Another problem may cause cost in the decision procedure is the quality of the information (Roebuck, 2013). If the information collected contains a lot of mistakes and prejudice, then the final decision made based on such information will be unreliable. The cost of this mistake will be catastrophic. There is almost no benefit from this decision but the cost spent on data collection still occurs. In assignment 2, questionnaires were just distributed among Chinese students only which would cause bias in data. What’s more, some respondents just went through the motions, so the responses did not reflect real conditions. Effective ways must be figure out to urge the respondents to give reliable answers.
Human judgment plays an essential role on the decision process instead of the underlying model (Saaty, 2008b). AHP requires the use of human knowledge to decide the weights when conducting pair-wise comparisons and assigning weights. Human judgment in comparisons should also be taken into account when evaluating the project risk.
To reduce the cost and increase the benefits in project management, double check each step involved in the project to ensure the quality. Data collection is one aspect. And the correction of the model is another aspect. Variables chosen must match the assumptions of the model; otherwise some unexpected and hard-to-detect problems will make a failure in decision making.
In sum, to make the investment on a project worthwhile, risk must be controlled strictly at each stage.
- References
- The Complete University Guide (2013) University League Table 2013 [WWW] The Complete University Guide. Available from: http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings [Accessed 16/04/2013].
- Forman, E.H. and Saul, I.G. (2001) The Analytical Hierarchy Process—an Exposition. Operations Research,
