Showing papers by "John M. Wilson published in 2010"

The impact of contingency factors on validation of problem structuring methods

Abstract: Although much has been written about validating Decision support systems and other ‘hard’ OR models, less has been written about validating ‘soft’ OR models. This article seeks to determine which contingency factors known to influence DSS validation are also important factors influencing problem structuring methods (PSM) validation. In addition, after consultation with PSM experts other contingency factors influencing PSM validation are proposed. Evidence from these PSM experts concerning the levels of influence of these factors is used to support proposals for a contingency approach to PSM validation.

A profile of OR research and practice published in the Journal of the Operational Research Society

Abstract: In this paper we reflect on the last 10 years of the Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS). We use metadata and citation analysis to profile OR research and practice published in this prestigious journal. The analysis of the published material includes examining variables such as the most productive authors, the papers having the highest number of citations, the universities and organisations associated with the most publications and their geographic diversity, OR techniques and their application areas, the number of authors per paper, the background of the authors, etc. Moreover, this work includes variables from a previously published study of JORS that profiled research from 1981 to 1999. Therefore, the analysis allows a comparison to be conducted between some of the findings of the two studies. This research has implications for researchers, journal editors and research institutions.

Russell L Ackoff

Abstract: Tributes have been paid from around the world to Russell Ackoff who died in October 2009. It is appropriate that this journal should also mark the influence of Ackoff on OR in the UK. Ackoff had a major influence on OR in this country in a number of ways. First he was the author or joint-author of many books, two of which from the 1960s (Ackoff and Rivett, 1963; Ackoff and Sasieni, 1968) played an important role as standard references for training of OR practitioners on short courses and of MSc programmes at a time of growth in OR education. These books provided a background to the techniques of OR. Such books were very much of their time, providing a way to solve OR problems arising in a number of different contexts by use of standard modelling procedures. Second, Ackoff had a personal influence on one of the key lively figures in British OR, Pat Rivett, and through him influenced the development of OR education in Britain. University programmes developed in the US by Ackoff and his colleagues impressed Rivett and he sought to mimic them in programmes in Britain for training practitioners and later in university programmes that were developing in the ‘new’ universities of the 1960s in Britain. It is easy to see with hindsight how OR educators could be seduced by a technical approach to OR. Linear programming appeared to offer a revelation as a tool, with its promise of optimal policies and precise mathematical explanation of fundamental concepts of economics such as price and value of resources. However, Rivett and others in Britain soon realised the limitations of a purely technical approach to OR. The neglect of the personal and managerial dimension was a major defect. Simultaneously while UK OR was moving away from a technical underpinning, Ackoff was developing views of a softer systems approach, which harmonised with expectations in OR circles in Britain. Ackoff was a regular visitor to the UK in these years and gave many presentations of these new views that touched chords. (I was privileged to hear him talk as part of the seminar programme Pat Rivett organised for MSc students in the early 1970s and, like many eager students, was impressed by this visiting guru figure.) It was to be in Britain that Ackoff articulated aspects of his new vision of OR, that was to have dramatic effect in the later 1970s. A third key aspect of Ackoff’s influence in Britain was the delivery of talks at the ORS Conference of 1978, and the subsequent publication of them in this journal, which illuminated his new vision and led to two papers appearing in JORS (Ackoff, 1979a,b). In these papers Ackoff was critical of the way OR had developed, and was continuing to develop, and made a plea for a new way forward. These two papers have had a far-reaching influence on OR worldwide. Although views of a US expert, they have had considerable influence on the development of a particularly ‘British view’ of OR. The loss of Ackoff as a challenging voice of reason in OR will be mourned worldwide.