Application of multiple fuzzy goals programming to project management decisions

In most practical situations, the project decision maker (DM) must handle conflicting objectives that govern the use of the organization's resources. These conflicting objectives are required to be optimized simultaneously by the DM in the framework of fuzzy aspiration levels. This work develops a novel multiple fuzzy goals programming (MFGP) model for solving project management (PM) decision problems in a fuzzy environment. The proposed model attempts to minimize total project costs, total completion time and total crashing costs with reference to direct costs, indirect costs, contractual penalty costs, duration of activities and budget constraint. An industrial case shows the feasibility of applying the proposed model to a PM decision problem. The proposed model yields an efficient compromise PM plan and the DM's overall level of satisfaction. In particular, several significant characteristics of the proposed model, which contrast with those of the major PM decision models, are presented.