| Titre : | The development of management sciences/operational research discourses: surveying the trends in the US and the UK (2011) |
| Auteurs : | Paucar-Caceres, A., Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article : texte imprimé |
| Dans : | Journal of the operational research society (JORS) (Vol. 62 N° 8, Août 2011) |
| Article en page(s) : | pp. 1452–1470 |
| Note générale : | Recherche opérationnelle |
| Langues : | Anglais |
| Index. décimale : | 001.424 |
| Tags : | Systems thinking Soft OR Problem structuring methods History of Management sciences methodologies Philosophy |
| Résumé : | This paper explores the trends in American and British management science/operational research (MS/OR) during the last 25 years. We argue that British MS/OR has developed a soft and systemic approach to MS/OR practice, which has resulted in the emergence of a number of interpretive and critical-oriented methodologies. American MS/OR practice has remained closed to the positivistic discourse. Using a set of keywords and authors’ names associated with the main features of the interpretive and critical MS discourses, we surveyed articles published in three major US MS/OR journals. We compare these results with trends in the UK MS/OR scene. Findings appear to confirm the different directions taken by the MS/OR practice across the Atlantic. The paper posits possible reasons underpinning these differences: firstly, the particular methodological path followed by the British MS/OR, from early ‘soft systems’ applications in the early 1970s to the now well-established ‘Problem Structuring Methods’; and secondly, continuous engagement between the systems and MS/OR British communities (a dialogue that seems not to have occurred in the US). The paper contributes to a reflection on the MS/OR historical developments and contrasts these developments in both countries, two areas of OR significantly under-researched. |
| DEWEY : | 001.424 |
| ISSN : | 0160-5682 |
| En ligne : | http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jors/journal/v62/n8/abs/jors2010109a.html |
