A systematic review on multi-criteria group decision-making methods based on weights: analysis and classification scheme

Interest in group decision-making (GDM) has been increasing prominently over the last decade. Access to global databases, sophisticated sensors which can obtain multiple inputs or complex problems requiring opinions from several experts have driven interest in data aggregation. Consequently, the field has been widely studied from several viewpoints and multiple approaches have been proposed. Nevertheless, there is a lack of general framework. Moreover, this problem is exacerbated in the case of experts’ weighting methods, one of the most widely-used techniques to deal with multiple source aggregation. This lack of general classification scheme, or a guide to assist expert knowledge, leads to ambiguity or misreading for readers, who may be overwhelmed by the large amount of unclassified information currently available. To invert this situation, a general GDM framework is presented which divides and classifies all data aggregation techniques, focusing on and expanding the classification of experts’ weighting methods in terms of analysis type by carrying out an in-depth literature review. Results are not only classified but analysed and discussed regarding multiple characteristics, such as MCDMs in which they are applied, type of data used, ideal solutions considered or when they are applied. Furthermore, general requirements supplement this analysis such as initial influence, or component division considerations. As a result, this paper provides not only a general classification scheme and a detailed analysis of experts’ weighting methods but also a road map for researchers working on GDM topics or a guide for experts who use these methods. Furthermore, six significant contributions for future research pathways are provided in the conclusions.The first author acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Universities [grant number FPU18/01471]. The second and third author wish to recognize their support from the Serra Hunter program. Finally, this work was supported by the Catalan agency AGAUR through its research group support program (2017SGR00227). This research is part of the R&D project IAQ4EDU, reference no. PID2020-117366RB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Evaluating strategies for implementing industry 4.0: a hybrid expert oriented approach of B.W.M. and interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy T.O.D.I.M.

open access articleDeveloping and accepting industry 4.0 influences the industry structure and customer willingness. To a successful transition to industry 4.0, implementation strategies should be selected with a systematic and comprehensive view to responding to the changes flexibly. This research aims to identify and prioritise the strategies for implementing industry 4.0. For this purpose, at first, evaluation attributes of strategies and also strategies to put industry 4.0 in practice are recognised. Then, the attributes are weighted to the experts’ opinion by using the Best Worst Method (BWM). Subsequently, the strategies for implementing industry 4.0 in Fara-Sanat Company, as a case study, have been ranked based on the Interval Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy (IVIF) of the TODIM method. The results indicated that the attributes of ‘Technology’, ‘Quality’, and ‘Operation’ have respectively the highest importance. Furthermore, the strategies for “new business models development’, ‘Improving information systems’ and ‘Human resource management’ received a higher rank. Eventually, some research and executive recommendations are provided. Having strategies for implementing industry 4.0 is a very important solution. Accordingly, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are a useful tool for adopting and selecting appropriate strategies. In this research, a novel and hybrid combination of BWM-TODIM is presented under IVIF information

Construction of admissible linear orders for interval-valued Atanassov intuitionistic fuzzy sets with an application to decision making

In this work we introduce a method for constructing linear orders between pairs of intervals by using aggregation functions. We adapt this method to the case of interval-valued Atanassov intuitionistic fuzzy sets and we apply these sets and the considered orders to a decision making problem.The work has been supported by projects TIN2013-40765-P and MTM2012-37894-C02-02 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and the Research Services of the Universidad Publica de Navarra

The dynamics of consensus in group decision making: investigating the pairwise interactions between fuzzy preferences.

In this paper we present an overview of the soft consensus model in group decision making and we investigate the dynamical patterns generated by the fundamental pairwise preference interactions on which the model is based. The dynamical mechanism of the soft consensus model is driven by the minimization of a cost function combining a collective measure of dissensus with an individual mechanism of opinion changing aversion. The dissensus measure plays a key role in the model and induces a network of pairwise interactions between the individual preferences. The structure of fuzzy relations is present at both the individual and the collective levels of description of the soft consensus model: pairwise preference intensities between alternatives at the individual level, and pairwise interaction coefficients between decision makers at the collective level. The collective measure of dissensus is based on non linear scaling functions of the linguistic quantifier type and expresses the degree to which most of the decision makers disagree with respect to their preferences regarding the most relevant alternatives. The graded notion of consensus underlying the dissensus measure is central to the dynamical unfolding of the model. The original formulation of the soft consensus model in terms of standard numerical preferences has been recently extended in order to allow decision makers to express their preferences by means of triangular fuzzy numbers. An appropriate notion of distance between triangular fuzzy numbers has been chosen for the construction of the collective dissensus measure. In the extended formulation of the soft consensus model the extra degrees of freedom associated with the triangular fuzzy preferences, combined with non linear nature of the pairwise preference interactions, generate various interesting and suggestive dynamical patterns. In the present paper we investigate these dynamical patterns which are illustrated by means of a number of computer simulations.

A method to multi-attribute decision making with picture fuzzy information based on Muirhead mean

The recently proposed picture fuzzy set (PFS) is a powerful tool for handling fuzziness and uncertainty. PFS is character-ized by a positive membership degree, a neutral membership degree, and a negative membership degree, making it more suitable and useful than the intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) when dealing with multi-attribute decision making (MADM). The aim of this paper is to develop some aggregation operators for fusing picture fuzzy information. Considering the Muirhead mean (MM) is an aggregation technology which can consider the interrelationship among all aggregated ar-guments, we extend MM to picture fuzzy context and propose a family of picture fuzzy Muirhead mean operators. In addition, we investigate some properties and special cases of the proposed operators. Further, we develop a novel meth-od to MADM in which the attribute values take the form of picture fuzzy numbers (PFNs). Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed method

Construction of admissible linear orders for pairs of intervals

In this work we construct linear orders between pairs of intervals by using aggregation functions. We apply these orders in a decision-making problem where the experts provide their opinions by means of interval-valued fuzzy sets

Fuzzy Techniques for Decision Making 2018

Zadeh's fuzzy set theory incorporates the impreciseness of data and evaluations, by imputting the degrees by which each object belongs to a set. Its success fostered theories that codify the subjectivity, uncertainty, imprecision, or roughness of the evaluations. Their rationale is to produce new flexible methodologies in order to model a variety of concrete decision problems more realistically. This Special Issue garners contributions addressing novel tools, techniques and methodologies for decision making (inclusive of both individual and group, single- or multi-criteria decision making) in the context of these theories. It contains 38 research articles that contribute to a variety of setups that combine fuzziness, hesitancy, roughness, covering sets, and linguistic approaches. Their ranges vary from fundamental or technical to applied approaches

Decision-making model for designing telecom products/services based on customer preferences and non-preferences

The design of the packages of products/services to be offered by a telecom company to its clients is a complex decision-making process that must consider different criteria to achieve both customer satisfaction and optimization of the company’s resources. In this process, Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFSs) can be used to manage uncertainty and better represent both preferences and non-preferences expressed by people who value each proposed alternative. We present a novel approach to design/develop new products/services that combines the Lean Six Sigma methodology with IFSs. Its main contribution comes from considering both preferences and nonpreferences expressed by real clients, whereas existing proposals only consider their preferences. By also considering their non-preferences, it provides an additional capacity to manage the high uncertainty in the selection of the commercial plan that best suits each client’s needs. Thus, client satisfaction is increased while improving the company’s corporate image, which will lead to customer loyalty and increased revenue. To validate the presented proposal, it has been applied to a real case study of the telecom sector, in which 2135 users have participated. The results obtained have been analysed and compared with those obtained with a model that does not consider the non-preferences expressed by users.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (State Research Agency)Junta de Andalucia PID2019-103880RB-I00 PID2019-109644RB-I00 PY20_0067