Handbook of Decision Analysis - (Wiley Operations Research and Management Science) 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

About the Book

Decision analysis is the discipline comprised of the philosophy, theory, methodology, and professional practice necessary to address important decisions in a formal manner. The field includes many procedures, methods, and tools for identifying, clearly representing, and formally assessing the important aspects of a decision situation. Managers, especially those in a technical environment, regularly face complex decisions involving uncertainty and multiple objectives. Often the decision contexts cross organizational boundaries and require various sources of expertise. Experience in conjunction with some analysis and intuition may be a popular decision approach; however, these qualities do not lend themselves to the logic behind the decision. Formal decision analysis, by providing powerful tools for addressing complex decisions that involve uncertainty and multiple objectives, allows the practitioner to approach any decision in a systematic way, enabling the identification and assessment of the factors influencing the outcome-- Provided by publisher.

From the Back Cover

Qualitative and quantitative techniques to apply decision analysis to real-world decision problems, supported by sound mathematics, best practices, soft skills, and more

With substantive illustrations based on the authors' personal experiences throughout, Handbook of Decision Analysis describes the philosophy, knowledge, science, and art of decision analysis. Key insights from decision analysis applications and behavioral decision analysis research are presented, and numerous decision analysis textbooks, technical books, and research papers are referenced for comprehensive coverage.

This book does not introduce new decision analysis mathematical theory, but rather ensures the reader can understand and use the most common mathematics and best practices, allowing them to apply rigorous decision analysis with confidence. The material is supported by examples and solution steps using Microsoft Excel and includes many challenging real-world problems. Given the increase in the availability of data due to the development of products that deliver huge amounts of data, and the development of data science techniques and academic programs, a new theme of this Second Edition is the use of decision analysis techniques with big data and data analytics.

Written by a team of highly qualified professionals and academics, Handbook of Decision Analysis includes information on:

• Behavioral decision-making insights, decision framing opportunities, collaboration with stakeholders, information assessment, and decision analysis modeling techniques
• Principles of value creation through designing alternatives, clear value/risk tradeoffs, and decision implementation
• Qualitative and quantitative techniques for each key decision analysis task, as opposed to presenting one technique for all decisions.
• Stakeholder analysis, decision hierarchies, and influence diagrams to frame descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics decision problems to ensure implementation success

Handbook of Decision Analysis is a highly valuable textbook, reference, and/or refresher for students and decision professionals in business, management science, engineering, engineering management, operations management, mathematics, and statistics who want to increase the breadth and depth of their technical and soft skills for success when faced with a professional or personal decision.

About the Author

Gregory S. Parnell, PhD, is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR.

Terry A. Bresnick, MBA, is President of Innovative Decision Analysis, and Lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas.

Eric R. Johnson, PhD, is Director of Decision Science at GSK, where he supports drug development decision making.

Steven N. Tani, PhD, is a retired Partner and Fellow of Strategic Decisions Group.

Eric Specking, PhD, is a Principal Engineer for Infinity Labs and a Lecturer in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR.