A Survey of Operational Research Groups in Great Britain

This paper surveys the turnover of staff in Operational Research groups. It suggest that surveys based on the membership of the Operational Research Society may be misleading as the majority of O.R. scientists do not belong to the Society. The paper gives data on the age range, length of service and qualifications of O.R. scientists in Industry, in Government and in Consulting.     

The Use of Operational Research Tools: A Survey of Operational Research Practitioners in the UK

Given the importance of understanding decision making processes within organizations, studies of the attitudes of Operational Research practitioners towards specific aspects of their work is a neglected area of research. This paper furnishes an account of a questionnaire-based survey of industrially based OR practitioners selected from the membership of the Operational Research Society. The objective of the study is to assess the views of OR practitioners regarding the modelling and problem solving tools that are available to them. In particular, the issues of technique selection, the treatment of uncertainty, and the perceived contribution of Operational Research to decision issues are investigated. Results from the survey contribute towards both a greater understanding of OR practitioners' perspectives on the decision support process and the development of a profile of the membership of the OR Society.     

Personal Computers and Operational Research — Experience in British Steel

The exploitation in personal computers of the well-publicized micro-technology is seen by the author as a major development with significant implications for O.R. This paper considers the nature of the implications from the point of view of the central O.R. unit of the British Steel Corporation and discusses that unit's response. The personal computer options are discussed and the applications policy which has been evolved for the author's department explained.     

A Survey of the Development of Operational Calculus

Although the name of Oliver Heaviside is usually associated with the foundations of operational calculus, he was in fact preceded in introducing operational methods by a number of mathematicians. Heaviside's purely operational approach was often intuitive rather than rigorous and fell into disfavour in mathematical circles, being replaced by methods involving the concept of an integral transformation. In particular, the Laplace transformation came to be adopted by applied mathematicians and engineers despite the need for the Schwartz theory of distributions to account satisfactorily for the Dirac and other impulse functions. Jan Mikusinski,? ? It is intended that an expository article on Jan Mikusinski's operational calculus by H. G. Flegg will appear in a later issue ‐ Editor. however, has returned to the earlier operational approach and, by placing operational calculus upon a rigorous algebraic basis, has provided a calculus which is more general than those based upon integral transformations, and one which includes generalized functions without recourse to any specialized external theory.

     

The use of Operational Research Techniques for Capital Budgeting Decisions. A Sample Survey

An extensive literature exists which suggests that operational research methodology can be applied to capital budgeting decision-making. This paper reports on the use of such techniques by some U.S. firms. The data was obtained by a questionnaire mailed in November 1974 to 1000 randomly selected firms in the U.S. that had an employee who was a member of the Operations Research Society of America.     

A Materialist Analysis of Operational Research

Accounts of the development and practice of operational research have commonly stressed its timeless universality as a method for rational decision-making. In this paper operational research is seen as one element in the managerial response to problems of complexity and uncertainty within an economic system characterised by institutionalised conflict. Both the material and ideological functions of ‘management science’ in private and public enterprise are analysed, and characteristics are identified of an emergent ‘workers science’. Editor's Note The title of this paper contrasts the materialistic approach with the idealistic approach, and the content of the paper disowns the latter. Evidently there are alternative but overtly political terms for both adjectives.It would be stupid if O.R. were to ignore the political facts of life which play so great a part in the decisions and policies with which O.R. is concerned. But, as the authors acknowledge, other interpretations of history than those presented here are at least possible.Contributions offering alternative schemata, or based on other paradigms, are invited and will be given careful consideration.     

A Banker's View of Operational Research

This is an edited version of the opening address to Euro-Banking 1984 by Humphrey Norrington, General Manager of Barclays Bank. The range of business problems faced by Barclays Bank is outlined and related to its use of operational research. Mr Norrington's message is that O.R. is most effective when applied in collaboration with other disciplines, and he challenges O.R. workers to take a very broad view of their work.     

A Language-Action Approach to Operational Research

This paper results from a collaboration between two academics, one a social psychologist who has explored creative work in engineering product design, the other engaged in the application of ‘soft’ methods in OR, but with a background in engineering. Much of the new thinking in OR is described in terms of a language-action perspective which is prominent in studies of computer supported work, negotiation, and other forms of discursive action. The perspective is used to examine some of the tasks needing to be undertaken if OR is to shift from a concern with social engineering to a concern with reflective social action. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of dilemmas, the growth of commitment, and the assessment of methods. It is concluded that, if OR makes the analysis of cognitive and political processes part of the core of the subject, it may become an epistemic subject with wide application to organisational decision-making.     

Operational Research in Chile

Since the beginning of 1963 SIGMA has had a team of operational research scientists working for Compañía de Acero del Pacífico, one of the largest steel-makers in South America. The task has been to demonstrate the value of operational research to the company by solving a series of both tactical and strategic management problems and also to train some of the company's own engineers to form an effective internal operational research team.The company has allowed us to publish the results of any of the studies made and this has made it possible to write a complete story describing not only the work done and the successes, but also the difficulties that were encountered and the mistakes that were made. This article is not intended therefore to demonstrate yet further applications of well-known techniques nor to develop original problem-solving methods; rather it is to come out in the open and reveal the really difficult practical problems that face almost any operational research men and show how we attempted to solve them.     

Implementation in Operational Research: a Review of the Operational Research Quarterly

This paper focuses on the changing nature of the subject matter of articles reported in the Operational Research Quarterly from 1965 to 1974. Subject matter classifications are developed and then investigated over time. In addition, tabulations describing both implementations and use of actual data are illustrated. Significantly, it is shown that the percent of implementations described in the Journal have averaged less than 30% during the period 1965-1974. In addition it is shown that of the remaining articles published during this period only 17% use actual data.