Article ID: | iaor19932039 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 43 |
Issue: | 7 |
Start Page Number: | 647 |
End Page Number: | 664 |
Publication Date: | Jul 1992 |
Journal: | Journal of the Operational Research Society |
Authors: | Chapman C.B. |
Keywords: | practice |
This paper outlines a personal view of the Operational Research OR method. It incorporates scientific methods and systems methods as appropriate, operating in a set of close, linked, parallel, description-to-implementation dimensions. It argues that effective and efficient use of this method requires attention to orthogonal situation-specific and model-specific dimensions. It suggests several other dimensions which may be of value. Its basis is largely experience as a consultant working within the situation- and model-specific dimensions with what some would see as a ‘hard OR’ perspective. Its central concern is making Operational Research OR more widely applicable by making the Operational Research OR approach both broader and more coherent, diminishing the ‘hard-soft’ divide in the process.