Project number: K146694

It is said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. But camels are sturdy animals which perfectly adapted for their hot and unforgiving environment. Consequently, many decision, evaluation and organizational tasks are delegated to committees. From sport federations through academic institutions to local authorities, many organizations are employing committees to endorse an efficient and democratic decision making process. Since committees are so prevalent it is important to understand how they work. In this way we can measure their performance, identify important actors and detect manipulation attempts. Often decision making process involves the establishment of rankings. A committee might order the decision alternatives according to their importance and allocate resources based on the ranking. Public opinion is often based on the perceived fairness of the ranking system. For instance a badly designed tournament might yield an unreliable final ranking, hence the audience will not be convinced that the best team had won the event. In this research we will study decision making in committees as well as ranking systems with the aim of designing better institutions.