Operational Research and Innovation in Management Methods

This paper is an attempt to specify some of the conditions which would need to be met both in the staffing of a group and in its place in the organization, if operational research is to play a part in initiating change in the processes of decision-making. An analogy is drawn with the "planned change" of the behavioural sciences.The conflict inherent in the role is identified. To illustrate the kinds of insights the group would need to possess, into the structure of an organization, and the ways its control systems operate, examples of long-, medium- and short-term decision-making are given.Finally, an attempt is made to identify the characteristics which the group would need to possess for success in this innovative role, including its knowledge, attitudes and insights. The relationship between the group and the sponsor of work is discussed, and between the group and the parent organization in general. It is suggested that a participative style of organization would be the most appropriate for effective innovation in the methods of management by this means.     

Operational Research and Corporate Planning in Railway Management

The current corporate planning process in Westrail is described and the roles played by operational research and mathematical modelling identified. They do not include forecasting the future. Instead of the "predict and prepare paradigm" a planning approach that tries to design the future has been adopted. The organisation is described in terms of how it has evolved, what it now is, and the key features of its environment. The three stages of planning are described-strategic, tactical and operational. These provide the means for management control of the railway. Environmental assessments linked to goal setting activities are incorporated within the planning process. The significance of operational research in planning, in particular mathematical modelling, is also described. Instead of finding problems to which existing techniques can be applied, O.R. is used to provide effective operational and planning systems as a means of assisting management to design the future for the organisation.     

Management Adopts Operational Research: Session Report

Quantitative methods are derived to assist buyers purchasing commodities in fluctuating price markets. Demand is known whilst price is a stochastic variable which may contain trends or seasonal fluctuations. The essential feature of the problem is that the buyer has many opportunities to make a purchase.Mathematical models are formulated to describe particular commodity buying problems. The optimal purchasing policy is derived by using dynamic programming. It consists of a set of discrete price breaks at each buying opportunity together with the associated stock levels the buyer should aim to achieve at each price break with his purchase at this opportunity. The price breaks are dependent on the probability density functions of future prices and the number of future buying opportunities. Recurrence relations are derived to calculate these price breaks. The case of restrictions on the purchase quantity at each price offer, either because of supply limitations or by the buyer as a policy decision, and price discounts are also considered.A case study illustrating the techniques is given and the methods are extended to purchasing for a blending problem with substitutable commodities.     

Experiences with Developing Management Sciences/Operational Research in Nigeria

An on-going cooperative linkage scheme between the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Trinity College Dublin is described. The broad objective of the scheme is to develop M.S./O.R. at Nsukka. The scheme focuses on a research study of methods of processing, storing and marketing yams and cassava at farm and village level in Nigeria.     

A Role for Operational Research in Health Care Planning and Management Teams

This paper describes a research team's effort in which a formal mathematical model played an integrating and coordinating role for a multidisciplinary team which included operational researchers, economists, nurses, social workers, social scientists and psychiatrists. It is an interpretative history of the OARS project, its development and results which emphasizes the role of the formal model in the conduct of the project.This is an application of Operational Research to a significant social problem which also suggests an important role for Operational Researchers in Health Care Planning and Management Teams.     

Economists and Operational Research

The academic background of OR scientists is overwhelmingly in science, engineering and mathematics. This paper argues that economics graduates should be recruited into the profession in far greater numbers than at present. The contribution to OR of a scientific training is compared with the value of a background in economics, in terms both of project work undertaken and of research methodology.     

Operational Research and Decision-Making

This paper was originally presented under the title "Decision" at the Third Operational Research Conference of the Universities of Lancaster and Sussex held at Windermere in April 1968. In it, the question of what is meant by "improved decision-making" is examined and the ways in which operational research can and does contribute to this are discussed. In the course of this the "American School" of Decision Analysis is reviewed. The paper concludes with some suggestions on computational procedures. This paper was written as a vehicle for discussion. In order to stimulate this, the authors have been deliberately provocative and presented an extreme point of view. The paper which follows this is a condensed version of some of the discussion which took place at the Conference. The authors would welcome further contributions.