Open AccessDecision management - projects subject to uncertainty
Author(s) -
A.E. Paterson
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
orion/orion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2224-0004
pISSN - 0259-191X
DOI - 10.5784/2-2-502
Subject(s) - grasp , affect (linguistics) , computer science , control (management) , subject (documents) , control variable , scale (ratio) , operations research , risk analysis (engineering) , operations management , artificial intelligence , psychology , machine learning , mathematics , business , engineering , software engineering , geography , communication , library science , cartography
The human mind is normally unable to grasp more than five to nine aspects relating to the same decision circumstances simultaneously. It has been demonstrated that only between four and eight variables significantly affect return on engineering projects (at the 90% level) irrespective of scale. The most powerful means of isolating these significant variables is by computer simulation. This is demonstrated through the application of the interactive CASPAR programme to a simulated mining project. The significant variables are separated into controllable, influence able and uncontrollable categories for decision and control purposes since the nature of the speculative risk differs. The managerial treatment of each category is discussed