Cognitive processes and operational research: A human information processing perspective

This paper discusses the practice and process of Operational Research OR in the light of an understanding of human information processing as developed in the field of cognitive psychology. A picture of the Operational Research OR process which sets the context of the discussion is presented. This picture identifies internal, mental, models possessed by participants in an Operational Research OR study, and the external models which they build and use. A brief description of human information processing is provided. The implications of this aspect of humanity for the Operational Research OR process are discussed, and tentative suggestions concerning the nature and context or Operational Research OR modelling emerge in the course of this discussion.