Undercover agency?-Ethics, responsibility and the practice of OR

Questions of ethics, responsibility and standards of professional practice arise in all settings in which Operational Research OR studies take place. This paper explores some of the ethical dilemmas the author has encountered as an Operational Research OR practitioner, focusing particularly on his work in community Operational Research OR settings, and examines the relevance of professional codes of conduct or practice to these. The paper argues that where such codes attempt to be prescriptive they are doomed to failure, and concludes that what is required instead is the assumption by Operational Research OR practitioners of the responsibility for undertaking a process of critical self-reflection on ethical issues at all stages of the Operational Research OR process.