Goal Programming

Goal programming is a branch of multiobjective optimization, which in turn is a branch of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), also known as multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM). It can be thought of as an extension or generalisation of linear programming to handle multiple, normally conflicting objective measures. Each of these measures is given a goal or target value to be achieved. Unwanted deviations from this set of target values are then minimised in an achievement function. This can be a vector or a weighted sum dependent on the goal programming variant used. As satisfaction of the target is deemed to satisfy the decision maker(s), an underlying satisficing philosophy is assumed. The initial goal programming formulations ordered unwanted deviations into a number of priority levels, with the minimization of a deviation in a higher priority level being of infinitely more importance than any deviations in lower priority levels. This is known as lexicographic or pre-emptive goal programming. Ignizio gives an algorithm showing how a lexicographic goal programme can be solved as a series of linear programmes. Lexicographic goal programming should be used when there exists a clear priority ordering amongst the goals to be achieved. If the decision maker is more interested in direct comparisons of the objectives then Weighted or non pre-emptive goal programming should be used. In this case all the unwanted deviations are multiplied by weights, reflecting their relative importance, and added together as a single sum to form the achievement function. It is important to recognize that deviations measured in different units cannot be summed directly due to the phenomenon of incommensurability. Hence each unwanted deviation is multiplied by a normalization constant to allow direct comparison. Popular choices for normalization constants are the goal target value of the corresponding objective (hence turning all deviations into percentages) or the range of the corresponding objective (between the best and the worst possible values, hence mapping all deviations onto a zero-one range). For decision makers more interested in obtaining a balance between the competing objectives, Chebyshev goal programming should be used. Introduced by Flavell in 1976, this variant seeks to minimize the maximum unwanted deviation, rather than the sum of deviations. This utilises the Chebyshev distance metric, which emphasizes justice and balance rather than ruthless optimization.