A fuzzy ANP application for prioritizing the productivity factors based on university employees' counterproductive behaviors

Measuring the relative efficiency of employee plays essential role on the success of any organization including universities. In this paper, we present a survey to detect and to prioritize important factors influencing on the productivity of employees who work for one of Iranian universities located in city of Tehran, Iran. The study also uses analytical network process to prioritize the factors. Based on the results of our survey, we have categorized effective productivity factors into three groups of research, educational and administration groups. In our survey, coherence and unity with no dispersion of the employee's duties, systematic job rotation and correct design communication job are among the most important factors influencing on employees’ productivity

Improvement in Weighting Assignment Process in Analytic Hierarchy Process by Introducing Suggestion Matrix and Likert Scale

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been widely used in varieties of decision making processes among several alternatives, where data on pair-wise comparisons are aggregated and the degree of importance of each alternative is quantified. The process of assigning importance or priorities against the alternatives has inherent limitations, which lead to higher possibility of inconsistency. This paper focuses on two basic limitations of the AHP, first one is its inconsistency generated from huge comparisons in judgment matrix and the second one is the use of ranking weightages given by AHP. To eliminate these limitations, this research paper recommends to calculate relative importance among alternatives from the ratings assigned from Likert scale to form a suggestion matrix with zero percent CR before judgment matrix which gives privilege to decision makers to change relative importance within the range of CR. This process intensifies the effectiveness of AHP by reducing time consumption through optimizing inconsistency

Multiple criteria selection of pile-column construction technology

Numerous alternatives exist for foundation systems and construction technologies. The systems can be described by different criteria values which are incorporated in the conventional design process. Decision on the most suitable construction technology is vital for success and depends on many effectiveness criteria. The business success depends on the right choice. The mandate of a construction management researcher is to use rational, systematic, science-based techniques to inform and improve various decisions. The paper presents multiple criteria decision making model for selection of a pile-column technology. The technological criteria are determined by an experimental study. Based on in-situ investigation of natural soil conditions, criteria values are determined. The decision making model incorporates five different methods and techniques. To solve a problem, it uses three multiple criteria decision making methods. Integrated criteria weights are determined by using the analytic hierarchy process and the expert judgement method. This model could be used to solve complicated problems pertaining to the selection of a construction technology

Improved AHP-group decision making for investment strategy selection

Investment strategy selection relies heavily on personal experience and behavior. This paper proposes an improved Analytical Hierarchy Process-group decision making (IAHP-GDM) model to reduce investment risk. This model applies the method of least squares to adjust group decision matrix in order to satisfy the property of positive reciprocal matrix in AHP. In addition, five experts from related fields are invited to evaluate investment risk that takes group wisdom to eliminate personal bias. An empirical study is conducted to compare the proposed model to AHP for group decision making model. The results show that the IAHP-GDM model is not only accurate and effective, but also consistent with realistic investment environment

A hybrid linguistic fuzzy multiple criteria group selection of a chief accounting officer

In the preceding decade, economic and social costs brought by financial statement fraud have shaken markets, devastated investment portfolios and reduced confidence in financial reporting. A financial department is special in the way it needs to conform to standards. Many individual attributes considered for the selection of a chief accounting officer, such as organisational skills, personality, leadership etc. This paper focuses on a fuzzy multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) algorithm, which integrates the principles of fusion of fuzzy information, additive ratio assessment method with fuzzy numbers (ARAS-F), fuzzy weighted-product model and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The proposed method is apt to manage information assessed using both linguistic and numerical scales in a decision making problem with a group of information sources. The computational procedure is illustrated through the problem related to the selection of a chief accounting officer

NEGOTIATING THE ISRAELI–PALESTINIAN CONTROVERSY FROM A NEW PERSPECTIVE

In most long-lasting conflicts, each party's grievances increase while the concessions they are willing to make decline in number, quality, and perceived value. Both parties lose sight of what they are willing to settle for, generally exaggerate their own needs, and minimize the needs of the other side over time. But, it is precisely the matter of trading that needs to be made more concrete and of higher priority for both sides, if a meaningful resolution is to be found. Without a formal way of trading off the concessions and packages of concessions, both sides are likely to suspect that they are getting the short end of the bargain. After the parties have agreed to a trade, very specific binding language about the terms of the agreement, clear implementation policies, and outside guarantors are needed. The worth of the concessions traded, as perceived by both the giver and receiver, need to be accurately determined and recorded. All of this requires going beyond verbal descriptions of the concessions to more broadly include their economic, social, geographic, humanitarian, and historical worth. It is critical that all of these need to be translated into priorities derived in terms of the different values and beliefs of the parties. Priorities are universal and include the diversity of measures in terms of which economic, social, and other values are measured. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) provides a way to perform such an assessment with the participation of negotiators for the parties. It is a positive approach that makes it possible to reason and express feelings and judgments with numerical intensities to derive priorities. It has been used productively in the past to deal with the conflicts in South Africa and Northern Ireland and with other controversies throughout the world. With the assistance of panels of Israeli participants and Palestinian participants brought together in 2009 and 2010, AHP was applied for the first time to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. The process makes it clear that moderation in different degrees by both sides is essential to arrive at acceptable agreements on concessions proposed and agreed upon by both sides. AHP makes it possible to evaluate moderate and extreme viewpoints and determine their effect on the trading of concessions. The results obtained encourage us to advocate its use in the negotiation process.Conflict resolution, Middle East Israeli–Palestinian conflict, pairwise comparisons, Analytic Hierarchy Process, benefits–opportunities–costs–risks analysis, gain–loss ratios, concession trade-off

The Analytic Network Process Applied in Supply Chain Decisions, in Ethics, and in World Peace

The Analytic Hierarchy/Network Process which was developed by Dr. Thomas Saaty “has revolutionized how we resolve complex decision problems” (INFORMS, 2008). The Analytic Network Process (ANP) is applied herein in the context of supply chain decision making; then as a tool to bridge the separation thesis between business and ethics and show that ethical decision and business decisions are interrelated and can and should be jointly considered; and finally to guide the G-2 powers in their efforts to improve relations. In the first supply chain model a Metrics Arrow of relevant performance metrics that follow the temporal flow of the product is presented and used to select a third party logistics provider. The ANP model also provides managerial insight into the interdependencies of the performance metrics. The second model deals with selecting which green supply chain initiative a company should implement. A generalized framework is developed and then customized and applied in a specific case study of a TV audio video producer’s supply chain. Two ethics cases are analyzed in the first chapter on ethics to demonstrate the benefits of using a rigorous prioritization process, the ANP, to make ethical decisions. This chapter is intended to act as introduction of the ANP to the ethics community and focuses on the benefits of using the ANP. Next, a complex model that uses a stakeholder theory approach is used to address the ethical issues of hydraulic fracturing. The benefits to the natural gas industry to participate in an integrative stakeholder approach are demonstrated. As another demonstration of the ANP a complex decision with a direct influence on peace and stability in the world is the relationship between the two superpowers the People’s Republic of China and the United States is analyzed. As improvements have been made in the relationship between the two countries there are critical decisions that must be faced in the near future. This model suggests which of five initiatives if addressed will be most beneficial to both countries. In the final chapter the main findings are summarized and future research is suggested