BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

OPERATIONAL RESEARCH (OR) reconsidered 1)2)

In a recent article, I. MUNRO reconsiders the history and the present state of organizational research (1999, p. 513-532)

As to the historical aspects, after retracing the origins of OR during World War 2, he argues that it quickly derived into a mechanized view of reality, even if most research teams included people from many disciplines.

The basic six-stage recommended methodology was as follows:

" 1. Formulate the problem

2. Construct a mathematical model to represent the system under study

3. Derive a solution from the model

4. Test the model and the solution derived from it

5. Establish controls over the solution

6. Put the solution to work"(p. 516)

Of course, such a methodology is highly formalistic and mechanistic, specially when the "problem" is considered without any reference to the many human aspects (developed -for ex.- in J. WARFIELD's Generic Design).

MUNRO states: "(the) models tend to be constructed entirely from things that have been quantified and measured"…which is fine when the "problem" is for ex. the build-up of a new production line for a new car model (in a nontechnical and human environment whose stability- or even asepsy!- is taken for granted)

MUNRO proceeds with a study of the cultural settings which led to this kind or OR, including economic and social biases that become even clearly reflected in language (p. 518)

He then retraces the advent of more integrated views in so-called "soft OR" and refers himself to authors like CHURCHMAN, ACKOFF and CHECKLAND and goes so far as quoting Samuel BUTLER's "Erewhon": "May not man himself become a sort of parasite upon the machines, An affectionate machine-tickling aphid?"(p. 521)

Finally, it shows clearly that man-machines systems classical OR is much more about machines than about men, As a result we should remember ACKOFF 's quip about "doing perfectly things that should never have been done in the first place"

MUNRO advocates in the last part of his paper for reworking of the basic idea of man-machine system: Men use machines and the ways machines are used- or could, or should be used – cannot be ignored in soft OR, He quotes MINGER'S approach according to which "…problem solving in the real world does not simply involve finding the right code of conduct or the right methodology to suit the circumstances, but requires that questions be asked about the experience of the agents involved, their past history and their various commitments" (p, 529) and the need to discuss "technologies of the self".

One wonders if such a new kind of OR does not totally escape the limits of the technical aims and tools of OR itself. Again, J. WARFIELD (and other authors like ACKOFF, MITROFF and LINSTONE and CHECKLAND himself) seems nearer to the point with his Generic Design.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]


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