WHAT IS OPERATIONS RESEARCH?
WHAT IS OPERATIONS RESEARCH?
A
common misconception held by many is that O.R. is a collection of mathematical tools. While it is true that it uses a variety of
mathematical techniques, operations research has a much broader scope. It is in fact a systematic approach to
solving problems, which uses one or more analytical tools in the process of
analysis. Perhaps the single biggest
problem with O.R. is its name; to a layperson, the term “operations research”
does not conjure up any sort of meaningful image! This is an unfortunate consequence of the
fact that the name that A. P. Rowe is credited with first assigning to the
field was somehow never altered to something that is more indicative of the
things that O.R. actually does.
Sometimes O.R. is referred to as Management Science (M.S.) in order to
better reflect its role as a scientific approach to solving management
problems, but it appears that this terminology is more popular with business
professionals and people still quibble about the differences between O.R. and
M.S. Compounding this issue is the fact
that there is no clear consensus on a formal definition for O.R. For instance, C. W. Churchman who is
considered one of the pioneers of O.R. defined it as the application of scientific methods, techniques and tools to problems
involving the operations of a system so as to provide those in control of the
system with optimum solutions to problems.
This is indeed a rather comprehensive definition, but there are many
others who tend to go over to the other extreme and define operations research
to be that which operations researchers
do (a definition that seems to be most often attributed to E. Naddor)! Regardless of the exact words used, it is
probably safe to say that the moniker “operations research” is here to stay and
it is therefore important to understand that in essence, O.R. may simply be
viewed as a systematic and analytical
approach to decision-making and problem-solving. The key here is that O.R. uses a methodology
that is objective and clearly articulated, and is built around the philosophy
that such an approach is superior to one that is based purely on subjectivity
and the opinion of “experts,” in that it will lead to better and more
consistent decisions. However, O.R. does
not preclude the use of human
judgement or non-quantifiable reasoning; rather, the latter are viewed as being
complementary to the analytical approach.
One should thus view O.R. not as an absolute decision making process,
but as an aid to making good
decisions. O.R. plays an advisory role
by presenting a manager or a decision-maker with a set of sound, scientifically
derived alternatives. However, the final
decision is always left to the human being who has knowledge that cannot be
exactly quantified, and who can temper the results of the analysis to arrive at
a sensible decision.
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