The limits and possibilities of decision models for Army research and development project selection

Abstract

The case is made for applying Multicriteria Decision Models (MCDM) to the Army's research and development selection process. Given the recent changes is the international strategic environment and the resulting congressional emphasis on applied research short of production, the need for improved efficiency in selecting Army R&D project alternatives is increasing. R&D project selection problems are non-trivial, with many stakeholders and multiple criteria for evaluating the alternatives to meet the organization's various objectives. Research on human cognition has revealed that typical notions about decision making are inefficient for dealing with multi-criteria decision problems. MCDM such as the Analytic Hierarchy Process, Multiattribute Utility Theory, Goal Programming, and Graphical Techniques are designed to support these decisions by formulating logically supportable choices. Each of these four models is described and a summary of their strengths and weaknesses is presented.