IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v199y2009i3p867-872.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structures in decision making: On the subjective geometry of hierarchies and networks

Author

Listed:
  • Saaty, Thomas L.
  • Shih, Hsu-Shih

Abstract

In the field of decision making, creating a structure is the first step in organizing, representing and solving a problem. A structure is a model, an abstraction of a problem. It helps us visualize and understand the relevant elements within it that we know from the real world and then use our understanding to solve the problem represented in the structure with greater confidence. In general, there are two kinds of structures used to represent problems: hierarchies and networks. Both rely to a varying degree on the interactions. Some examples are given followed by a discussion about how to structure the problem. At a minimum, a structure must satisfy two requirements: that it be logical in identifying and grouping similar things together, and that it relates them accurately according to the flow of influence among them. It must be complete with nothing left out that has an important influence. The structure is then tested as to whether it helps solve the problem to one's satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Saaty, Thomas L. & Shih, Hsu-Shih, 2009. "Structures in decision making: On the subjective geometry of hierarchies and networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 199(3), pages 867-872, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:199:y:2009:i:3:p:867-872
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377-2217(09)00220-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dr. Peter Kenning & Hilke Plassmann, 2004. "NeuroEconomics," Experimental 0412005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Yoram Wind & Thomas L. Saaty, 1980. "Marketing Applications of the Analytic Hierarchy Process," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(7), pages 641-658, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pablo Aragonés‐Beltrán & Mª. Carmen González‐Cruz & Astrid León‐Camargo & Rosario Viñoles‐Cebolla, 2023. "Assessment of regional development needs according to criteria based on the Sustainable Development Goals in the Meta Region (Colombia)," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 1101-1121, April.
    2. Sang-Bing Tsai & Yu-Min Wei & Kuan-Yu Chen & Lei Xu & Peng Du & Hung-Chun Lee, 2016. "Evaluating green suppliers from a green environmental perspective," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(5), pages 941-959, September.
    3. Maria Cerretta & Lidia Diappi, 2014. "Adaptive Evaluations in Complex Contexts: Introduction," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1 Suppl.), pages 5-22.
    4. Schaller, Lena & Targetti, Stefano & Villanueva, Anastasio J. & Zasada, Ingo & Kantelhardt, Jochen & Arriaza, Manuel & Bal, Tufan & Fedrigotti, Valérie Bossi & Giray, F. Handan & Häfner, Kati & Majews, 2018. "Agricultural landscapes, ecosystem services and regional competitiveness—Assessing drivers and mechanisms in nine European case study areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 735-745.
    5. Maier, Konradin & Stix, Volker, 2013. "A semi-automated approach for structuring multi criteria decision problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 225(3), pages 487-496.
    6. Mohamed Hanine & Omar Boutkhoum & Fatima El Barakaz & Mohamed Lachgar & Noureddine Assad & Furqan Rustam & Imran Ashraf, 2021. "An Intuitionistic Fuzzy Approach for Smart City Development Evaluation for Developing Countries: Moroccan Context," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(21), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Kirytopoulos, Konstantinos & Voulgaridou, Dimitra & Platis, Agapios & Leopoulos, Vrassidas, 2011. "An effective Markov based approach for calculating the Limit Matrix in the analytic network process," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(1), pages 85-90, October.
    8. Sabina Kordana & Daniel Słyś, 2020. "Decision Criteria for the Development of Stormwater Management Systems in Poland," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Carla Andrade Arteaga & Raúl Rodríguez-Rodríguez & Juan-José Alfaro-Saiz & María-José Verdecho, 2020. "An ANP-Balanced Scorecard Methodology to Quantify the Impact of TQM Elements on Organisational Strategic Sustainable Development: Application to an Oil Firm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Songwut Egwutvongsa & Somchai Seviset, 2021. "Designing of Wet Transformers as Artificial Soil for Flower Tree Cultivation," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 10, July.
    11. Quan Chen & Sang-Bing Tsai & Yuming Zhai & Jie Zhou & Jian Yu & Li-Chung Chang & Guodong Li & Yuxiang Zheng & Jiangtao Wang, 2018. "An Empirical Study on Low-Carbon: Human Resources Performance Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, January.
    12. Eugenia Furems, 2011. "Domain structuring for knowledge-based multiattribute classification (a verbal decision analysis approach)," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 19(2), pages 402-420, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Banai, Reza, 2010. "Evaluation of land use-transportation systems with the Analytic Network Process," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 3(1), pages 85-112.
    2. Pishchulov, Grigory & Trautrims, Alexander & Chesney, Thomas & Gold, Stefan & Schwab, Leila, 2019. "The Voting Analytic Hierarchy Process revisited: A revised method with application to sustainable supplier selection," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 166-179.
    3. Seung-Jin Han & Won-Jae Lee & So-Hee Kim & Sang-Hoon Yoon & Hyunwoong Pyun, 2022. "Assessing Expected Long-term Benefits for the Olympic Games: Delphi-AHP Approach from Korean Olympic Experts," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.
    4. Seyed Rakhshan & Ali Kamyad & Sohrab Effati, 2015. "Ranking decision-making units by using combination of analytical hierarchical process method and Tchebycheff model in data envelopment analysis," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 226(1), pages 505-525, March.
    5. V. Srinivasan & G. Shainesh & Anand K. Sharma, 2015. "An approach to prioritize customer-based, cost-effective service enhancements," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(14), pages 747-762, October.
    6. Mónica García-Melón & Blanca Pérez-Gladish & Tomás Gómez-Navarro & Paz Mendez-Rodriguez, 2016. "Assessing mutual funds’ corporate social responsibility: a multistakeholder-AHP based methodology," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 244(2), pages 475-503, September.
    7. Luis Pérez-Domínguez & Luis Alberto Rodríguez-Picón & Alejandro Alvarado-Iniesta & David Luviano Cruz & Zeshui Xu, 2018. "MOORA under Pythagorean Fuzzy Set for Multiple Criteria Decision Making," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-10, April.
    8. Paul L. G. Vlek & Asia Khamzina & Hossein Azadi & Anik Bhaduri & Luna Bharati & Ademola Braimoh & Christopher Martius & Terry Sunderland & Fatemeh Taheri, 2017. "Trade-Offs in Multi-Purpose Land Use under Land Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Kumar B, Pradeep, 2021. "Changing Objectives of Firms and Managerial Preferences: A Review of Models in Microeconomics," MPRA Paper 106967, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 Mar 2021.
    10. Greco, Salvatore & Ishizaka, Alessio & Tasiou, Menelaos & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2018. "σ-µ efficiency analysis: A new methodology for evaluating units through composite indices," MPRA Paper 83569, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Anirban Mukhopadhyay & Sugata Hazra & Debasish Mitra & C. Hutton & Abhra Chanda & Sandip Mukherjee, 2016. "Characterizing the multi-risk with respect to plausible natural hazards in the Balasore coast, Odisha, India: a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) appraisal," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 1495-1513, February.
    12. Chamoli, Sunil, 2015. "Hybrid FAHP (fuzzy analytical hierarchy process)-FTOPSIS (fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity of an ideal solution) approach for performance evaluation of the V down perforated baffle r," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 432-442.
    13. H. S. C. Perera & W. K. R. Costa, 2008. "Analytic Hierarchy Process for Selection of Erp Software for Manufacturing Companies," Vision, , vol. 12(4), pages 1-11, October.
    14. G. La Scalia & F.P. Marra & J. Rühl & R. Sciortino & T. Caruso, 2016. "A fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making methodology to optimise olive agro-engineering processes based on geo-spatial technologies," International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15.
    15. Andersen, Steffen & Harrison, Glenn W. & Lau, Morten Igel & Rutström, Elisabet E., 2014. "Dual criteria decisions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 101-113.
      • Andersen, Steffen & Harrison, Glenn W. & Lau, Morten Igel & Rutström, Elisabet, 2009. "Dual Criteria Decisions," Working Papers 02-2009, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    16. Mulliner, Emma & Smallbone, Kieran & Maliene, Vida, 2013. "An assessment of sustainable housing affordability using a multiple criteria decision making method," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 270-279.
    17. Sajid Ali & Sang-Moon Lee & Choon-Man Jang, 2017. "Determination of the Most Optimal On-Shore Wind Farm Site Location Using a GIS-MCDM Methodology: Evaluating the Case of South Korea," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.
    18. Majid Ebrahimi & Hamid Nejadsoleymani & Mohammad Reza Mansouri Daneshvar, 2019. "Land suitability map and ecological carrying capacity for the recognition of touristic zones in the Kalat region, Iran: a multi-criteria analysis based on AHP and GIS," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 697-718, October.
    19. Zeshui Xu, 2013. "Compatibility Analysis of Intuitionistic Fuzzy Preference Relations in Group Decision Making," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 463-482, May.
    20. Choudhary, Devendra & Shankar, Ravi, 2012. "An STEEP-fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS framework for evaluation and selection of thermal power plant location: A case study from India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 510-521.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:199:y:2009:i:3:p:867-872. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.