ABSTRACT: The primary purpose of this paper is to compare a fuzzy optimization model to an efficient frontier approach in multiple criteria decision making. In the efficient frontier approach decision makers exercise their preferences post-hoc by trading-off objectives, while the use of fuzzy logic allows decision makers to include objective preferences a priori. A multi-objective optimization model that incorporates fuzzy logic is applied to a nurse scheduling problem and the model results are compared to those from the efficient frontier approach. Our preliminary results validate the fuzzy optimization model and indicate that it can achieve better results for problems involving more than two objectives.  Conclusions, implications, and directions for future research are also discussed.