An Integrated System to Acquire Knowledge and Support Decisions in Complex Innovation Design Processes

Abstract

A system that integrates tools from different disciplines, ranging from cognitive and social psychology to multicriteria analysis and mathematical programming, is introduced to cope with the complexities and uncertainties that generate criticality in the organization innovation processes. An intelligent combined use of tools can facilitate the integration of unstructured or semistructured information resources and support individuals or groups of stakeholders in a complex environment, in order to structure a problem situation, to agree on a “problem focus” and to make commitments on a set of possible actions. The purpose of this article is to examine the potentiality of this system, above all in terms of knowledge acquisition, fusion, and use in various organizational contexts, and to describe an application in relation to an industrial project, in order to support the conceptual phase of the design process.

Keywords:

• conceptual design
• problem formulation and structuring
• integration of soft and hard OR methods
• cognitive mapping
• actor analysis
• multi-actor preference system
• multi-dimensional preference system

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Franca Norese

Maria Franca Norese is associate professor of Operations Research at the Politecnico di Torino, where she is with the Department of Management and Production Engineering. Her research interests are in the areas of multicriteria analysis, multiple criteria decision aiding, complex problem structuring and decision process analysis (applied to areas such as decision processes in public administration, environmental management, and public policy analysis), and decision support systems for complex problems in real organizations. Currently she focuses on systems and methodologies that facilitate understanding, collaboration, and decision making in organization. She has had articles published in such journals as Decision Support Systems, Group Decision and Negotiation, Knowledge Management Research & Practice, International Journal of Decision Support System Technology, Journal of Decision Systems, European Journal of Operational Research, International Transactions in Operational Research, Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, and the International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making.

Chiara Novello

Chiara Novello received an MSc degree in Management Engineering and a PhD degree in Production Systems and Industrial Design from the Politecnico di Torino in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Her doctoral dissertation research focused on the matching properties of Actor analysis and Cognitive mapping methods. Currently, Dr. Novello is an adjunct lecturer of Operations Research at Politecnico di Torino and collaborates on research projects in the Department of Management and Production Engineering. Her research interests are in the use of hard and soft operations research methods, with a focus on multiple criteria decision aiding and problem structuring contexts.

Fabio Salassa

Fabio Salassa is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Politecnico di Torino. His research interests focus on the management of services and production systems with particular attention to decision support systems, methods, and tools. He has had articles published in such journals as Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Computers and Operations Research, Annals of Operations Research, and International Transactions in Operational Research.