Summary

Systems and Decision Making A Management Science Approach Hans G Daellenbach University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Traditional methods of problem solving, based on the cause-and-effect model, can no longer cope with the complex situations in which decisions have to be made today. These problem situations occur within a systems context. Most of these systems are created and controlled by humans and it is, therefore, important that decision making is guided by a systematic and comprehensive methodology that helps the decision maker to make effective use of his/her extensive but limited powers of reasoning. Systems and Decision Making combines contemporary systems work with Operations Research (OR). Daellenbach places an emphasis on developing a methodology for decision situations that lend themselves to quantitative approaches rather than give an elementary survey of many OR/MS techniques. It incorporates some of the learnings of soft systems methodology for more practical problem solving, particularly at the problem identification and formulation stages. The text also shows that the scientific component of modelling can be considerably enhanced by the use of various diagrammatic devices. The second part of the book studies a number of topics important for the analyst, such as how to deal with the time element, with constraints, with uncertainty, and with multiple goals. These are demonstrated by various OR/MS techniques. Systems and Decision Making is an excellent core text for undergraduate and graduate students of systems, management science and MBA courses.