Emmie Lou B. Javier 2010 68254 GOAL PROGRAMMING I.

History

January 18, 2013 AMAT 168

Real-world decision problemsunlike those found in textbooksinvolve multiple, conflicting objectives and goals, subject to the satisfaction of various hard and soft constraints. In short, and as the experienced practitioner is well aware, problems that one encounters outside the classroom are invariably massive, messy, changeable, complex, and resist treatment via conventional approaches. Yet the vast majority of traditional approaches to such problems utilizes conventional models and methods that idealistically and unrealistically (in most cases) presumes the optimization of a singleobjective subject to a set of rigid constraints. Goal programming was introduced in an attempt to eliminate or, at the least, mitigate this disquieting disconnect.1 Conceived and developed by Abraham Charnes and William Cooper (1961) in 19612, goal programming was originally dubbed constrained regression. Charnes and Cooper first applied constrained regression in the 1950s to the analysis of executive compensation. Recognizing that the method could be extended to a more general class of problemsthat is, any quantifiable problem having multiple objectives and soft, as well as rigid constraintsCharnes and Cooper later renamed the method goal programming when describing it within their classic 1961 two-volume text Management

Models and Industrial Applications of Linear Programming.1

II. Applications Goal programmings label as the workhorse of multiple-objective optimization has been achieved by its successful solutions of important real-world problems over a period of more than 50 years. Included among these applications are: The analysis of executive compensation for General Electric during the 1950s The design and deployment of the antennas for the Saturn II launch vehicle as employed in the Apollo manned moon-landing program

The determination of a siting scheme for the Patriot Air Defense System Decisions within fisheries in the United Kingdom A means to audit transactions within the financial sector (e.g., for the Commercial Bank of Greece) The design of acoustic arrays for U.S. Navy torpedoes As well as a host of problems in the general areas of agriculture, finance, engineering, energy, and resource allocation.1

III.

Where Goal Programming is Best Used A major strength of goal programming is its simplicity and ease of use. This accounts for the large number of goal programming applications in many and diverse fields. Linear Goal programmes can be solved using linear programming software as either a single linear programme or a series of connected linear programmes. Hence, Goal Programming can handle relatively large numbers of variables, constraints and objectives.3 In its original form, goal programming was strictly limited to linear multipleobjective problems. Ignizio, in the 1960s, extended the method to both nonlinear and integer models, developed the associated algorithms for these extensions, and successfully applied them to a number of important real-world problems. During that same period, and in conjunction with Paul Huss, Ignizio developed a sequential algorithm that permits one to extendwith minimal modificationany single-objective optimization software package to the solution of any class of goal programming models (the approach was also developed, independently, by Dauer and Kruger).1 Goal programming is the most widely applied tool of multiple-objective optimization/multicriteria decision making.1

Ignizio, James P. & Romero, Carlos, Goal Programming, http://dsslab.cs.unipi.gr/Courses/PostGraduateAdvInfSys/Decision%20Analysis/GoalProgramming.pdf 2 Lin, Thomas W. & OLeary, Daniel E., Goal Programming Applications in Financial Management, https://msbfile03.usc.edu/digitalmeasures/doleary/intellcont/Goal-programming-applications-in-financialmanagement-1.pdf 3 Goal Programming, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal_programming