摘要:

ABSTRACTGroup decision making in the presence of multiple conflicting objectives is complex and difficult. This paper describes and evaluates an iterative technique to facilitate multiple objective decision making by multiple decision makers. The proposed method augments an interactive multiobjective optimization procedure with a preference ranking tool and a consensus ranking heuristic. Two multiple objective linear programming (MOLP) solution approaches, the SIMOLP method of Reeves and Franz [39] and the interactive weighted Tchebycheff procedure of Steuer and Choo [49], are recommended optimization strategies to be used independently or in concert. Computational experience suggests that the proposed framework is an effective decision‐making tool. The procedure quickly located excellent compromise solutions in a series of test problems with hypothetical decision makers. In addition, human decision makers gave positive evaluations of the procedure and the production plans the procedure provided for a resource allocation case proble

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00459.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTDevelopment of knowledge acquisition techniques known as automated discovery systems has occurred in deep and narrow domains of knowledge. Automated discovery is the generation of new knowledge by a computer system on its own, without the help of another knowledge source. This paper describes research and validation of an automated discovery system for a wide and shallow domain—business management. The system continues recent advances in expert systems research which have enhanced cognitive mapping, a problem formulation tool. The system perceives the behavior of distal variables in the environment through probabilistic cues‐to‐causality, and generates previously unknown hypotheses by aggregating the probabilities into a single criterion of causal relatedness. The system is validated against the source code of a simulated managerial environment, and causal relationships posited by decision makers experienced in the play of the gaming simu

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00460.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTOne of the major issues in the development of large, rule‐based expert systems is related to improving their performance efficiency. One way to address this issue is by reducing the number of unsuccessful tries a system goes through before executing a rule to establish a goal or an intermediary fact. On the average, the number of unsuccessful tries can be reduced if the rules that are tried first are those that are expected to execute most frequently, and this can be established by extracting information on the probability distributions of the input parameters. In this paper, a rule base is modeled as a network and simulated to investigate potential performance improvements by changing the order used to test the rules. The model of the rule base is also used to investigate performance gains achieved by parameter factorization and premise clause reorderin

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00461.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTNeural network techniques are widely used in solving pattern recognition or classification problems. However, when statistical data are used in supervised training of a neural network employing the back‐propagation least mean square algorithm, the behavior of the classification boundary during training is often unpredictable. This research suggests the application of monotonicity constraints to the back propagation learning algorithm. When the training sample set is preprocessed by a linear classification function, neural network performance and efficiency can be improved in classification applications where the feature vector is related monotonically to the pattern vector. Since most classification problems in business possess monotonic properties, this technique is useful in those problems where any assumptions about the properties of the data are inappropriat

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00462.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a geometric programming (GP) approach to finding a profit‐maximizing selling price and order quantity for a retailer. Demand is treated as a nonlinear function of price with a constant elasticity. The proposed GP approach finds optimal solutions for both no‐quantity discounts and continuous quantity discounts cases. This approach is superior to the traditional approaches of solving a system of nonlinear equations. Since the profit function is not concave, the traditional approaches may require an exhaustive search, especially for the continuous discounts schedule case. By applying readily available theories in GP, we easily can find global optimal solutions for both cases. More importantly, the GP approach provides lower and upper bounds on the optimal profit level and sensitivity results which are unavailable from the traditional approaches. These bounding and sensitivity results are further utilized to provide additional important managerial implications on pricing and lot‐sizing pol

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00463.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThe accounting profession has faced increasing pressure from external parties to monitor and improve the quality of the audit process. Similar to other service oriented industries, the accounting profession's ability to meet these pressures has been hampered by the lack of an objective means by which to evaluate process quality. In this research, groups of experienced auditors from two international accounting firms were used to develop and validate a set of key factors influencing the quality of the audit process and a corresponding set of measures for evaluating audit quality. The results support the belief that there exists a consensus among experienced auditors on a set of key audit quality factors which have a significant impact on overall audit quality. The results obtained go beyond those in prior audit quality research, in that the factors identified cover a broader scope and recognize the significant effect of the audit environment on process quality. The consistency between groups in the profession provides support for further use of the nominal group techniques in developing quality measures for processes in other service sector areas.

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00464.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTProblem definitions are often used as part of the problem structuring process in decision sciences. We report an attempt to validate a multi‐attribute model of problem definition quality in the context of an experiment based upon the definition of the ‘alcohol problem’ on a campus. Three independent raters assessed values for the attributes of the model for 57 written problem definitions, and their rating was compared to three subjective ‘expert’ ratings made by individuals with some responsibility for alcohol policy. Our study shows that the experts exhibited considerable stakeholder bias in their assessments of the definitions, suggesting that a definition that is evaluated as good may not be subjectively acceptable to others. We present some evidence that the best definitions are those that provide direction with regard to solution, neither suggesting firm solutions to the problem nor being too open‐ended. It is shown that the multi‐attribute model is a reasonable tool for eliminating poorer definitions. Further, we relate our work to recent conceptual developments in understanding probl

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00465.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThis study revisits the traditional single stage, multi‐item, capacitated lot‐sizing problem (CLSP) with a new integrative focus on problem structuring. Unlike past research, we develop integrative cycle scheduling approaches which simultaneously address lot‐sizing, capacity, and sequencing issues. Our purposes are to (1) explore the effect of sequencing on inventory levels, (2) examine the problem of infeasibility in the economic lot scheduling problem (ELSP), and (3) provide a simple methodology of generating low‐cost cycle schedules in an environment with discrete shipping, dynamic demands, limited capacity, zero setup cost, and sequence‐independent setup times. Our procedures are compared to benchmark cycle scheduling approaches in terms of both inventory cost and computation time under different demand scenarios, using the operating data from a flexible assembly system (FAS) at the Ford Motor Company's Sandusky, O

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00466.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThis study used a factorial experimental design and a new modeling methodology to investigate the impact of a number of labor scheduling flexibility alternatives and labor requirements characteristics on labor utilization within a tour scheduling environment. Break‐placement flexibility and shift‐length flexibility were found to be extremely effective in improving labor utilization for all labor requirement distributions used. Flexibility with respect to the number of days included in a tour schedule resulted in substantial improvement in labor utilization for all labor requirements distributions exhibiting daily and/or weekly variation. Surprisingly, virtually no improvement in labor utilization was achieved for any labor requirement distribution by the removal of requirements for consecutive days off. In addition, almost no improvement was found by allowing the shift start time to vary across the working days included in tours. High labor requirement amplitude was found to have a strong adverse effect on labor utilization while longer operational days were associated with improved labor utilization for all labor requirement distributions. We discuss the implications of these results for service operations management and provide suggestions for future resea

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00467.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThree laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of bar, symbol, and line graphs for performing a variety of elementary information extraction tasks using two dependent variables, time and accuracy. The findings indicate that the degree of support provided by a particular graph format for a particular data extraction task depends on the matching of format and task in terms of their anchoring characteristics. Anchoring, in this context, refers to the phenomenon that specific and diverse parts of a graph are segmented by the reader to act as salient and relevant cues, or anchors, when different classes of information are to be extracted from the graph. A data extraction task has highx‐value (y‐value) anchoring if thex‐axis (y‐axis) component is represented in the question as either a given value or an unknown value. Conversely, a task has lowx‐value (y‐value) anchoring if thex‐axis (y‐axis) component is not represented in the question as either a given value or as an unknown value.Data extraction accuracy was not significantly affected by presentation format. Bars provided the best time performance for data extraction tasks having high anchoring on both axes but were not appropriate for tasks having low anchoring on either theyaxis or both thexandyaxes. Line graphs tended to be worse in terms of time performance for tasks having high anchoring on both axes although they were as fast or better than other representations for tasks having low anchoring on both axes. Symbol plots appeared to possess anchoring characteristics associated with both bars and line graphs. Symbols (as with bars) tended to produce a time performance superior to that of line graphs for tasks having high anchoring on both axes; and (as with line graphs) symbols allowed faster results than bar graphs for tasks having low anchoring on either theyaxis or bo

ISSN:0011-7315    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1993.tb00468.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY