What is Utility Independence

The inclusion of organizational knowledge in the process of modeling of complex systems is an essential step in the decision-making. This needs normative description of the system structure in terms of objective and sub-objectives. In phenomena with human participation, the emphasis is on the cardinal significance as preferences. The approach to modeling such information is the utility theory. This chapter demonstrates a value-driven approach and presents two mathematical models of complex processes. The normative approach is based on stochastic-approximation methods for analytical representation of qualitative preferences. The approach is illustrated in two practical oriented applications. The first one represents modeling of exhaustible timber production by reflecting socio-economic and forest-related ecological factors. The second one concerns the determining of the optimal usage of active and passive technology-based resources in classroom teaching. The approach permits mathematical modeling and even control and prescriptive decision support in complex processes.