Risk attitudes appraisal and cognitive coordination in decentralized decision systems

In decentralized decisions systems, coordination and efficiency encounter m ajor difficulties. To solve the problem, it is argued, the analyst needs to raise a cognitive representation question, in particular the question of t he criteria according to which the problem at hand is being assessed in vie w of the whole organization. This, in turn, raises the issue of how these c riteria are evaluated by the different individuals. An example based on a s ubset of the risk management system, namely the maintenance system in nucle ar power plants, is used throughout the text. The paper argues that general izing MAUT to rank dependent risk treatment is of utmost importance in orde r to deal with such problems. One additional theorem is proved in that pers pective and an appropriate software reported upon and illustrated on an exa mple. Beyond the technical problems examined in the paper, the way to use t he decision analysis framework is discussed.