Direct approach processes in group decision making using linguistic OWA operators

In a linguistic framework, several group decision making processes by direct approach are presented. These processes are designed using the linguistic ordered weighted averaging (LOWA) operator. To do so, first a study is made of the properties and the axiomatic of LOWA operator, showing the rationality of its aggregation way. And secondly, the authors present the use of LOWA operator to solve group decision making problems from individual linguistic preference relations.