Operational Research and Systems

Abstract

In the laying out of the reasons for undertaking an analysis of the relationships between OR and systems in the first chapter, three issues were recognized as being worthy of attention. These centered upon the nature of theory and practice in OR and systems, the relationship held with scientific method by OR and systems, and the possible primacy of one of OR and systems over the other. The discussion in the above chapters has not addressed these topics directly but has built up a picture of how OR and systems are related to each other across a variety of dimensions. In this final chapter the above three topics are considered in the light of the above analysis, and some conclusions are reached as to their resolution. Unless otherwise stated, OR in the following will refer to classical OR as considered in the first part of this book.