Objectivity and subjectivity in the decision making process

Classical Operations Research assumed objectivity. Operations researchers hardly bothered to ask the decision maker about his or her preferences, assuming that a well-defined single objective function was an adequate representation of the decision problem. Many multi-criteria decision methods began in response to this failure of Operations Research. Other methods took a totally different and more subjective point of view. In this paper, we discuss objective and subjective descriptions, their interpretation and use in decision making. In the center of the ability to distinguish between these objective and subjective components stand scientific methods and scientists. We argue that it is possible and necessary to understand where and how objective measures should be replaced by subjective measures and judgement in the decision making process.