OR as technology: Some issues and implications

There has been a growing acceptance of the view that Operational Research OR can be more appropriately understood as a technology rather than as a science. This view has, however, not been fully developed. This paper seeks to extend this area of investigation by addressing three issues: first, to consider why it is inappropriate to see Operational Research OR as a science; second, if Operational Research OR is to be seen as a technology, to ask what model of a technology, the classical or the modern, should be adopted; finally, to explore what implications for understanding Operational Research OR are held by the most appropriate model of Operational Research OR as technology. This paper shows that valuable insights might be gained for understanding and guiding the development of Operational Research OR by seeing it as a technology.