Decomposition of satisficing decision problems

• Authors: Shinzo Takatsu
• Venue: Information Sciences: an International Journal
• Year: 1980

This paper intends to clarify the decomposition of satisficing (decision) problems. Many researchers have studied the several aspects of satisficing problems verbal-logically (e.g. Cyert and March [2]; Simon [12]; Simon, Smithburgh, and Thompson [13]) or mathematically (e.g. Charnes and Cooper [1]; Ijiri [4]), and a formulation of satisficing problems under true uncertainty was done about one decade ago by M. D. Mesarovic and his group (e.g. Mesarovic, Macko, and Takahara [9]; Mesarovic and Takahara [10]). Its fundamental properties have been studied qualitatively by Matsuda and Takatsu [6-8]. However, the decomposition of satisficing problems has not been explicitly mentioned anywhere, even though implicit discussions have been given. Without the decomposition principles, we cannot solve large-scale satisficing problems, and cannot analyze or design coordination processes of hierarchical systems with satisficing problems as overall decision problems. Our study is mainly concentrated on the decomposition. Our results are somewhat restricted, because we deal with satisficing problems of relatively manageable forms. However, we can develop more sophisticated decompositions by combining our decomposition principles or by adding the other assumptions to our formulations. The results will be a starting point of a more complete study of satisficing decision problem solving.