QUANTITATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR DECISION MAKING

August-November (2014)
XPGDM-2016-17 (Term-II)
Faculty

: Prof Alok Kumar Singh

Email

: aksingh@imi.edu

Phone (Extn no.)

: 210

Consulting Hours

: Thursday, 3.30-5.30

Objectives:

To understand how formal modelling can help in reaching better decisions, with
special reference to various managerial functions
To expose the participants to various decision situations commonly faced and to help
them understand how to structure the decision problems as well as to obtain good
solution for the same.

At the end of the course the students should be able to:

Understand the importance of modelling for managerial functions

Apply Quantitative techniques for decision making in a firm
Apply theoretical concepts to real life situations

Text Book :

OPERATIONS RESEARCH , 1st edition, Vasant Lakhman Mote, T. Madhavan, Wiley

publishing

Supplementary Text:

Introduction to Operations Research: Concepts & Cases (8th Edition) by Frederick S

Hillier, Gerald J Lieberman ( Tata McGraw-Hill )
Introduction to Management Science (3 rd Edition ) , Frederick S. Hillier, Mark S
Hillier (Tata McGraw-Hill ) IMS
An Introduction to Management Science: Quantitative Approaches for Decision
Making, 13th edition by Anderson, David R., Sweeney, Dennis J. and Williams,
Thomas A., Martin, Kipp, Cengage Learning.

Pedagogy
Pedagogy would be a combination of lectures, case studies and problem solving. Lecture
classes shall be discussion based and students are expected to read the relevant chapters from
the book and any other reading material provided before they come to the class. Case studies
will be discussed which will help in understanding Quantitative techniques in actual work
situations. Numerical problems are essential for this course. The course will be taught as per
the session plan given in this document. Students are expected to participate in the class
discussions.
Evaluation criteria
Quizzes (2)

: 30%

End term exam

: 40%

Project

: 30%
______
: 100%

TOTAL

Project
As part of the evaluation, students are required to do a project which shall involve study of
real life application. Maximum 5 students can form a group for project. The students should
apply any of the techniques or the tools covered during the course. This study can either be
done for a services or a manufacturing organization. Preferably, students must visit the
organization and collect first hand information. If this is not possible, desk research may be
done. If actual data for some variable is difficult to get, students may assume some realistic
value of the same. Students must be able to do a critical analysis of the result generated. At
the end of the term, students are required to make a presentation on the project. Each member
of the group is expected to speak in the presentation. Presentations shall be evaluated for:
content/analysis, presentation style and communication, and response to questions.

Tentative Session Plan:

[2]

Session
No.
1,2

3,4

5,6

7,8

9,10

Topic

Readings*

Introduction to the course and to Linear

Chapter 1 and 5 from the text
Programming
1. Basic Concepts, Assumptions &
Formulation of LP & applications
Linear Programming
Chapter 5 from the text
1. Solution of LP Problems
2. Graphical method
3. Simplex method
4. Modelling with spreadsheets
Duality Theory & Sensitivity Analysis
Chapter 5 from the text
Transportation Problems
1. Formulation and an Initial
Solution
2. Optimal Solution
LP applications :
Chapter 6 & 7 from text
1. Transportation,
2. Transhipment &
3. Assignment problems
Integer Programming
Chapter 9 from the text
Course Wrap Up
Project Presentations by Students

* Some additional reading materials may also be given during the course for better
understanding of the subject.

[3]