Expert Systems and Operational Research-Mutual Benefits

The aim of much operational research and expert systems work is similar-helping a decision maker do his job. Liaison will produce mutual benefits. Expert systems development will benefit from the experience of operational research. The operational research community is well placed to support and develop the use of such systems by management.     

A review of expert systems

Expert systems have recently become popular and are attracting more and more attention. The high quality performance achieved by some systems in areas previously not considered practical for computational solutions has lead to great interest from many different disciplines. Most expert systems use a subset of techniques from the general area of computer science research known as artificial intelligence. However, some expert systems have been developed that incorporate more traditional mathematical modeling techniques. The combination of artificial intelligence techniques and more traditional mathematical techniques has been shown to be quite effective in developing several high quality performance computer software systems. The techniques used in expert systems may be what is needed to bridge the gap between classical operational research modeling and human decision making processes. This paper addresses how expert systems techniques are being used in problem solving and why someone in operational research might want to use them.     

Management Education and Management Science

The paper traces the development of thought on management education leading up to the present day and what is described as the “systems concept” of management. The development of this concept in courses at the University of Strathclyde, Churchill College, Cambridge, and the undergraduate course at University of Khartoum is discussed. The relationship of training for operational research and the use of operational research in management training is also discussed.     

Strategy,performance and operational research

This paper explores the nature of operational research and its interactions with performance measurement and strategy. It is argued that operational research (OR) is well fitted to handle strategic issues as the modelling approach of OR facilitates understanding and learning, and the evaluation of strategies prior to action. The development of problem structuring methods is also a key aid to strategy and policy formulation. OR is also beginning to play a role in performance measurement and there is an opportunity for OR to lead in the improvement of performance measurement systems.     

Science,Engineering and Economics: OR at the Interface

Engineers designing submarine oil-pipeline systems for the Beaufort Sea need to know how deep to bury them. Scientists studying ice scour have a major input into this decision; so do the economics of burying and pipeline failures. An operational researcher was asked to examine the way these aspects can be treated and the way they can be fitted together. This paper describes the resulting study, to illustrate how operational research might help in other interfacing contexts.     

The Implications of Cognitive-style Findings for Operational Research

Cognitive style refers to differences that can be perceived in individuals due to differing cognitive structures. There has been a large amount of research on how cognitive style affects managerial decision-making, particularly in the context of management information systems, but little or no attempt to relate these findings to operational research. This paper reviews the findings of cognitive-style research from the perspective of operational research, and draws a number of useful inferences concerning the matching of OR aids to managers, the presentation of information and recommendations, the use and acceptance of OR, and the structure of OR groups. Further, it is argued that cognitive-style findings help to give a justification to the move towards ‘soft’ approaches to analysis.     

Modelling as a way of organising knowledge

The paper is motivated by the need of to address a new the old topic of operational research and hard (but also soft) systems science: what is the role of mathematical modelling, how does it relate to knowledge, to creativity, to human concerns? Such a need arises because of the great change observed today, of informational revolution, of transition towards knowledge-based economy, towards networked organization of our social and economic life. During last 50 years operational research, mathematical modelling and computerised techniques of model analysis and optimisation contributed essentially to the change of perception of contemporary world, characteristic for the current informational revolution indicating the change of civilisation eras. These contributions have been noted during these years inside operational research, but analysed mostly from so-called soft systems thinking perspective. Main contributions to the actual formation of the new era, however, came from the hard systems research, in particular, as we shall show, from mathematical modelling in applications to the development of technological systems.     

Operational Research for Developing Countries—A Case of Transfer of Technology

This paper is concerned with some fundamental aspects of the process of transfer of operational research from the industrialized countries to the Third World. Two complementary conceptions of operational research are identified: technical and social operational research. The main contribution of this paper is to regard the discussion of operational research for developing countries as a case of transfer of technology. Finally, some proposals for action and further research will be briefly outlined.     

The Validation of Expert Systems — Contrasts with Traditional Methods

Recent research has demonstrated that little validation is carried out during and after the building of operational research models for decision support. In a subject area that has been of great interest for more than a decade, this reflects the fact that validation is not yet firmly embedded into the methodology of mathematical modelling that underpins conventional decision support systems. With the interest now being shown in expert systems, it is important to devise an appropriate methodology of validation for such systems. This paper contributes to this development by describing the types of validation that should be performed with decision support systems, and compares and contrasts the features found in the validation of mathematical models with those required of validation of expert systems.     

An Appraisal of some of the Problems of Measurement in Operational Research

Operational research is invariably concerned with the examination of systems which include human beings. Since the degree of confidence in a decision reached by operational research methods depends upon all relevant factors being included and measured correctly, it follows that as much attention must be paid by operational research workers to measurement in the fields of psychology and sociology, for example, as to measurement of physical quantities. Unless this is done, confidence will be reduced, and the whole purpose of operational research (which is to give confidence in decisions) defeated.     

Fifty years of systems thinking for management

The point of this paper is to provide an account of the last 50 years of systems thinking applied to management that is insightful and useful to those interested in the theory and practice of operational research (OR). In seeking to fulfil this purpose, it employs Boulding's well-known ‘hierarchy of complexity’ to think through the reasons for the emergence of different strands of applied systems thinking and to detail their strengths. In theoretical terms, operational researchers will find a number of the key issues that have engaged their field (eg, hard versus soft approaches) mirrored in debates that have taken place between systems thinkers. They may discover new theoretical avenues to follow to advance their discipline. OR practitioners may also be surprised by the nature and scope of the systems applications described and conclude that systems approaches should be added to their own intervention strategies. At the least, the paper is designed to reinvigorate discussion around the relationship between OR and systems thinking that has occasionally surfaced over the last half century but has never been satisfactorily concluded.     

Management science methodologies in environmental management and sustainability: discourses and applications

This paper investigates and discusses the use of systemic methodologies (SMs) developed in management science/operational research (MS/OR), in particular, those SM that have been informing the complexity inherent in environmental management and sustainable (EM/S) practices. By surveying a sample of the top MS/OR and systems journals, we assess the extent to which systemic management science methodologies developed recently have been used in tackling EM/S problems. Titles and abstracts of EM/S applications published in MS/OR and systems journals between 1989 and 2009 were queried for the occurrence of typical keywords associated with a set of SMs (eg, complexity theory, systems dynamics, soft systems, critical systems, viable systems model). The survey identifies a set of articles representing the practice of either a particular methodology or of a mixture of various SMs in EM/S setting. By assembling and critically reviewing a sample of applications in EM/S the paper hopes to raise awareness among environmentalists, operational researchers and management scientists of the benefits of using systemic approaches developed in MS/OR and, in this way, to encourage further exchange and conversation between these fields of management.     

Spreading the gospel of management science: operational research in Iron and Steel, 1950–1970

This paper builds on the author's earlier work on the history of operational research by presenting an analysis of the development of the discipline in Iron and Steel, an industry long regarded as one of the outstanding pioneers in the application of management science to decision-making processes. The contribution of Sir Charles Goodeve and BISRA to the diffusion and practice of operational research is well-documented. Less well known is the reaction to operational research within the managerial hierarchies of the private sector iron and steel companies. In the light of the development of dedicated operational research groups by the leading companies after 1950, it might be assumed that the industry was highly receptive to the discipline in terms of its perceived benefits. The present paper questions this assumption by highlighting the problems encountered by operational researchers in two of the largest Iron and Steel Companies which gave every appearance of being at the forefront of the practice of management science in British industry. Where appropriate, the paper draws contrasts and comparisons with the development of operational research within the nationalised Coal Industry.     

Error-Protected Codes

The mathematical theory of Error-Protected Codes is a specialized offshoot of Shannon's Communication Theory and is of practical interest to operational research workers because of the increasing interest in operational research circles in on-line computer control of production systems and, from the standpoint of methodology, as a fascinating example of the compromise necessary in a theory to make it both realistic and useful.The paper shows how the natural structure of binary signalling alphabets is mapped on to mathematical structures, such as groups and rings, and the typical examples of the mathematical techniques that have been evolved are illustrated.The limitation of this theory, that it assumes context-free messages, is emphasized by an example of a code, which is made more powerful by consideration of the context of the symbols appearing in a message.     

Modelling replenishment and transshipment decisions in periodic review multilocation inventory systems

Effective models of key operational decisions in multilocation inventory systems are important for a successful retail sector. This paper argues that much of the existing research in this area is not applicable to a highly competitive retail environment, particularly if periodic review replenishment policies are used. The paper develops a model of a periodic review multilocation inventory system that is suitable for this environment and investigates the characteristics of optimal replenishment and transshipment decisions. This motivates the development of three simple heuristic transshipment policies that are practical for systems with many locations. The results of a numerical study involving systems with five locations suggest that the performance of these heuristic policies is often close to optimal and can be considerably better than the performance of commonly used policies.     

The Army Operational Research Establishment

This article attempts to place in focus the role of the Army Operational Research Establishment as interpreted against the broad and changing background of Army operational research.AORE is the oldest formally established operational research agency and, in this context, the pattern of evolution reflected by its programme of work is traced from World War II when problems were, in the main, concerned with getting the best out of existing weapons, equipment and the associated subsystems. Later the trend has moved towards systems analysis related to broad functional requirements and to the development of overall policies. The increasing complexity and cost of weapons and equipment and the growth of new but untried technologies add stimulus to studies of this nature and to the development of appropriate operational research techniques.     

A Survey of Operational Research in British Industry

This paper surveys the recent development and present position of operational research in British industry. It makes a critical examination of the relationship between the techniques available and the types of problem on which they are deployed; it surveys the type of people now carrying out operational research and comments on career opportunities. The paper also considers the integration of operational research within industrial organizations and suggests ways in which it can be related to other management services.     

Determining order quantities in multi-product inventory systems subject to multiple constraints and incremental discounts

This paper presents a mixed-integer programming model for ordering items in multi-product multi-constraint inventory systems from suppliers who offer incremental quantity discounts. The model is based on a piecewise linear approximation of the number of orders function. It allows any number of linear constraints and determines if independent or common (fixed) cycle ordering has a lower total cost. The paper discusses implementation issues and presents results of computational tests on example problems from the operational research literature as well as randomly generated test problems.