Figure K.2
A company of four departments has the following closeness factors and current locations of all departments.Assume rectilinear distance.
-Use the information in Figure K.2.Which pair of departments has the greatest weighted-distance score?
A)1 & 2
B)1 & 3
C)1 & 4
D)2 & 3

Question

Figure K.2
A company of four departments has the following closeness factors and current locations of all departments.Assume rectilinear distance. 
-Use the information in Figure K.2.Which pair of departments has the greatest weighted-distance score?
A)1 & 2 
B)1 & 3 
C)1 & 4 
D)2 & 3

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To calculate the weighted-distance score between two departments, we multiply the rectilinear distance between them by the closeness factor of one department and then add that to the product of the rectilinear distance between them and the closeness factor of the other department. Using this formula, we get the following scores for each pair of departments:

1 & 2: (5 x 0.8) + (7 x 0.2) = 4.6
1 & 3: (4 x 0.7) + (8 x 0.3) = 4.4
1 & 4: (9 x 0.6) + (12 x 0.4) = 8.4
2 & 3: (8 x 0.9) + (3 x 0.1) = 7.5
2 & 4: (13 x 0.8) + (9 x 0.2) = 11.2
3 & 4: (5 x 0.7) + (9 x 0.3) = 6.2

Therefore, department 1 and 4 have the greatest weighted-distance score of 8.4.

Figure K.2 A Company of Four Departments Has the Following Closeness Factors