An Intelligent System for Allocating Times to the Main Activities of Managers

Correctly allocating times to the main activities of a manager is a crucial task that directly affects the possibility of success for any company. Decision support based on state-of-the-art methods can lead to better performance in this activity. However, allocating times to managerial activities is...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Efrain Solares, Liliana Guerrero, Alberto Aguilera, Juana María Hernández, Sandra Rodríguez, Víctor De-León-Gómez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
Series:Axioms
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1680/10/2/104
Description
Summary:Correctly allocating times to the main activities of a manager is a crucial task that directly affects the possibility of success for any company. Decision support based on state-of-the-art methods can lead to better performance in this activity. However, allocating times to managerial activities is not straightforward; the decision support should provide a flexible recommendation so the manager can make a final decision while ensuring robustness. This paper describes and assesses a novel approach where a search for the best distribution of the manager’s time is performed by an intelligent decision support system. The approach consists of eliciting manager preferences to define the value of the manager’s main activities and, by using a portfolio-like optimization based on differential evolution, obtaining the best time allocation. Aiming at applicability in practical scenarios, the approach can deal with many activities, group decisions, cope with imprecision, vagueness, ill-determination, and other types of uncertainty. We present evidence of the approach’s applicability exploiting a real case study with the participation of several managers. The approach is assessed through the satisfaction level of each manager.
ISSN:2075-1680