Abstract
The address explores three questions that are important for operational research: ‘Where do we come from?’, ‘What are we?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ First, it looks briefly at the history of O.R. from Babbage to Blackett and the importance of a ‘union of theory and practice’ in our work. Then it looks at O.R.'s identity and image and argues that we do have a reasonably clear idea of our identity, although we do not give sufficient prominence to our contribution to improving system design. It also argues that the ‘brand image’ of O.R. has become diluted and needs to be simple, distinctive, relevant and compelling. In considering how we might achieve that, by addressing the third question, it proposes that we should grow our capability and activity in accommodating ‘analytics’, in building in behavioural science, in coping with complex systems, in developing design thinking and in encouraging evaluation. It also suggests strengthening bridges between academics and practitioners, between those working in different specialisms and in diverse sectors and between O.R. and the public. Finally, it argues that such developments would assist O.R. to reinforce our bridge between science and the humanities and enable us to better meet the challenges of the ‘real world’.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackoff RL (1979). The future of operational research is past. Journal of the Operational Research Society 30 (2): 93–104.
Adamson AP (2006). Brand Simple. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK.
Babbage C (1832). On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. Dodo Press: Gloucester,UK.
Beer S (1966). Self-organising systems. In: Decision and Control: The Meaning of Operational Research and Management Cybernetics. Wiley: New York, pp 345–369.
Boothroyd H (1978). Articulate Intervention. Taylor and Francis: London.
Chapman CB (1992). My two cents worth on how OR should develop. Journal of the Operational Research Society 43 (7): 647–664.
Cross N (2001). Designerly ways of knowing: Design discipline versus design science. Design Issues 17 (3): 49–55.
de Czege HW (2009). Systemic operational design: Learning and adapting in complex missions. Military Review 89 (1): 2–12.
Drucker PF (1977). Chapter 33. In: Management. Pan: London.
Érdi P (2008). Complexity Explained. Springer: New York.
Gass SI and Assad AA (2005). An Annotated Timeline of Operations Research: An Informal History. Kluwer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Gigerenzer G and Goldstein DG (1996). Reasoning the fast and frugal way: Models of bounded rationality. Psychological Review 103 (4): 650–669.
Gigerenzer G and Selten R (eds). (2001). Why and when do simple heuristics work? In: Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, pp 173–190.
Haley KB (1982). O.R. as apocrypha. Journal of the Operational Research Society 33 (3): 207–292.
Holmstrom J, Ketokivi M and Hameri A-P (2009). Bridging practice and theory: A design science approach. Decision Sciences 40 (1): 65–87.
Holzman AG (1979). Engineering design and operations research. Operations Research 27 (2): 420–422.
Hyman A (1982). Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Jackson MC (2006). Beyond problem structuring methods: Reinventing the future of OR/MS. Journal of the Operational Research Society 57 (7): 868–878.
Kahneman D (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Allen Lane: London.
Kirby MW (2003). Operational Research in War and Peace: The British Experience from the 1930s to 1970. Imperial College Press: London.
Lawson B (1984). Cognitive strategies in architectural design. In: Cross N (ed). Developments in Design Methodology. Wiley: New York.
Lawson B (1990). How Designers Think, 2nd edn. Butterworth: London.
Lehrer J (2009). The Decisive Moment. Canongate: Edinburgh.
Levitt SD and Dubner SJ (2005). Freakonomics. Allen Lane: London.
Liberatore MJ and Luo W (2010). The analytics movement: Implications for operations research. Interfaces 40 (4): 313–324.
Martin R (2009). The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business Press: Cambridge, MA.
May RM, Levin SA and Sugihara G (2008). Complex systems: Ecology for bankers. Nature 451 (7181): 893–895.
Midgley G and Reynolds M (2004). Systems/operational research and sustainable development: Towards a new agenda. Sustainable Development 12 (1): 56–64.
Miller JH and Page SE (2007). Complex Adaptive Systems. An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
Mitchell GH (1980). Images of operational research. Journal of the Operational Research Society 31 (3): 459–466.
Mitchell M (2009). Complexity: A Guided Tour. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Morse PM (1955). Where is the new blood? Journal of the Operations Research Society of America 3 (4): 384–385.
Müller-Merbach H (2009). The interdisciplinary generalist. Omega 37 (3): 495–496.
O'Keefe RM (1995). MS/OR enabled systems design. Operations Research 43 (2): 199–207.
Ormerod RJ (2006). The history and ideas of pragmatism. Journal of the Operational Research Society 57 (8): 892–909.
Paucar-Caceres A and Espinosa A (2011). Management science methodologies in environmental management and sustainability: Discourses and applications. Journal of the Operational Research Society 62 (9): 1601–1620.
Pidd M (2001). The futures of OR. Journal of the Operational Research Society 52 (11): 1181–1190.
Ringland G (1998). Scenario Planning: Managing for the Future. Wiley: New York.
Rivett P (1981). In praise of unicorns. Journal of the Operational Research Society 32 (12): 1051–1059.
Rosenhead J (ed). (1989). Rational Analysis for a Problematic World. Wiley: New York.
Rosenhead J and Mitchell GH (1986). Report on the commission on the future practice of operational research. Journal of the Operational Research Society 37 (9): 831–886.
Ross S (1962). Scientist: The story of a word. Annals of Science 18 (2): 65–85.
Royston G (2009). One hundred years of operational research in health: UK 1948–2048. Journal of the Operational Research Society 60 (S1): S169–S179.
Royston G (2011). Meeting global heath challenges through operational research and management science. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 89 (9): 683–688.
Schön DA (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. Basic Books: New York.
Simon HA (1969). The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA (2nd edition 1981).
Stainton RS (2010). OR—A personal perspective. Journal of the Operational Research Society 61 (1): 11–13.
Swade D (2000). The Cogwheel Brain: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer. Little, Brown and Co: London.
Thaler RH and Sunstein CR (2008). Nudge. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT.
Thomas LC (1994). Forty years on: Challenges and successes. Journal of the Operational Research Society 45 (12): 1343–1350.
Thornton P (1990). Stimulating the demand for operational research. Journal of the Operational Research Society 41 (7): 553–560.
Tomlinson RC (1974). OR is. Journal of the Operational Research Society 25 (3): 347–359.
Wastell D (2010). Managing as designing: ‘Opportunity knocks’ for the IS field? European Journal of Information Systems 19 (4): 422–431.
Wildavsky A and Pressman Jl (1984). Implementation: How Great Expectations in Washington are dashed in Oakland, 3rd edn. University of California Press: Berkeley, CA.
Williams EC (1968). Operational research as genesis. Journal of the Operational Research Society 19 (4): 353–360.
Acknowledgements
I am most grateful for helpful comments at various stages of development of this paper from those listed below (responsibility for the use or misuse of their contributions is of course mine!) David Bensley, Gavin Blackett, Chris Chapman, Peter Dick, Jeff Griffiths, David Halsall, Ruth Kaufman, Howard Malin, George Mitchell, Ian Mitchell, Jane Parkin, Mike Pidd, John Ranyard, Stewart Robinson, Jo Smedley, Roy Stainton and Rolfe Tomlinson.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Inaugural Presidential Address, given at OR54 in Edinburgh on 4 September 2012.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Royston, G. Operational Research for the Real World: big questions from a small island. J Oper Res Soc 64, 793–804 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2012.188
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2012.188