PROF PARSHURAM 2660 67 80/2660 58 14

ASSIGNMENT THEORY
( For pvt. circulation – not for sale) ©

1) When do we say that an Assignment problem is unbalanced? How do you balance it?

Ans: (a) Unbalanced Assignment Problem:

Whenever the pay−off matrix of an assignment problem is not a square matrix i.e. no. of rows is
not equal to the no. of columns, the assignment problem is called an unbalanced assignment
problem. E.g. 5 workers are to be assigned to 6 machines or 6 salesmen to be assigned to 5
territories etc. In such cases, dummy rows or columns are added to the matrix to make it a
square matrix. E.g. in the first case above, dummy row is required to be added and in the
second case, a dummy column required to be added a square (6 x 6) matrix. The elements of
the dummy rows or column are all taken as zero. The usual Hungarian method can then the
applied on this balanced or square matrix to obtain the optimal solution.

(b) In case the problem is unbalanced maximisation problem, we first convert the maximisation
problem into minimization problem by subtracting each element of the matrix from maximum
element.

2) Explain a simple (N x N) mathematical assignment problem of Operations Research.

Ans. A simple N x N mathematical assignment problem:

An assignment problem deals with allocation of various resources to different activities on a one to one basis in
such a way that the resultant effectiveness is optimized. There are many decision making situations, where
assignment technique can be used. E.g. Assignment of available vehicles to routes, machine to jobs,
contracts to bidders etc.

The assignment problem can be conveniently represented in the form of (N x N) matrix (Cij), known as cost
matrix or effectiveness matrix.

Activity
1 2 --------- N
1 C11 C12 --------- C1N
Resource 2 C21 C22 --------- C2N
| | | |
| | | |
N CN1 CN2 --------- CNN

Each row corresponds to the availability of a resource such as man, vehicle, product, salesman etc.

Each column represents different activities to be performed such as jobs, routes, factories, territories
etc.

Entries in the matrix i.e. Cij represents cost (or time or distance) of assigning ith source to the jth activity (i, j = 1, 2,
….N).

The essential characteristics of the assignment problem is that N resources are to be assigned to N
activities such that each resource is allocated to only one activity and such that each activity is performed by
one resources only. The allocation is to be done in such way so as to minimize the resulting total cost (or time or
distance). Any solution of such a problem has exactly N assignments cells, each row and each column containing
exactly one assignment cell.

3) Explain the Hungarian Method for solving on Assignment Problem.

Ans. Hungarian Method for solving on Assignment Problem:

More Notes and Projects and Resources for BMS and MBA students available at http://www.ManagementParadise.com

All Content Copyright © 2004 – 2006.

 In the following procedure Step 1 is applied on the given assignment matrix and each of the subsequent
steps is applied on the matrix obtained in the earlier step.

PROF PARSHURAM 2660 67 80/2660 58 14

ASSIGNMENT THEORY
( For pvt. circulation – not for sale) ©

Step 1: Subtract smallest element in each row from every element of that row.

Step 2: Subtract smallest element in each column from every element of that column.

Step 3: (a) Examine the rows of the matrix successively until a row containing exactly one
zero is found. Enclose this zero in a box ( ) as an assignment will be made at
this position. Cancel (x) all other zeros appearing in the corresponding column.
Proceed in this way till all the rows are examined.

(b) On the similar lines examine the columns successively making an assignment
for the single zero whenever it is found and canceling all zeros appearing in the
corresponding row.

Repeat (a) and (b) successively until all the zeros of the matrix are either assigned or cancelled.

Step 4: If the number of assignments in the matrix is same as the order of the matrix (i.e. N
assignments for N x N matrix), the optimum solution is reached. If not, proceed to step

Step 5: Draw minimum number of vertical and horizontal lines necessary to cover all the zeros
(assigned and cancelled) of the matrix obtained in step 3.

This can be done as follows:

(i) Marks ( ) all rows that do not have assignments.

(ii) Marks ( ) all columns, which have zeros in the marked rows.
(iii) Marks ( ) all rows, which have assignments in the marked columns

Repeat (ii) and (iii) till further marking is not possible. Then draw lines through
unmarked rows and marked columns.

Step 6: Select smallest element from all the uncovered elements. Subtract this smallest
element from all the uncovered elements and add it to the elements, which lie at the
intersection of horizontal and vertical lines. Remaining elements of the matrix are
unchanged.

Step 7: Repeat step 3 and 4 until an optimum solution is reached.

Q4) What are the various variations in an Assignment Problem?

Maximisation

Sometimes, an assignment problem deals with the maximization of an objective function rather than to
minimize it. For example, it may be required to assign persons to jobs in such a way that the expected
profit is maximum. Such a problem can be solved easily by first converting it into a minimization type of a
problem, and then applying the usual procedure of assignment algorithm. This conversion can be very
easily done by subtracting from the highest element, all the elements of the given profit matrix; or
equivalently, by placing minus – sign before each element of the profit-matrix in order to make it a cost
matrix.

More Notes and Projects and Resources for BMS and MBA students available at http://www.ManagementParadise.com

All Content Copyright © 2004 – 2006.

 Restrictions on Assignment

Sometimes, technical, legal or other restrictions do not permit the assignment of a particular facility to a
particular job. Such difficulty can be overcome by assigning a very high cost (say, infinite cost) to the
corresponding cell, so that the activity will be automatically excluded from the optimum solution.

PROF PARSHURAM 2660 58 14/2660 67 80

(For pvt. circulation only – not for sale) ©

Sensitivity in Assignment Problems

The structure of an assignment problem is of such a type that there is very little scope for sensitivity
analysis. Modest alterations in the conditions ( such as “one man being able to do two jobs” ) can be
considered by repeating the man’s row and then adding a dummy column, in order to obtain a square
matrix.

5) Formulation of an Assignment Problem as a linear (integer) programming problem, or, solving

Assignment Problem by the Simplex Method

 1 , if the person is assigned the j t h job

Let x i j = 
 0 , if the person is not assigned the j t h job

The mathematical formulation of the assignment problem is given as follows:

n n
Minimise Z = ∑ ∑
i=1 j =1
cij xij

subject to the constraints

i) Each person must be assigned to one and only one job, i.e.,

x i1 + x i 2 + …… + x i n = 1 , where i = 1 , 2 , … n

ii) Each job must be assigned to one and only one person, i.e.,

x 1 j + x 2 j + ……. + x n j = 1, where j = 1, 2, ….n

iii) x ij = 0 or 1, for all i , j

Note: In the above mathematical formulation,

No. of decision variables = n x n

No. of equalities = n + n

=2n

Eg: If there are 6 workers and 6 jobs, then

No. of decision variables = 6 x 6 = 36

No. of equalities = 6 + 6 = 12
More Notes and Projects and Resources for BMS and MBA students available at http://www.ManagementParadise.com

All Content Copyright © 2004 – 2006.

 6) Why Transportation Method is inconvenient to solve an Assignment Problem?

Assignment Problem is a special case of a transportation problem. But, the solution by this method would
be severely degenerate, since the optimality test in the transportation method requires that there must be
n + n – 1, i.e., 2 n – 1 basic variables. For an assignment made, there will be only n basic variables
in the solution. Hence, in order to proceed with this method, a very large number of epsilons, “ ε “
(i.e., dummy allocations) will be needed to be introduced in the solution which will make the transportation
method computationally cumbersome and inefficient.

PROF PARSHURAM 2660 67 80/ 2660 58 14

(For pvt. circulation only – not for sale) ©

7) Multiple Optimal Solutions in an Assignment Problem

Sometimes, it is possible to have two or more ways to cross out all zero elements in the final reduced
problem in a given problem. This implies that there is more than the required number of independent
zero elements. In such cases, there will be multiple optimal solutions with the same total assignment.

8) Restrictions on Assignments

It is sometimes possible that a particular person is incapable of doing certain work or a specific job cannot
be performed on a particular machine. The solution of the assignment problem should take into account
these restrictions so that the infeasible assignments can be avoided. This can be achieved by
assigning a very high cost ( written as M or ∞ ) to the cells where assignments are prohibited. This
also prohibits the entry of this pair or resource – activity into the final solution.

9) Opportunity Costs

They are the costs associated with a sacrificed opportunity in order to make a particular decision

10) Dummy Job

It is an imaginary job, which has a zero cost or a zero time, and it is introduced to make an unbalanced
assignment problem into a balanced one.

More Notes and Projects and Resources for BMS and MBA students available at http://www.ManagementParadise.com

All Content Copyright © 2004 – 2006.