Toward a novel method to support decision-making process in health and behavioral factors analysis for the composition of IT projects teams

Information technology (IT) is a competitive advantage to organizations. To achieve this, organizations require innovative IT projects. These, in turn, require the availability and performance of qualified, ethical and healthy professionals. When selecting professionals, the organization must draw attention to technical, behavior and health factors, since these factors influence professionals’ productivity. Decision-makers need support models for professionals’ selective processes when structuring teams, including multiple criteria. This study proposes a novel decision-making support model structured in methods of “verbal decision analysis (VDA)” and “measuring attractiveness by a category-based evaluation technique (MACBETH)” to solve a conflicted dilemma, seeking to assist this process. The model was tested to analyze the desired factors in professionals’ selection process for the composition of geographically distributed teams responsible for developing and implementing IT projects. For the input values, the study used personal and professional qualitative factors, such as interpersonal skills, psychological health, physiological, cultural and intellectual indicators. When tested, the model solved the dilemma through alternatives categorization and prioritization. The test run showed inconsistency’s absence, which would not happen if the methods (VDA and MACBETH) were run individually. The model was executed successfully and had low consumption time and accurate results. Psychological and physiological factors appear to be more defining to the decision making than intellectual level and technical qualifications. Big Data mining and exploration may be a professionals’ attribute obtention way to support the model.