Abstract
Background: In daily life, one may encounter several problems whose solution is based on the consideration of several criteria altogether. To generate a solution for such problems is, in fact, a complex task. If one generates a solution, then there is no guarantee that the solution is optimal. It is really challenging to take into account all the criteria at the same time and generate a solution that is optimal. Several techniques have been proposed to solve multi-criteria decision- making problems.
Methods: In this paper, we propose an intelligent solution to multi-criteria decision-making problems by means of fuzzy aggregation using the matrix method. The proposed method finds application in solving such problems where the criteria are defined in the qualitative form (fuzzy linguistic variables) rather than in quantitative form (crisp). A novel application of the proposed approach to rank the employees in an organization is presented in the paper.
Results: The proposed method is empirically validated by applying it to find the best employee in an institute of repute. Data collection is done in real-time to prove the utilization of the proposed approach in an efficient manner.
Conclusion: The results obtained after the application of the proposed method to rank the employees are realistic as it takes into consideration the ambiguity involved in the human thought process.
Keywords: Multi criteria, linguistic variables, optimization, fuzzy aggregation, matrix method, criteria matrix.
Graphical Abstract