Group Decision Makers’ Preferences Modelling within the Goal Programming Model: An Overview and a Typology MICHELLE MUNRO and BELAÏD AOUNI* Decision Aid Research Group, School of Commerce and Administration, Faculty of Management, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, P3E 2C6 ABSTRACT The Goal Programming (GP) model is one of the first models that have been developed to deal with managerial decision- making problems where several incommensurable and conflicting objectives are involved. The GP variants integrate the decision maker’s preferences differently. This model has also been applied to group decision-making situations. The aim of this paper is to propose a new typology based on preferences articulation of decision makers through the GP model. This typology is based on the articulation and the elucidation process of the group decision makers’ preferences. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY WORDS: group decision makers’ preferences; Goal Programming; preferences modelling 1. INTRODUCTION Decisions can be made at the individual level or at the group level. Decision-making process is the cognitive process that leads to the selection of an alternative. Typically, this selection is made among several alternatives and involves the evaluation of those alternatives. This process is complex, and in the context of globalization, competitiveness and networking, the complexities and challenges increase. In addition, strategic decisions may require the involvement of stakeholders, who have their own value systems and preferences. The aim of making decisions within a group setting is to have the group reach a certain consensus or to make better decisions than if the decisions were made by one individual. To deal with such situations, the decision makers (DMs) often require tools to assist in making satisfactory decisions. The decision-making process can be approached in a wide variety of structured and unstructured ways. The process can be ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’ and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions. A mathematical, technical approach or a simple non- technical approach can be employed. Some theorists propose that decision making is a sequential process, linear in nature with a series of steps that are followed in a prescribed order (Simon, 1960). Others argue that this process is more circular than linear and has phases that are not necessarily sequential (Mintzberg et al., 1976). At the individual level, the decision-making process involves the definition of an issue to be solved, the identification of alternatives, the evalua- tion of the alternatives and the selection of the ‘best’ one. The focus of this article is on the final stage of the decision-making process, the selection of the best alternative, which is also the focus of most research activities in this matter. However, it should be noted that the majority of the time spent by DMs is in the earlier stages of the decision-making process, identifi- cation of the main issue and the generation of alterna- tives (Simon, 1960; Mintzberg et al., 1976). Individuals enter into a decision-making process with their own personal belief and value systems. Furthermore, the decision-making process requires choices to be made regarding the preferences of the DM (Hogarth, 1987). Preferences are highly subjective cognitive processes that are influenced by an individual’s belief and value systems, educational and cultural background and any bias they may have regarding a particular alternative. Preferences can be expressed in a number of ways including assignment of weights, thresholds, priority levels or trade-offs between alternatives. Preference modelling is often used to describe tools used in the decision-making process. When only one individual is involved in the decision-making process, preference articulation can *Correspondence to: Decision Aid Research Group, School of Commerce and Administration, Faculty of Management, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6. E-mail: baouni@laurentian.ca Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 28 February 2011 Accepted 1 November 2011 JOURNAL OF MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS J. Multi-Crit. Decis. Anal. (2012) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/mcda.492