Introduction

All of human life may be seen as a process of decision-making, but it is only in recent years and in response to the needs of the large and complex organizations characterizing our society that this process has been subjected to scientific scrutiny. Out of this scrutiny—undertaken by a wide range of professionals in economics, administration, management, statistics, psychology, engineering, computer science, operations research, and systems analysis—there has begun to emerge a body of theory that has profound implications for improving practical decision-making. This book is the first to bring together all the various aspects of decision theory into one cohesive treatment.