Abstract
A multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach is designed for capturing the relative preference information of a decision maker involved in a conflict. More specifically, an MCDA approach based on the outranking method, ELECTRE III, is employed for ranking states or possible scenarios in the conflict from most to least preferred, where ties are allowed, for a decision maker according to his or her value system. To demonstrate how this preference elicitation methodology can be conveniently implemented in practice within the framework of the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution, it is applied to a real world water supply crisis which occurred in the town of North Battleford, located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
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The authors would like to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Ontario Government and Centre for International Governance Innovation for their financial support.
Ginger Y. Ke received her BASc. in Management Information Systems, BComm. in Business Administration and MASc. in Systems Design Engineering, from Jinan University, Guangzhou, China, in 1997, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada, in 2006, and University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, in 2009, respectively. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in the Department of Management Sciences at University of Waterloo. Ms. Ke’s research interests include operations management, operational research, supply chain coordination, production and inventory management, as well as the development of systems methodologies for tackling decision problems in supply chain management, logistics and water resources.
Bing Fu received his MASc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 2003. Currently, he is working for a consulting company in China.
Mitali De is Professor in the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University and also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo in Canada. She previously served as Associate Dean of Business: Academic Programs and is the recipient of the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) Professional Female of the Year Award, 2006. Dr. De holds a PhD and an MASc. from the Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, an MASc. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, and is an Associate of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. Her research interests include optimization, decision support systems and environmental management systems.
Keith W. Hipel is University Professor of Systems Design Engineering and Coordinator of the Conflict Analysis Group at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Chair of the Board of Governors at Renison University College and former Vice President of the Canadian Academy of Sciences. His major research interests are the development of conflict resolution, multiple objective decision making and time series analysis techniques from a systems thinking perspective with applications in water resources management, hydrology, environmental engineering and sustainable development. Dr. Hipel has received widespread recognition for his interdisciplinary research in systems engineering via Fellow designations from the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), IEEE, International Council on Systems Engineering, Canadian Academy of Engineering, American Water Resources Association, and Engineering Institute of Canada. He is the recipient of the Norbert Wiener Award from the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society; Docteur Honoris Causa from École Centrale de Lille in France; Sir John William Dawson Medal from the RSC; and Engineering Medal for Research and Development from Ontario Professional Engineers. Finally, Dr. Hipel received his BASc degree in Civil Engineering, MASc degree in Systems Design, and PhD degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1970, 1972 and 1975, respectively.
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Ke, G.Y., Fu, B., De, M. et al. A hierarchical multiple criteria model for eliciting relative preferences in conflict situations. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. 21, 56–76 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-012-5187-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-012-5187-0