Decision Processes

Recommended Prerequisites

Not appplicable.

Teaching Methods

Classroom interaction:

- Presentation of the themes promoting debate (student-student and student-teacher).

- Solving (by students, individually or in small groups, or by the teacher) of cases that illustrate the practical relevance of the themes and different decision aiding strategies.

- Role-playing.

The presentation of the themes and the study of cases emphasize the motivation of the students for studying the themes being addressed, by using concrete examples.

Learning Outcomes

O1. To know the different stages of a decision process and the information to be gathered and organized.

O2. To enunciate and to avoid common errors in decision making processes, avoiding simplistic approaches and sustaining the advantages of formal decision aiding methodologies.

O3. To take part in decision processes, either as a decision maker or as a consultant, by building appropriate models, to deal with uncertainty, to ponder multiple evaluation criteria and to involve the different stakeholders, favouring sustainability.

O4. To think critically and make decisions based on complex information.

O5. Maximise resources for the benefit of organisations and society (SDG 8, 9, 16).

These learning outcomes contribute to develop several generic skills, namely those of critical reasoning, analysis and synthesis, problem solving, information interpretation and management, and group interaction.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Three recurring themes in decision processes are addressed: uncertainty, multiple decision makers, and multiple evaluation criteria, with emphasis on the latter:

T1. Introduction to decision processes and decision analysis

T2. Multicriteria structuring and evaluation

T3. Decision under uncertainty

T4. Group decision and negotiation

Head Lecturer(s)

Luís Miguel Cândido Dias

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Written works during the trimester (20%) : 20.0%
Development of projects during the trimester : 30.0%
Exam: 50.0%

Bibliography

DIAS, Luís — Avaliação multicritério em processos de decisão. Coimbra : Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 2022.

GOODWIN, Paul ; WRIGHT, George — Decision analysis for management judgment, 5th Ed. Chichester : John Wiley & Sons, 2014.

ISHIZAKA, Alessio; NEMERY, Philippe — Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis : Methods and software, Chichester: Wiley, 2013.