5

MCDM Methods

5.1

INTRODUCTION

The Multi criterion Decision-Making (MCDM) are gaining importance as potential tools
for analyzing complex real problems due to their inherent ability to judge different
alternatives (Choice, strategy, policy, scenario can also be used synonymously) on
various criteria for possible selection of the best/suitable alternative (s). These
alternatives may be further explored in-depth for their final implementation.

Figure 5.1

Multi criteria decision making (MCDM) Tree

Multi criterion Decision-Making (MCDM) analysis has some unique characteristics such
as the presence of multiple non-commensurable and conflicting criteria, different units of
measurement among the criteria, and the presence of quite different alternatives. It is an
attempt to review the various MCDM methods and need was felt of further advanced
methods for empirical validation and testing of the various available approaches for the
extension of MCDM into group decision-making situations for the treatment of
uncertainty

Figure 5.2

Multi-dimensions of MCDM

The weighted sum model (WSM) is the earliest and probably the most widely used
method. The weighted product model (WPM) can be considered as a modification of the
WSM, and has been proposed in order to overcome some of its weakness. The analytic
hierarchy process (AHP), as proposed by Saaty is a later development and it has recently

become popular. Recently modification to the AHP is considered to be more consistent

than the original approach. Some other widely used methods are the ELECTRE and the
TOPSIS methods.
5.2

Description of Some MCDM methods

There are three steps in utilizing any decision-making technique involving numerical
analysis of alternatives:
Determining the relevant criteria and alternatives
Attach numerical measures to the relative importance to the criteria and the impact of the
alternatives on these criteria
Process the numerical values to determine a ranking of each alternative.
Numerous MCDM methods such as ELECTRE-3 and 4,

promethee-2, Compromise

Programming, Cooperative Game theory, Composite Programming, Analyt ical Hierarchy

Process, Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, Multicriterion Q-Analysis etc are employed for
different applications. However, more research is still to be done to explore the
applicability and potentially of more MCDM methods to real-world planning and design
problems to reduce the gap between theory and practice.
5.2.1 The WSM Method
The weighted sum model (WSM) is probably the most commonly used approach,
especially in single dimensional problems. If there are m alternatives and n criteria then,
the best alternative is the one that satisfies the following expression

AWSM =max ao wf

for i=1,2,3,----m,

( 4.1)

Where Awsm is the WSM score of the best alternative, n is the number of decision
criteria, ao is the actual value of the i-th alternative in terms of the j-th criterion, and wf is
the weight of importance of the j-th criterion.
The assumption that governs this model is the additive utility assumption. That is the
total value of each alternative is equal to the sum of the products given in the equation
4.1. In single-dimensional cases, where all the units are same, the WSM can be used
without difficulty. Difficulty with this method emerges when it is applied to multi
dimensional MCDM problems. Then, in combining different dimensions, and
consequently different units, the additive utility assumption is violated and the result is
equivalent to adding apples and oranges.
5.2.2 The WPM Method
The weighted product model (WPM) is very similar to the WSM. The main difference is
that instead of addition in the model there is multiplication. Each alternative is compared
with the others by multiplying a number of ratios, one for each criterion. Each ration is
raised to the power equivalent to the relative weight of the corresponding criterion. In
general, in order to compare two alternatives AK and AL, the following product has to be
calculated
R (AK/ AL) =akj/aij

(4.2)

Where n is the number of criteria, a is the actual value of the i-th alternative in terms of
the j-th criterion, and wf is the weight of the j-th criterion.

If the term R(AK/ AL) is greater than or equal to one, then it indicates that alternative AK
is more desirable than alternative AL ( in the maximization case). The best alternative is
the one that is better than or at least equal to all other alternatives.
The WPM is sometimes called dimensionless analysis because its structure eliminates
any units of measure. Thus, the WPM can be used in single- and multi-dimensional
MCDM. An advantage of the method is that instead of the actual values it can use
relative ones
5.2.3 The AHP method
The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) decomposes a complex MCDM problem into a
system of hierarchies. The final step in the AHP deals with the structure of an m*n matrix
( Where m is the number of alternatives and n is the number of criteria). The matrix is
constructed by using the relative importance of the alternatives in terms of each criterion.
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is an MCMD method based on priority theory. It deals
with complex problems which involve the consideration of multiple criteria/alternatives
simultaneously. Its ability to incorporate data and judgement of experts into the model in
a logical way, to provide a scale for measuring intangibles and method of establishing
priorities to deal with interdependence of elements in a system to allow revision of
judgements in a short time to monitor the consistency in the decision-makers judgements
to accommodate group judgements if the groups cannot reach a natural consensus, makes
this method a valuable contribution to the field of MCDM.
The methodology is capable of Breaking down a complex, unstructured situation into its
component parts, Arranging these parts into a hierarchic order (criteria, sub-criteria,

alternatives etc.) Assigning numerical values from 1 to 9 to subjective judgements on the

relative importance of each criterion based on the characteristics Synthesizing the
judgements to determine the overall priorities of criteria/sub-criteria/ alternatives
Eigenvector approach is used to compute the priorities/weights of the criteria/ subcriteria/alternatives for the given pairwise comparison matrix. In order to fully specify
reciprocal and square pairwise comparison matrix, N (N-1)/2 pairs of criteria/subcriteria/alternatives are to be avalauted. The eigen vector corresponding to the maximum
eigenvalue (MAX) is required to be computed to determine the weight vectors of the
criteria/sub-criteria/alternatives. Small changes in the elements of the pairwise
comparison matrix imply a small change in MAX and the deviation of MAX from N is
a deviation of consistency. This is represented by Consistency Index (CI). i.e. (MAX
N)/(N-1). Randon Index (RI) is the consistency index for a randomly-filled matrix of
size. Consistency ratio (CR) is the ration of CI to average RI for the same size matrix. A
CR value of 0.1 or less is considered as acceptable. Other wise, an attempt is to be made
to improve the consistency ny obtaining additional information.
Prof. Thomas L. Saaty (1980) originally developed the Analytic Hierarchy Process
(AHP) to enable decision making in situations characterized by multiple attributes and
alternatives. AHP is one of the Multi Criteria decision making techniques. AHP has been
applied successfully in many areas of decision-making. In short, it is a method to derive
ratio scales from paired comparisons.
Four major steps in applying the AHP technique are:

Develop a hierarchy of factors impacting the final decision. This is known as the

AHP decision model. The last level of the hierarchy is the three candidates as an
alternative.
2

Elicit

pair wise comparisons between

the factors using inputs from

users/managers
3

Evaluate relative importance weights at each level of the hierarchy

Combine relative importance weights to obtain an overall ranking of the three

candidates.
While comparing two criteria we follow the simple rule as recommended by Saaty
(1980). Thus while comparing two attributes X and Y we assign the values in the
following manner based on the relative preference of the decision maker in this case the
HR Managers
Intensity

of Definition

Importance
1

Equal importance

Weak importance of one over other

Strong Importance

Demonstrated Importance

Absolute Importance

2,4,6,8

Intermediate Values

Reciprocals
above

of

the If activity i has one of the above numbers assigned

to it when compared with activity j, then j has the
reciprocal value when compared with i.

1.1 1.9

When

elements

are

close

and

nearly

indistinguishable
Table 1: Scale Used for Pair wise Comparison
To fill the lower triangular matrix, we use the reciprocal values of the upper diagonal.
Thus we have complete comparison matrix
B

Estimating the Consistency for sensitivity analysis

Sensitivity analysis is an extension to AHP, which is relatively unstudied. Sensitivit y

analysis can be useful in providing information as to the robustness of any decision. It is
applicable and necessary to explore the impact of alternative priority structure for the
rating of employee. The weights for the pair wise comparison were changed and it was
found that the performance evaluation was also changing accordingly.
Step 1. Multiply each value in the first column of the pairwise comparison matrix by
corresponding relative priority matrix.
Step 2. Repeat Step 1 for remaining columns.
Step 3. Add the vectors resulted from step-1 and 2.

Step 4. Divide each elements of the vector of weighed sums obtained in step 1-3 by the
corresponding priority value.
Step 5. Compute the average of the values found in step 4. Let be the average.
Step 6. Compute the consistency index (CI), which is defined as ( - n) / (n-1).
Compute the random index, RI, using ratio:
RI = 1.98 (n-2)/n
Accept the matrix if consistency ratio, CR, is less than 0.10, where CR is
CR = CI / RI
Consistency Ratio

CR

(CI/CR)

If the Consistency Ratio (CI/CR) <0.10, so the degree of consistency is satisfactory. The
decision makers comparison is probably consistent enough to be useful.
Two other MCDM methods are ELECTRE and TOPSIS methods. These methods are of
limited acceptance by the scientific and practitioners communities.

5.2.4 The ELECTRE Method

The ELECTRE (for Elimination and Choice Translating Reality; method was first
introduced in 1966. The basic concept of the ELECTRE method is to deal with
outranking relations by using pairwise comparisons among alternatives under each one
of the criteria separately. The outranking relationship of the two alternatives Ai and Aj
describes that even when the i-th alternative does not determine the j-th alternative
quantitatively, then the decision maker may still take the risk of regarding Ai as almost
better than Aj. Alternatives are said to be dominated, if there is another alternat ive which
excels them in one or more criteria and equals in the remaining criteria.
The ELECTRE method begins with pairwise comparisons of alternatives under each
criterion. Using physical or monetary values, denoted as gi(Ai) and gj(Aj) of the
alternatives Ai and Aj respectively, and by introducing threshold levels for the different
gi(Ai) and gj(Aj), the decision maker may declare that he/she is indifferent between the
alternatives under consideration, that he/she has a weak or strict preference for one of the
two, or that he/she is unable to express any of these preference relations. Therefore a set
of binary relations of alternatives, the so-called outranking relations may be complete or
incomplete. Next the decision maker is requested to assign weights or importance factors
in order to express their relative importance. Through the consecutive assessments of the
outranking relations of the alternatives, the ELECTRE method elicits the so-called
concordance index defined as the amount of evidence to support the conclusion that
alternative Aj outranks or dominates, alternatives Ai, as well as the discordance index the
counter-part of the concordance index.

Finally, the ELECTRE method yields a system of binary outranking relations between
the alternatives. Because this system is not necessarily complete, the ELECTRE method
is sometimes unable to identify the most preferred alternative. It only produces a core of
leading alternatives. This method has a clearer view of alternatives by eliminating less
favourable ones. This method is especially convenient when there are decision problems
that involve a few criteria with a large number of alternaives.
5.2.5. The TOPSIS Method
TOPSIS ( for the Technique for Order Preference by Similarly to Ideal Solution) was
developed by Hwang and Yoon in 1980 as an alternative to the ELECTRE method and
can be considered as one of its most widely accepted variants. The basic concept of this
method is that the selected alternative should have the shortest distance from the ideal
solution and the farthest distance from the negative-ideal solution in some geometrical
sense.
The TOPSIS method assumes that each criterion has a tendency of monotonically
increasing or decreasing utilit y. Therefore, it is easy to define the ideal and negat ive-ideal
solutions. The Euclidean distance approach was proposed to evaluate the relative
closeness of the alternatives to the ideal solution. Thus, the preference order of the
alternatives can be derived by a series of comparisons of these relative distances.
The TOPSIS method first converts the various criteria dimensions into non-dimensional
criteria as was the case with the ELECTRE method.
As a remark, it should be stated that in the ELECTRE and TOPSIS methods the
Euclidean distance represent some plausible assumptions. Other alternative distance

measures could be used as well, in which case it is possible for one to get different
answers for the same problem.
However, it is reasonable to assume here that for the benefit criteria, the decision maker
wants to have a maximum value among the alternatives. For the cost criteria, the decisio n
maker wants to have a minimum value among the alternatives. Generally A+ indicates
the most preferable alternative or the ideal solution. Similarly, alternative A- indicates
the least preferable alternative or the negative ideal solution
5.2.6. The Fuzzy AHP Method
Fuzzy AHP is Fuzzification of the AHP (analyt ic hierarchy process) used in conventional
market surveys, etc. In AHP, several products and alternatives are evaluated, and by
means of pair comparisons, the weight of each evaluation item and the evaluation values
for each product and alternatives are found for each evaluation item, but the results of
pair comparisons are not 0,1, but rather the degree is given by a numerical value. In fuzzy
AHP, the weight is expressed by possibility measure or necessary measure, and in
addition, the conventional condition that the total of various weights be 1 is relaxed.
5.3

STEPS IN MCDM METHODOLOGY

It can be summarized as:

Defining the problem and fixing the criteria
Appropriate data collection
Establishment of feasible/efficient alternatives

Formulation of payoff matrix (alternative versus criteria array)

Selection of appropriate method to solve the problem
Incorporation of decision-makers preference structure
Choosing one or more of the best/suitable alternative (s) for further analysis
The MCMD methods can be further classified into four groups, i.e., distance, outranking,
priority/utility, and mixed category.
METHODS OF ESTIMATION OF WEIGHTS
Relative importance or weight of a criterion indicates the priority assigned to the criterion
by the decision-maker while ranking the alternatives in a Multicriteria Decision-Making
(MCDM) environment.
A number of methods are available in literature for computing the weights, Notable
among them, that are used frequently, are Rating Method, Entropy Method etc.
Rating Method
Rating method requires the decision-maker to express all the criterion weights on a
numerical scale. A higher value for a given criterion represents its relative importance
over the other criteria. The method is simple and advantages when there are small
number of criteria but may give erroneous results if the number of criteria is large.
Number of researchers used the concept of linguistic variables in a fuzzy environment in
the form of Triangular Fuzzy Numbers (TFNs) to determine the weights of criterion.
5.4.2 Entropy Method

Entropy is a term that measures the uncertainty associated with random phenomena of the
expected information content of a certain message and this uncertainty is represented by a
discrete probability distribution. The Entropy Method estimates the weights of the
various criteria from the given payoff matrix and is independent of the views of the
decision-maker. This method is particularly useful to explore contrasts between sets of
data. These sets of data can be mapped as a set of alternative solutions in the payoff
matrix where each alternative solution is evaluated in terms of its outcome. The
philosophy of this method is based on the amount of information available and its
relationship with importance of the criterion.
If the entropy value is high, the uncertainty contained in the criterion vector is high,
diversification of the information is low and correspondingly the criterion is less
important. This method is advantageous as it reduces the burden of the decision-maker
for large sized problems. It can also be used as a benchmark solution in th situations
where consensus can note be reached in a group, while estimating the weights of criteria.
On the other hand, the role of the decision-maker is limited while estimating the weights
of the criterion.