Abstract
Spreadsheet-based software facilitates multi-criteria decision analysis by allowing (1) many columns for goals to be achieved, (2) many rows for alternatives available for achieving the goals, (3) many cells for showing the relations between goals and alternatives, (4) a capability for determining overall scores for each alternative even with multiple ways of measuring the goals, and (5) a special capability for determining what it would take to bring a second-place or other-place alternative up to first place. Those capabilities in turn help facilitate resolving dilemmas or disputes by arriving at solutions in which each side yields on some goals that are not so important to it and in which a variety of combinations can be developed that will possibly even exceed the best expectations of both sides to an ethical dilemma or dispute. Keywords: representation, ethics, decision-aiding, software, spreadsheets, alternatives, goals, relations, sensitivity analysis, criteria, policies, options, mutual benefit, and super-optimum solutions.
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