Course aims:

Decision making is the process through which one optimal(best/most likely to bring success or advantage) is made from several possible alternatives/choices of solutions for a given issue/situation that will ensure maximum benefit and least risk than the others who were not selected.
This course is designed to introduce students to various topics in techniques and methods of decision making and uncertainty that they will encounter in public administration. The concepts are illustrated with actual examples from the specialized literature.
Exercises are designed to encourage the student to begin thinking about decision making within a theoretical context. In this course, the students will learn the basic terminology and concepts of decision making.

Course Entry Requirements:

N/A

Course contents:

1.1. Solving a linear programming problem 1.2. Duality. Dual simplex algorithm 1.3. Reoptimization of linear programming problems 1.4. Parametric linear programming 1.5. Transportation problems 1.6. Reoptimization of transportation problems 1.7. Parametric transportation problems 1.8. Special types of transportation problems

Teaching methods:

Lecture, conversation, exemplification.

Learning outcomes:

Modelling and solving some medium complexity level problems, using the mathematical and public administration knoweledges.

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

Written paper 50%; mid-term test 30%; seminar activities 20%.

Recommended reading:

• Nering, E. D., Tucker, A. W., Linear Programs and Related Problems, Academic Press, Boston, 1993
• Nash, S. and Sofer, A., Linear and Nonlinear Programming, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996
• Burke, Lisa A., Monica K. Miller, Taking the Mystery out of Intuitive Decision Making, Academy of Management Executive, November 1999.
• Daft, Richard, Organization Theory and Design, West Publishing, 1992.
• Dawson, Roger, The Confident Decision Maker, Morrow, 1993.