What Operational Research Is and Does

Abstract

Operational Research (O.R.) has never been an easy subject to define, comprising as it does the application of several scientific disciplines to the solving of complex problems in the management of human affairs. The Operational Research Society of the United Kingdom have the following official definition: ‘Operational Research is the application of the methods of science to complex problems arising in the direction and management of large systems of men, machines, materials, and money in industry, business, government, and defence. The distinctive approach is to develop a scientific model of the system, incorporating measurements of factors such as chance and risk, with which to predict and compare the outcomes of alternative decisions, strategies, or controls. The purpose is to help management determine its policy and actions scientifically’. At the time of producing this definition there were some 38 others which all have merit, and no doubt there have been many more produced since. I myself prefer to regard Operational Research as the study of administrative systems pursued in the same scientific manner in which systems in physics, chemistry, and biology are studied in the natural sciences.

Operational Research is the art of winning wars without actually fighting.

Arthur Clarke