Aspirations and priorities in a three phase approach of a nonhomogeneous Markov system

Aspiration levels and priorities using goal programming are employed in a manpower nonhomogeneous Markov system (NHMS) which evolves in three phases, the transient, the semi-transient and the equilibrium phase. The general goal programming framework is used in several variations which depend on the phase, in order to detect appropriate input policies that can achieve a satisfactory trade-off between operational cost and target attainability. The ultimate target is to guide the system towards an asymptotically attainable structure that is considered to be satisfactory.