Approaches to understanding the process of OR: Review, critique and extension

The Practitioner's Dilemma draws attention to the distinction between the prescriptions for practice contained in the literature and the actuality of practice. In this paper a review of the current approaches to understanding the process of OR is carried out that identifies the source of the Dilemma to lie in the two types of explanation of practice that currently dominate the field. A third approach is identified that offers a different perspective on the process of OR that is not subject to the problems associated with the Dilemma.