Mapping the changes in management science: A review of ‘soft’ OR/MS articles published in Omega (1973–2008)

The paper proposes a framework to map the development of management science (MS) and uses it to survey the MS literature published in Omega, the International Journal of Management Science. The management science discourse over the last 35 years is mapped in four paradigms: (1) optimisation/normative; (2) interpretative/learning; (3) critical; and (4) a post-modern management science approach. Using a set of keywords and authors’ names associated with the main features of each MS discourse, articles published between 1973 and 2008 are grouped. Results seem to suggest that Omega, a US-based journal, has been mainly developing publications under the optimisation paradigm; only very few papers adhering to the interpretative/learning and critical paradigms have been given space in Omega. The handful of papers from the interpretative paradigm are seen as attempts of UK-based academics to open some space for ‘soft’ operational research (OR) or ‘problem structuring methods’ in a positivistic outlook that seems to pervade US management science practice. Results of the survey and features of MS literature published in Omega are discussed. The paper aims to raise awareness amongst management scientist, systems and operational researchers of the differences between the MS/OR practice in both countries.     

The theory of constraints: a methodology apart?—a comparison with selected OR/MS methodologies

Mingers (J. Oper. Res. Soc. 54 (2003) 559; Int. Trans. Oper. Res. 7 (2000) 673; J. Mingers, A. Gill (Eds.), Multimethodology: Towards the Theory and Practice of Combining Management Science Methodologies, Wiley, Chichester, 1997), Mingers and Brocklesby (Omega—Int. J. Manage. Sci. 25(5) (1997) 489; Systemist 18(3) (1996) 101) and others have sought to develop classificatory frameworks that would be useful in understanding the nature and characteristics of Operational Research/Management Science (OR/MS) methodologies and the philosophical assumptions underpinning them. This paper extends their work to the domain of methods and methodologies known as the Theory of Constraints (TOC). In particular, the paper helps position TOC methods and tools in relation to traditional OR/MS methodologies, methods and tools, and provides a basis for continuing multi-methodological development across the two domains.The paper concludes that the tools, techniques and methods of TOC can be viewed as a methodological set of complementary hard and soft tools and methods that contribute to all phases of activity and across all three social, personal and material dimensions of the Mingers–Brocklesby framework, and share the ontological and epistemological characteristics and assumptions of extant OR/MS methodologies.     

Why good practice of OR is not enough—Ethical challenges for the OR practitioner

This paper develops the idea that following rules of good OR practice is necessary, but not sufficient for ethical OR. Several challenges of introducing ethical aspects into OR are discussed, evidencing difficulties and ambiguities in the relationship to be established between the OR practitioner and his/her clients, decision-makers or stakeholders. It shows that neither analysis nor modelling work nor the choice of analytical tools is entirely ethically neutral; incomparability, incommensurability and incertitude must be dealt with. The purpose of this article is to detail several difficulties or dilemmas an OR practitioner may be confronted with in the course of his or her assignment. In such situations, following rules of good practice may not be sufficient to indicate how to act in a morally good way. This paper aims at stimulating reflection by structuring the debate; it may leave the reader unsettled—unsettlement being a result and even aim of many discussions in moral philosophy.     

Ackoff's Fables revisited: stories to inform operational research practice

This paper considers Ackoff's Fables, a set of short stories published by Ackoff in 1978 as guides to creative problem solving. The paper argues that storytelling of this kind contributes usefully to management and MS/OR education, before addressing how such Fables might be interpreted. It is demonstrated, using one of Ackoff's Fables, The Smart Jackass, for illustrative purposes, that interpretation of even apparently straightforward stories such as these is not unambiguous. The Fables can be interpreted in a multitude of different and sometimes contradictory ways, and the truths they might contain are not self-evident. Yet, as the basis for discussion, they still have much to offer as educational tools. The paper concludes with a discussion of literal truth in stories, and presents a classification of story types according to their relationship to literal truth.     

Community operational research: Its context and its future

Three years ago the Community OR initiative was launched by the OR Society with the aim of providing OR for non-traditional groups such as community and voluntary organizations. There is now a Community OR Unit, a Centre at Hull University and a network for interested members. This paper explores the historical context of Community OR and, following a number of current examples, discusses important practical issues and problems which need to be tackled if the initiative is to succeed.     

Modelling complex ethical decision problems with operations research

This paper discusses the practical contribution of operations research (OR) techniques to modelling decision-making problems with ethical dimensions. Such problems are frequent in the global world: they frequently appear today in sustainability issues, e.g., in conflicts in the triangle of society, economy and environment. We show that the prerequisites for ethical problem-modelling are: the definition of moral principles, the evaluation of the decision context, the participation of stakeholders, the multidisciplinary collection of data, and the understanding of systemic interconnections. Classical OR instruments, mainly used in logistics and optimisation problems, are not entirely satisfactory for coping with the new ethical dimensions of sustainability. It is recommended to use and to develop more advanced, or combined instruments from the multi-criteria/multi-stakeholder and systemic streams of OR. It is argued that an important added value of using OR techniques for modelling today ethical issues lies at least as much in the discovery of open questions as in finding closed-form solutions.     

Does the best practice of rational-style model-based policy analysis already include ethical considerations?,

This paper deals with ethics in the context of the real-world practice of operations research (OR), once an analyst has taken on the responsibility of carrying out a rational-style model-based policy study for a client. OR models are often used by policy analysts to assist decisionmakers in choosing a good course of action based on multiple (and competing) criteria from among a variety of alternatives under uncertain conditions as part of the policy analysis process. The paper suggests that if applied operations researchers (acting as rational-style model-based policy analysts, and not as policy analysts playing a different role or as policy advocates) use the scientific method and apply the generally accepted best practices of their profession, they will be acting in an ethical manner. It, therefore, describes the steps of a typical rational-style model-based policy analysis study, and specifies the tenets of good practice in each step. It also provides a list of questions and statements that the analyst and those evaluating an analyst's work (both internally and externally) can use to help make sure that the study adheres to the tenets of good practice for rational-style model-based policy analysis and remains within ethical bounds.     

Learning from mixed OR method practice: The NINES case study

Despite continued interest in the use of mixed OR/MS methods, limited attention has been paid in the literature to generic lessons that could be gained from mixing methods in practice. Many organisational problems demand the use of a mixed method approach and thus recognising and sharing lessons could prove beneficial to both practitioners and researchers. This paper reports on an in-depth evaluation of a case study involving risk identification and quantification of the Northern Isles New Energy Solutions (NINES) project which sought to trial and plan a new energy system. The intervention involved a mixed method approach and client feedback on the efficacy of the approach was sought. The evaluation reported in this paper is carried out using a set of themes taken from the literature and seeks to highlight transferable lessons. The set of lessons that emerge are presented along with their implications for both general OR modelling practice and the specific situation of mixing OR/MS methods. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the work and directions for future work which will be of interest to both practitioners and researchers interested in mixed method OR/MS work.     

Challenge of Research Ethics Committees to the nature of operations research

This article is concerned with operational research (OR) practice in light of growing concerns about ethical conduct. It asks whether OR, in the context of increasing regulation through Research Ethics Committees, should consider whether there are certain ethical issues that are affected by the specific context of OR. The article sets out some of the central concerns about Research Ethics Committees and the nature of OR.     

Ein Forschungsleistungsranking auf der Grundlage von Google Scholar

Regarding the evaluation of academic research performance, the currently predominant method of judging an individual paper according to the academic journal it was published in implies a few drawbacks: Monographs and edited volumes cannot be assessed, and estimating the quality of an individual article by looking at the journal it was published in is problematic. Based on the work of Harzing (The publish or perish book: your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis. Tarma Software Research, Melbourne, 2010), this article applies a different approach by measuring the individual impact of each researcher. As a data source we use Google Scholar because it offers the best coverage available in the field of German academic literature in business administration. However, Google Scholar implies qualitative shortcomings that deserve a careful inspection and revision. We analyse all recent publications (2005–2009) of all members of the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB). Among the researchers, the citations are distributed highly unequal and follow Pareto’s Law: Few scholars gather a large part of all citations. Between the different subfields of business administration there exist large differences regarding their publication and citation cultures. This should be considered carefully when interpreting the results of the ranking.     

Corporate Portfolio Analysis Tools Revisited: Assessing Causes that May Explain Their Scholarly Disdain

While prominent corporate portfolio analysis tools such as the BCG Growth–Share Matrix took centre stage in the field of strategic management from the 1960s to the mid‐1980s, this review of the literature shows that they have since then largely disappeared from the academic agenda, despite their practical relevance and widespread application. There may be two independent reasons for this apparent scholarly disdain: corporate portfolio analysis tools (a) may have been recognized as unsuitable owing to inherent flaws or superior alternative concepts or (b) may have become obsolete because of proof that corporate diversification is inferior to market diversification. Thus, this assessment is based on an extensive review of the most relevant academic literature on corporate portfolio analysis tools and on the constitutive diversification–performance link published in leading management journals over the past five decades. The review reveals that research to date has not produced advanced tools based on an objective criticism of the original matrices, nor has corporate diversification – as a precondition for corporate portfolio analysis – proved to be inferior to market‐based co‐ordination mechanisms. Thus, this literature review constitutes a call for further academic research in the field of corporate portfolio analysis tools as well as corporate diversification.     

Logic-based Benders decomposition for an inventory-location problem with service constraints

We study an integrated inventory-location problem with service requirements faced by an aerospace company in designing its service parts logistics network. Customer demand is Poisson distributed and the service levels are time-based leading to highly non-linear, stochastic service constraints and a nonlinear, mixed-integer optimization problem. Unlike previous work in the literature, which propose approximations for the nonlinear constraints, we present an exact solution methodology using logic-based Benders decomposition. We decompose the problem to separate the location decisions in the master problem from the inventory decisions in the subproblem. We propose a new family of valid cuts and prove that the algorithm is guaranteed to converge to optimality. This is the first attempt to solve this type of problem exactly. Then, we present a new restrict-and-decompose scheme to further decompose the Benders master problem by part. We test on industry instances as well as random instances. Using the exact algorithm and restrict-and-decompose scheme we are able to solve industry instances with up to 60 parts within reasonable time, while the maximum number of parts attempted in the literature is 5.     

Operational research in Indian defence

The paper gives an outline of the areas of Operational Research (OR) where work in the Defence Department in India has been successful, even though it has not been fully implemented due to certain reservations on the part of the users and some limitations of OR scientists. There is an ad hoc quality in the decision making of the customer, and no large scale OR models are available which give a total effect of defence spending on social measures and human resources development. OR would be able to contribute to a balanced spending on defence in developing countries, if effort were made to analyse defence problems in the wider context. The author was formerly Director of Scientific Evaluation, Ministry of Defence, India.     

Enabling disruptive innovations through the use of customer analysis methods

The theory of disruptive innovation has had a profound effect on academic literature and management mindsets. Nevertheless, the processes that are required to develop disruptive innovations are not yet well understood. An essential part of creating disruptive innovations is gathering the right information on potential and current customers. The research questions that are addressed in this paper deal with the suitability of customer analysis methods for providing this information. The customer analysis model that is formulated in this paper summarizes the results of a literature review regarding the requirements of customer analysis for the success of disruptive innovations. With insights on context, customers, constraints and effects, the model reveals what information is needed to successfully shape the disruptive innovation process. Following the literature on disruptive and radical innovation, a group of eight customer analysis methods is selected and assessed. The analysis reveals that none of the existing methods can generate all of the required information. By combining and modifying the associated methods, the requirements of the proposed model and, by extension, the market can be met. Managers who follow the suggestions of this paper will develop a better understanding of current and potential customers and, therefore, unveil the potential of disruptive innovations.     

Safety culture: under-specified and overrated?

Is the measurement of 'safety culture' a valid management tool in the effort to reduce accident rate and improve safety performance, or is it a fuzzy academic concept, lacking empirical validation? The answer to this question seems to depend on whom one asks. The UK Health and Safety Commission has encouraged companies to improve their safety performance through the development of a 'positive safety culture'. However, academic discussions in this area suggest that the concept remains vague, lacks empirical validation and is used as an 'umbrella term' for all the social and organizational factors that affect accident rate. This paper reviews the existing literature on safety culture and provides some clarification in terms of definition, empirical evidence and theoretical development. A theoretical framework of the mechanisms by which safety culture affects safety behaviours in organizations is proposed. The implications for practical management issues are discussed and future challenges and areas for further research are identified.     

Ethical guidelines and codes in operations research

We review past endeavors by ORSs to establish ethical guidelines or codes to which their members must subscribe to. We contrast such activities with those of the international community of related professional societies. It is clear that ORSs world-wide do not exhibit the important basic characteristic of a profession, that is, the adoption of and adherence to ethical guidelines and codes. Such adoptions by OR professional organizations are rare.     

Lot-sizing decisions under limited-time price incentives: A review

The problem of determining the optimal order quantities for an inventoried item, when the vendor offers a limited-time price reduction is both interesting and important. It is interesting in that it has received continued attention of academic researchers for over four decades and it is important given its economic implication in a variety of practical settings. The extensive literature on this problem represents a fascinating confluence of: (1) economic significance and relevance to managerial practice, (2) continuing academic research interest directed at precise mathematical analysis leading to the development of rigorous and complex models and policies, and (3) elegance and adequacy of simple models and heuristic policies which are validated by the results of rigorous models and computational analysis. In this paper, we survey this literature using simple classification frameworks and then review some of the key studies. We highlight their key assumptions and findings, bring across key implications for policy implementation and academic research and identify avenues for further research.     

Fixed or variable demand? Does it matter when locating a facility?

In most competitive location models available in the literature, it is assumed that the demand is fixed independently of market conditions. However, demand may vary depending on prices, distances to the facilities, etc., especially when the goods are not essential. Taking variable demand into consideration increases the complexity of the problem and, therefore, the computational effort needed to solve it, but it may make the model more realistic. In this paper, a new planar competitive location and design problem with variable demand is presented. By using it, it is shown numerically for the first time in the literature that the assumption of fixed demand influences the location decision very much, and therefore the selection of the type of demand (fixed or variable) must be made with care when modeling location problems. Finally, two methods are presented to cope with the new model, an exact interval branch-and-bound method and an evolutionary algorithm called UEGO (Universal Evolutionary Global Optimizer).     

The status of research on teleworking and an agenda for future research

Teleworking is a relatively new mode of alternative work arrangements. During its short life, the study of teleworking gained considerable attention in the literature for both its academic relevance and its practical implications for management. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the developments in this area, studying the nature of teleworking, its antecedents, processes and outcomes. Different models and perspectives are presented and analysed with emphasis shared between both positive and negative aspects. Directions for future research on teleworking issues, as well as recommendations for a new research agenda, are offered within a framework of Why , What and How to explore the future of teleworking.     

Will your academic department survive managed care?

The current form of academic department is likely to vanish from many institutions. Changes occurring in health care are part of the evolution other industries have experienced, following the product life cycle. Physicians are becoming "deprofessionalized" and as such are beginning to resemble technical workers seen in other industries. The rearrangements in health care are bringing together organizations with different missions, priorities, culture and even language. An academic department may not be considered as an asset to the larger organization or network, representing but one option for product differentiation in the market place. There are strategies for maintaining the viability of the academic component of an organization that necessitate congruence with the overall strategy for the greater organization.