Deriving consensus rankings via multicriteria decision making methodology

Purpose - This paper seeks to take a cautionary stance to the impact of the marketing mix on customer satisfaction, via a case study deriving consensus rankings for benchmarking on selected retail stores in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach - The ELECTRE I model is used in deriving consensus rankings via multicriteria decision making method for benchmarking base on the marketing mix model 4P's. Descriptive analysis is used to analyze best practice among the four marketing tactics. Findings - Outranking methods in consequence constitute a strong base on which to found the entire structure of the behavioral theory of benchmarking applied to development of marketing strategy. Research limitations/implications - This study looks only at a limited part of the puzzle of how consumer satisfaction translates into behavioral outcomes. Practical implications - The study provides managers with guidance on how to generate a rough outline of potential marketing activities that can be used to take advantage of capabilities and convert weaknesses and threats. Originality/value - The paper interestingly portrays the effective usage of multicriteria decision-making and ranking method to help marketing managers predict their marketing trends

Enhancing geographical information systems capabilities with multi-criteria evaluation functions

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Aide à la Facilitation pour une prise de Décision Collective : Proposition d'un Modèle et d'un Outil

Decision Support Systems (DSS) were designed to resolve ill or non-structured decision problems. Problems where priorities, judgements, intuitions and experience of the decision-maker are essential, where the sequence of operations such as searching for a solution, formalization and structuring of problem is not beforehand known, when criteria for the decision making are numerous, in conflict or hard dependent on the perception of the user and where resolution must be acquired at restricted time. However, traditional DSS have been closed systems and are limited to the data and models contained within the system. In general, the type of support provided is relatively passive because decision makers are expected to scan internal and external data, and find discrepancies and deviations from expectations invoking ad hoc queries and reports that run on operational databases. In the other hand, Furthermore, many mission-critical, decision making situations happen in dynamic, rapidly changing, and often unpredictable distributed environments and require synchronous cooperative session. Unlike other decision making tools, decision support systems (DSS) designed for such situations are challenged by the need to access this decentralised information at time, from anywhere, under tight time constraints. In this thesis we consider, the paradigm of distributed decision-support systems where several decision-makers must reach a common decision. As a solution we propose an integrated framework based on a distributed architecture based on two cooperation modes: (1) Man-machine cooperation (2) Mediated man-man cooperation. According to the former cooperation mode, each decision-maker uses a specific cooperative intelligent decision support system allowing him to solve problem and to generate alternative solutions. The support system is viewed as a set of computer-based tools integrating expert knowledge and using collaboration technologies that help decision-makers and provide them with interactive capabilities to enhance their understanding and information base about options through use of models and data processing. By endowing the machine of additional capacities to intelligently guide the decision maker in its problem solving process, the system plays a collaborator's role with the decision-maker. This implies a human decision-maker and an automated system sharing dynamically the tasks and jointly working towards a decision. We assume that putting the human operator effectively in the loop of such decision support system represents the major guarantee of mastering efficiently the inherent complexity of the problems. Whilst considering the latter mode, The Group Decision Support (GDSS) tools allow the group of decision makers and the facilitator to make collective decision. This kind of cooperation uses a machine as an intermediate communication medium. As many group facilitation tasks can be automated, at least partially to increase the bandwidth of group communication and the ability of the facilitator to monitor and control the meeting process, an automated process to aid even the most inexperienced facilitator. The support to facilitators is considered by incorporating a model of the decision making process. The selected model provides a detailed view of decision making process. Having a model of the decision making process built into the system should enable intelligent decisional guidance. It enables the facilitator to appropriately choose and use the framework's tools and techniques in the group decision-making processes, to monitor group's behaviour, to know when to employ particular tools and techniques to move the group towards congruence. and to provide cues and customized explanations accordingly. We illustrate the applicability and relevance of this framework through a case study related to the management system of the boiler combustion which is one of the most critical systems for the good functioning of an oil plant. It has a high impact on the methods of thinking and apprehension of various problems related to maintenance. It is a multi-participant process with high level interactivity.Nous nous plaçons dans le contexte de situations décisionnelles critiques où les activités de prise de décision collective sont généralement caractérisées par des sessions de coopération synchrones au sein d'environnements distribués dynamiques, évolutifs et souvent imprévisibles. Au cours de ces sessions, les participants agissent simultanément et depuis des points d'accès distribués sur des objets partagés en suivant des règles de coordination pouvant être implicites ou explicites et en utilisant un ensemble d'outils qui leur permettent de progresser de façon coordonnée. Chacun des participants prend quelques décisions partielles, celles-ci servant de base aux suivantes. La prise de décision nécessite alors une synergie d'efforts de plusieurs membres afin que chacun d'eux mette à contribution son savoir-faire. Les membres ayant différents intérêts, compétences et expériences ne sont plus situés dans la même pièce mais utilisent des informations venant d'autres acteurs via des réseaux de type Internet ou intranet. D'ailleurs, c'est grâce à cette synergie que les membres peuvent atteindre des résultats supérieurs à ceux que qu'ils auraient pu réaliser individuellement. Ainsi l'outil pour décider devient l'outil pour décider ensemble. La contribution principale de cette thèse dans le domaine d'aide à la facilitation de la prise de décision collaborative se trouve dans la conception et la mise en œuvre d'un modèle et d'un système dédiée à la facilitation de la prise de décision de groupe synchrone distribuée. Cette structure collective entre agents humains permet d'une part d'additionner et de mutualiser les savoirs et les capacités créatrices, et d'autre part de limiter l'incertitude inhérente au processus de prise de décision par l'échange et la comparaison des points de vue. L'idée directrice de ce modèle est de renforcer la communication ainsi que la coopération entre les différents acteurs impliqués dans la prise de décision collective. Il s'agit d'une phase de production et de résolution créative de problème individuelle précédant la présentation des contributions au collectif. Cette dynamique d'éclatement puis de regroupement implique des mécanismes de coopération et de communication entre le groupe et l'individu

Contribution à la conception d'un système d'aide à la décision pour la gestion de situations de tension au sein des systèmes hospitaliers. Application à un service d'urgence.

The management of patient flow, especially the flow resulting from health (flu, heat waves and exceptional circumstances) is one of the most important problems to manage in the emergency department (ED). To handle the influx of patients, emergency departments require significant human and material resources, and a high degree of coordination between these resources. Under these conditions, the medical and the paramedical staffs are often confronted with strain situations which greatly complicate their task. The main purpose of this thesis is to contribute to improving the management of situations of tension occurring in the emergency department by providing a decision support system, SAGEST. This DSS allows i) a proactive control of the ED: predicting at short and/or medium-term the occurrence of potential strain situations and proposing corrective actions to prevent the occurrence of these situations, ii) a reactive control in the case of no-detection of the strain situation occurrence. A functional architecture of the SAGEST system, based on the manager’s decision making process is proposed. Used methodologies and models embedded in the main functions and the knowledge base of the SAGEST system are described. Finally, experiments and results of different models of SAGEST system applied to the paediatric emergency department (PED) of the Regional University Hospital of Lille are presented and discussed.La prise en charge des flux des patients, en particulier les flux récurrents et consécutifs à des crises sanitaires (grippes, canicules, situations exceptionnelles) est l'un des problèmes les plus importants auquel les services des urgences (SU) doivent faire face. Pour gérer cet afflux de patients, les services des urgences nécessitent des ressources humaines et matérielles importantes, ainsi qu'un degré élevé de coordination entre ces ressources. Dans ces conditions, le personnel médical se voit confronté très fréquemment à des situations de tension qui compliquent très fortement sa tâche. L‘objet de cette thèse est de contribuer à l’amélioration de la gestion des situations de tension se produisant dans un service d’urgence en proposant un système d’aide à la décision, SAGEST (Système d’Aide à la décision pour la GEstion des Situations de Tensions), permettant i) le pilotage proactif du SU : prévision à court et/ou moyen terme de l'apparition de situations de tension et l'évolution du flux patients et la proposition d'actions de correction afin d'éviter l’occurrence de ces situations et ii) le pilotage réactif dans le cas où l'occurrence de la situation de tension n'a pas été détectée. Une architecture fonctionnelle du système SAGEST, s'appuyant sur le processus décisionnel du responsable du service d'urgence, est proposée. Les méthodologies et les modèles utilisés dans la construction des principales fonctions et de la base de connaissances sont décrits. Enfin, les résultats d’application des différents modèles du système SAGEST pour le service d’urgence pédiatrique (SUP) du centre hospitalier régional universitaire du Lille sont présentés et discutés

The role of play in enhancing decision-making in innovation creativity environments

This thesis investigates Innovation Creativity Environments (ICEs) located within the London School of Economics by looking at events taking place within these specific spaces. ICEs are gaining popularity within organisations and academic institutions as places to foster creativity for decision-making. Much has been written about these types of spaces in organisational and business contexts, but academic research is virtually non-existent. This research sets out to document two main objectives. The first objective is to describe and narrate what actually happens in Innovation Creativity Environments before, during and after the event taking into account crew facilitation and participant perspectives. The empirical focus of the thesis is on a series events mounted annually in these environments on "Project Dreams and Reality," with the aim to support MSc students in the Institute of Social Psychology, LSE to prepare for their dissertations and future careers. The thesis provides, as its first objective, an in-depth narration of in the documents what actually happened within ICEs. The second objective is to understand how these environments function and provide Group Decision Authoring and Communication Support (GDACS) that facilitate creative decision-making. Through interviews, observations and participation the research identifies two main pathways in which play supports the decision-making processes with ICE. First, play enables participants establish a background-of-safety, a concept coined by Sandler and Sandler (1978), is a psychoanalytical cognitive model that identifies safety as a feeling quality within the ego and motored by the ego, which is usually taken for granted. The ego tries to maximize safety experience, rather than avoid anxiety, allowing students to risk being creative. Secondly, play nurtures the decision-hedgehog (Humphreys and Jones 2006) which positions decision-making through the construction of narratives making the rhizome that constitutes the body of the hedgehog with the fundamental aim of enriching contextual knowledge and creativity for decision-making within Innovative Creativity Environments