A Dynamic Adaptive Subgroup-to-Subgroup Compatibility-Based Conflict Detection and Resolution Model for Multicriteria Large-Scale Group Decision Making

The current societal demands and technological developments have resulted in the participation of a large number of experts in making decisions as a group. Conflicts are imminent in groups and conflict management is complex and necessary especially in a large group. However, there are few studies that quantitatively research the conflict detection and resolution in the large-group context, especially in the multicriteria large-group decision making (GDM) context. This article proposes a dynamic adaptive subgroup-to-subgroup conflict model to solve multicriteria large-scale GDM problems. A compatibility index is proposed based on two kinds of conflicts among experts: 1) cognitive conflict and 2) interest conflict. Then, the fuzzy c -means clustering algorithm is used to classify experts into several subgroups. A subgroup-to-subgroup conflict detection method and a weight-determination approach are developed based on the clustering results. Afterward, a conflict resolution model, which can dynamically generate feedback suggestion, is introduced. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed model.