Antipova K. Models and information technologies for analysis and selection of complex linear functional organizational structures under conditions of uncertainty

All the work processes in a modern industrial enterprise are closely interconnected and require strict centralized management. The basic decisions made at the top level cannot be organized without the developed informational infrastructure. Hence, there is a need to optimize the channels for collecting and transmitting information to better meet the informational needs of executives and the company’s team as a whole. The developed models and information technologies increase the effectiveness of decision-making process regarding the selection of organizational structures by the three groups of criteria. For the first time: – a descriptive-analytical model of complex linear-functional organizational structures is proposed, which reflects the peculiarities of structure functioning, including its vertical and horizontal links. It enables formulation of three groups of criteria for analysis of organizational structures: criterion for optimizing the cost of maintaining structures, quality analysis of their topological properties and an information criterion that takes into account the information load of senior managers through functional communication channels; – intervals for indicators of quality criterion are proposed for defining admissible linear functional organizational structures. In contrast to existing approaches that use the utility function as a conditional quantitative indicator of an alternative’s prevalence, the proposed method uses assembled set of alternative structures, based on the initial structure, to obtain final ranking of alternatives by combining group expert judgments. Improved: the method for calculating the value of information exchanged by managers through functional links. The proposed method uses subjective assessments of communication informativeness obtained from its participants and indicators of the information properties’ importance defined by an expert or a group of experts. Further developed: methods for solving the problem of multicriteria selection of alternatives in a situation of significant conflict between groups of expert evidence based on the Dezert-Smarandache theory of plausible and paradoxical reasoning and Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence, which, in contrast to existing methods of processing multicriteria group expert judgments, enable modelling without restrictions on the number of alternatives being compared, without the need to evaluate all alternatives and with a low level of consistency of expert judgments. The developed models, algorithms and information technology have been used in the working process of HR management of the Gas Turbine Research & Production Complex Zorya-Mashproekt (Cooperation Agreement dated 17.03.2015). The first chapter contains an overview of the sources devoted to the analysis and optimization of conventional structures of organizational systems, as well as the classification of organizational structures used in large enterprises. Furthermore, an analysis of modern optimization methods of hierarchical organizational structures was conducted, which indicated the lack of a comprehensive approach in the application of selection criteria for complex linear functional organizational structures. In the second chapter a descriptive-analytical model of organizational structures is proposed. This model includes vertical (linear) and horizontal (functional) links. Based on the analytical model of information flows in the organizational structure, a system of three groups of criteria is proposed. The groups are as follows: criteria of the structure maintenance costs, criteria of the quality of structure’s topological properties and the optimization criteria. The latter takes into account the information load on the elements of the structure located at the top levels of the hierarchy (senior managers). The third chapter contains the description of the decision-making process on the set of obtained expert judgments. An approach for conducting an expertise and the subsequent selection of optimal hierarchical organizational structures was also proposed. Expert assessments analysis is based on the Dempster-Shafer model and the hybrid Dezert-Smarandache model. The method of obtaining an aggregated estimate was considered, that uses the classic Dezert-Smarandache combination rule and the PCR5 conflict redistribution rule to combine expert assessments. The fourth chapter describes the developed information technologies for analysis and selection of optimal organizational structures under uncertainty on the basis of the proposed models. It also contains the scheme of decision support system implementation which purpose is to formulate recommendations for the decision-maker based on the proposed information technology. The examples illustrate the comparative 3-criteria analysis of three organizational structures of large enterprises: a machine-building plant, a ship-building factory and a seaport.