The main purpose of this paper is to present the main characteristics of these different modes of conceptualising and practising OR. Three main "schools" have been identified: Hard OR, Soft OR and Critical OR. Now-a-days, after a turbulent history, it is accepted in the OR community that there are various ways of researching, practising, learning and teaching OR.
Define operational research how to#
The legitimation problem is: How to explain to ordinary people the necessity of OR for Society? This problem is related to the first one it is difficult to argue for legitimacy of something that it is very difficult to define.
Define operational research professional#
This identity problem, this alienation from Society, is also a problem for other professional disciplines. Some are good at identifying problems, others are good at solving problems and others are good at inventing problems. Some are good model builders others are good model solvers. Others are good applied mathematicians, while others are good socio-psychologists. Some OR people are good computer programmers. Looking at OR journals or talking with participants of international OR conferences will not give a specific answer to our previously formulated question. Lack of identity is related to the specification of our abilities, our craft. There is not a single and simple answer to the question: What is OR? Most operational researchers are confronted with two serious problems: lack of identity and legitimation of our discipline.
Keywords: hard OR soft OR critical OR creativity. Finally, some final remarks about the future of OR will be outlined. Habermas' theory about the three cognitive interests will provide a framework to understand this development. Following a historical perspective we will present these three schools. We have identified three: The technical or hard OR, the practical or soft OR, and the critical OR. Epistemological assumptions and practical traditions define different types of OR. Informatics and Mathematical Modelling Technical University of Denmark 2800 Lyngby Denmark paper is focusing on the following question: What is Operational Research (OR)? We will show that there is not a single and simple answer. Operational research: A multidisciplinary field