Search results

Examines advantages and disadvantages of aggregated analytic models and disaggregated simulation models. States the object is to explore the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of model, with greater emphasis on simulation models that are of more recent development, concentrates on models of the consumer decision process. Discusses that, for many marketing situations, aggregated (macro) models are not enough, and that means of developing and using disaggregated (micro) models must be sought. Concludes that simulation is a means of gradually building up the experience needed for a comprehensive marketing strategy based on a total marketing model.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution that problem structuring methods – a branch of the decision support discipline of operational research – have made in helping managers deal with situations of high complexity. The paper reviews the limitations of traditional operational research and argues that problem structuring methods have expanded the entire discipline and significantly contributed to its holistic nature and problem-solving orientation.

The paper provides a critical discussion of the limitations of the traditional operational research approach and examines how the development and successful application of problem structuring methods have opened up a new paradigm of analysis in management science.

In theoretical terms, problem structuring methods have moved the discipline of operational research away from its positivistic epistemology and towards interpretivism and the acceptance of a subjective social reality. In practical terms, they offer managers a broad range of appropriate analytical tools which provide transparency and offer the opportunity to those affected by the problem situation to be actively involved in the entire modelling process within a facilitated environment.

The paper offers a critical discussion of the contribution that problem structuring methods have made while also identifying the challenges they face as they try to achieve higher levels of recognition and acceptance in management science.

This paper aims to examine the current level of application of problem structuring methods, a distinct domain within the wider analytical decision-support discipline of operational research (OR), in dealing with complex problem situations in organisations and societies.

The paper has reviewed the relevant literature on problem structuring methods by analysing articles on practical applications that have been published in discipline-based journals over the past 15 years. The aim was to identify the extent to which OR practitioners use particular problem structuring methods and tools and the way that this is done in OR interventions.

The results show that the main problem structuring methods and tools have maintained their popularity and are frequently used as analytical approaches within a facilitated modelling environment. At the same time, new methods have been proposed, and these are typically integrated within multi-methodological frameworks that often include the use of more traditional OR techniques. On the other hand, even though problem structuring methods are now quite well-established in Europe and in other parts of the world, they do not seem to enjoy the same level of acceptance or recognition in the USA.

The paper provides an up-to-date account of the application of problem structuring methods as a means of handling increased problem complexity and highlights the contribution that this important field of work can make in dealing with the complex problems and challenges the world faces in the current turbulent environment.

Operational research plays a major role in improving the profitability of British Airways (BA), which is the largest, and one of the most successful, international airlines in the world. This study explores the knowledge and facilitation conceptions held by operational research consultants in BA in supporting the decisions and management processes of their internal “clients”. Ten consultants, who were deemed experts in soft OR, were interviewed in order to examine the knowledge they used in helping their clients to manage decisions and change. The findings suggest that while the fundamental ethos of analytical rigour characterises the world‐view that the OR consultants adopt, it may be the modifications to techniques and practices that consultants make in intuitive and creative ways that secure their effectiveness.

We revisit the problem of redesigning the Master in Business Administration (MBA) program, curriculum, and pedagogy, focusing on understanding and seeking to tame its “wicked problems,” as an intrinsic part and challenge of the MBA program venture, and to render it more realistic and relevant to address major problems and their consequences. We briefly review the theory of wicked problems and methods of dealing with their consequences from multiple perspectives. Most characterization of problems classifies them as simple (problems that have known formulations and solutions), complex (where formulations are known but not their resolutions), unstructured problems (where formulations are unknown, but solutions are estimated), and “wicked” (where both problem formulations and their resolutions are unknown but eventually partially tamable). Uncertainty, unpredictability, randomness, and ambiguity increase from simple to complex to unstructured to wicked problems. A redesigned MBA program should therefore address them effectively through the four semesters in two years. Most of these problems are real and affect life and economies, and hence, business schools cannot but incorporate them into their critical, ethical, and moral thinking.

Aslib is interested in developing modular simulation models of aspects of library systems in order to investigate the use of such models as aids to systems design and operation. The conceptual model of library procedures, developed during the OSTI‐supportcd project on the use of bibliographic records in libraries, offered a suitable basis for a pilot study. The pilot study was aimed at investigating the practicality of developing and using simulation models of library operations, and gaining experience in the application of simulation techniques to problems in the library and information field. The simulation language used was GPSS, in accordance with the 1968 edition of the IBM GPSS/360 User's Manual, H20–0326–2.

This paper sets out to describe the development of problem‐structuring methods within operations research (OR) and to suggest that these might define new areas of collaborative activity between library management and OR modellers.

The paper identifies a requirement for the twenty‐first century academic library to be flexible, inclusive and responsive to rapidly changing environments. The use of problem‐structuring methods provides OR modellers with a methodological approach that can assist decision making under just these conditions, and so a management approach that places problem‐structuring methods firmly within library planning processes is suggested.

Since the rapid growth of library OR in the 1960s and 1970s (using primarily statistical and quantitative techniques) there has been a significant downturn in new applications and model developments within the last 20 years. This has coincided with a debate on the future of OR that has moved it away from the application of quantitative techniques, and the new paradigms evolving from that debate could stimulate a regeneration of interest in library OR.

The paper explores a possible future for library OR. The application of OR methods within libraries has undoubtedly had its successes and a wider appreciation of the potential use of problem‐structuring methods within library management could resolve many of the issues associated with planning library operations on the brink of the second decade of the twenty‐first century.

This chapter describes the growth and decline of Library Operational Research (Library OR) since the first descriptions of such activity appeared in the 1960s. The changing nature of OR and of the academic library is discussed and a case is made for recognition of a new paradigm in Library OR. First explored are the origins of OR and its application to academic libraries, summarizing some of the critical assessments of Library OR from those active in the field, and exploring some of the literature that relates to the development of OR itself, the academic library as an entity, and the modeler/library–practitioner interaction. Each indicates that a new way of working in Library OR is required if it is to deliver the results that OR has delivered in other contexts. The growth and decline of Library OR has been very marked. The decline has coincided with a reevaluation of the nature and contribution of OR itself, particularly in relation to modeling activities. New modeling approaches have evolved involving problem structuring, and these new paradigms extend naturally to Library OR and would help ease a number of concerns raised against the use of traditional OR models. Practical implications of this chapter are that academic libraries are facing an era of unprecedented change and some of the issues to be addressed relate to identifying and managing strategy and managing change. The adoption of new paradigms could enliven the practice and contribution of Library OR.

The prosthodontics sector is facing major challenges because of scientific and technological advances that imply a clearer definition of lines of action and decision making processes. Measuring quality of service in this sector is a complex decision problem since the perceptions of three main players need to be considered: patients, dentists and dental technicians. This study sought to develop an artificial-intelligence-based (AI-based) method for assessing service quality in the dental prosthesis sector.

Using strategic options development and analysis (SODA), which is grounded on cognitive mapping, and the measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (MACBETH), a constructivist decision support system was designed to facilitate the assessment of service quality in the dental prosthesis sector. The system was tested, and the results were validated both by the members of an expert panel and by the vice-president of the Portuguese association of dental prosthesis technicians.

The methodological process developed in this study is extremely versatile and its practical application facilitated the development of an empirically robust evaluation model in this study context. Specifically, the profile analyses carried out in actual clinics allowed the cases in which improvements are needed to be identified.

Although already applied in the fields of AI and decision making, no prior work reporting the use of SODA and MACBETH for assessing service quality in the prosthodontics sector has been found.