A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering of the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1975

This research approaches to develop an Integer Goal Programming Algorithm - a new technique to get integer values of decision variables in management decision making problems, involving multiple contradictory goals. The research work starts with reviewing and analyzing available decision making techniques - Goal Programming and Integer Programming. With the help of simplex method, goal programming approaches an optimal solution of a multidimensional problem in which multiple conflicting goals are to be achieved in detriment to one another but according to their priorities assigned by the management. The cutting plane algorithm and the dual simplex method applied to the optimal goal programming solution evolves an integer solution to the original problem which is optimal also. The Integer Goal Programming Algorithm takes due care of the priorities in order of their ordinal ranking and provides an integer feasible solution which is very near to the optimal, in fact the best possible solution of the problem. A good number of problems have been solved using the computer model of the algorithm and examples given here illustrate and justify the validity of the methodology. It is expected that this will prove to be a powerful technique for the analysis of real world problems .