Chapter 3 The Decision: The Multi-criteria Universe 913.1 Introduction 913.2 Comparing to be able to choose 933.2.1 Intuitive vision 933.2.2 In a single criterion universe 943.2.3 In a multi-criteria universe 943.3 The construction of MCDA 953.4 Vocabulary 983.4.1 Solutions 983.4.2 The criteria 1013.4.3 Decision types 1073.5 Ordering for comparison 1113.5.1 Intuitive vision 1113.5.2 The notion of preferences 1123.5.3 Preferences and order relationships 1143.6 The particular case of Pareto dominance 1213.7 Summary 1243.8 Conclusion 126Chapter 4 The Decision: Methods 1274.1 Introduction 1274.2 Outranking 1294.2.1 Principles 1294.2.2 Condorcet's method 1314.2.3 The ELECTRE III method 1344.3 Aggregation 1474.3.1 Principles 1474.3.2 The Borda count method 1504.3.3 The AHP method 1524.3.4 The MACBETH method 1684.4 Conclusion 187Conclusion 189References 193Index 207