Management Science Tools Research Articles

Methodological tools of management science in social and economic environments

At present, sometimes there is a need to use the main methodological tools of management science that form the vision and support the choice of management approaches to research, construction and reform of objects in various fields of activity in social and economic environments. The scientific literature of management theory and empirical research allowed us to choose the main approaches that are most productively used in economic systems of the «organization» type. Model representations of system, process, functional, and situational approaches to the formation of structures, relationships and content of objects in social and economic environments are developed.

Improving medical decision-making with a management science game theory approach to liver transplantation

Even though nowadays medicine is necessarily linked with technology, it is still a service involving human interaction, which frequently requires the help of management science tools. Indeed, a medical consultation can be an extremely complex example of human interaction. Management science, operations research and in particular game theory may play a key role in helping to improve the results of medical decision-making processes. Game theory is widely used in a large variety of decision-making studies, but there is little application to health care issues, namely the doctor-patient relationship. This paper uses game theory to model the liver transplantation consultation for patients suffering from Alcoholic Liver Disease. This disease is very delicate, and patients at its end-stages require special dedication where management science tools are of utmost importance. They may try to deceive doctors, which may lead to bad outcomes. The Nash equilibrium behaviors by doctor and patient are obtained. Results show some health policy and managerial implications on the decision-makers’ parameters and on the order of play so as to achieve, for instance, higher rates of patient’s cooperation.

Polio Eradicators Use Integrated Analytical Models to Make Better Decisions

Achieving global polio eradication requires that global stakeholders coordinate and cooperate to invest human and financial resources in interventions that prevent virus transmission. Reaching this goal depends on effective tools and interventions, and their optimal use. Poliovirus transmission occurs in a complex global system with rapidly evolving viruses that readily cross international borders. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of four spearheading partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), initiated a collaboration with Kid Risk, Inc. to develop and apply integrated analytical models to answer high-stakes policy questions related to managing the risks of polioviruses with consideration of human health and economic outcomes. Over the last decade, the collaboration innovatively combined numerous operations research and management science tools, including simulation, decision and risk analysis, system dynamics, and optimization to help policy makers understand and quantify the implications of their choices. These integrated modeling efforts helped motivate faster responses to polio outbreaks, leading to a global resolution and significantly reduced response time and outbreak sizes. Insights from the models also underpinned a 192-country resolution to coordinate global cessation of the use of one of the two vaccines after wild poliovirus eradication (i.e., allowing continued use of the other vaccine as desired). Finally, the model results helped us to make the economic case for a continued commitment to polio eradication by quantifying the value of prevention and showing the health and economic outcomes associated with the alternatives. The work helped to raise the billions of dollars needed to support polio eradication. The investments will prevent devastating cases of polio and realize an estimated $40–$50 billion in net benefits by the countries covered by the GPEI, while protecting the significantly larger net benefits enjoyed by the countries that stopped wild poliovirus transmission without support of the GPEI.

Airport runway scheduling

Airport runway optimization is an ongoing challenge for air traffic controllers. Since demand for air-transportation is predicted to increase, there is a need to realize additional take-off and landing slots through better runway scheduling. In this paper, we review the techniques and tools of operational research and management science that are used for scheduling aircraft landings and take-offs. The main solution techniques include dynamic programming, branch and bound, heuristics and meta-heuristics.

Groundwater remediation design using physics-based flow, transport, and optimization technologies

BackgroundThe purpose of this work was to demonstrate an approach to groundwater remedial design that is automated, cost-effective, and broadly applicable to contaminated aquifers in different geologic settings. The approach integrates modeling and optimization for use as a decision support framework for the optimal design of groundwater remediation systems employing pump and treat and re-injection technologies. The technology resulting from the implementation of the methodology, which we call Physics-Based Management Optimization (PBMO), integrates physics-based groundwater flow and transport models, management science, and nonlinear optimization tools to provide stakeholders with practical, optimized well placement locations and flow rates for remediating contaminated groundwater at complex sites.ResultsThe algorithm implementation, verification, and effectiveness testing was conducted using groundwater conditions at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Umatilla, Oregon, as a case study. This site was the subject of a government-sponsored remedial optimization study. Our methodology identified the optimal solution 40 times faster than other methods, did not fail to perform when the physics-based models failed to converge, and did not require human intervention during the solution search, in contrast to the other methods. The integration of the PBMO and Lipschitz Global Optimization (LGO) methods with standalone physically based models provides an approach that is applicable to a wide range of hydrogeological flow and transport settings.ConclusionsThe global optimization based solutions obtained from this study were similar to those found by others, providing method verification. Automation of the optimal search strategy combined with the reliability to overcome inherent difficulties of non-convergence when using physics models in optimization promotes its usefulness. The application of our methodology to the Umatilla case study site represents a rigorous testing of our optimization methodology for handling groundwater remediation problems.

Integrating multicriteria decision analysis and scenario planning—Review and extension

Scenario planning and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) are two key management science tools used in strategic planning. In this paper, we explore the integration of these two approaches in a coherent manner, recognizing that each adds value to the implementation of the other. Various approaches that have been adopted for such integration are reviewed, with a primary focus on the process of constructing preferences both within and between scenarios. Biases that may be introduced by inappropriate assumptions during such processes are identified, and used to motivate a framework for integrating MCDA and scenario thinking, based on applying MCDA concepts across a range of “metacriteria” (combinations of scenarios and primary criteria). Within this framework, preferences according to each primary criterion can be expressed in the context of different scenarios. The paper concludes with a hypothetical but non-trivial example of agricultural policy planning in a developing country.

Meeting global health challenges through operational research and management science

This paper considers how operational research and management science can improve the design of health systems and the delivery of health care, particularly in low-resource settings. It identifies some gaps in the way operational research is typically used in global health and proposes steps to bridge them. It then outlines some analytical tools of operational research and management science and illustrates how their use can inform some typical design and delivery challenges in global health. The paper concludes by considering factors that will increase and improve the contribution of operational research and management science to global health.

Airport runway scheduling

Airport runway optimization is an ongoing challenge for air traffic controllers. Since demand for air-transportation is predicted to increase, there is a need to realize additional take-off and landing slots through better runway scheduling. In this paper, we review the techniques and tools of operational research and management science that are used for scheduling aircraft landings and take-offs. The main solution techniques include dynamic programming, branch and bound, heuristics and meta-heuristics.

Application and roles of management science tools and techniques to effective decision making in the academic settings

The major purpose of the study was to discover to what extent selected educational systems were using specified management science tools and techniques in their decision making processes. The familiarity of the administrators and the employees with such techniques, and which of the models were used the most were also studied. Finally, the purpose of study was to discover economic and managerial benefits provided by using MS. methods. The results indicated that although academic administrators of Southern California universities used management science models and techniques, but the models were used less than industrial and business organizations.

Invited Commentary—Research Perspectives at the Interface of Marketing and Operations: Applications to the Motion Picture Industry

In this comment, I discuss some research issues at the interface of marketing and operations particularly relevant to the motion picture industry. The major focus of my comments will be on the exhibition component of the motion picture value chain. Based on research findings and available data, I discuss the following issues: dynamic and interesting characteristics of the motion picture industry, the applicability of management science tools to artistic products, the practitioners’ viewpoint, and the possibility of moving from specific to general research problems (and vice versa) in this field. Four promising research areas have been identified for marketing academics and researchers: (i) an integrated scheduling approach, (ii) relationship management and contract design, (iii) the role of forecasting accuracy in movie decision support systems, and (iv) the impact of digital conversion of movies on operations scheduling.

The Fifth Column: Homage to Doc Savage 1, or on Knowing Your Right from Your Left

Prologue At the 2004 fall meeting of INFORMS, Sam Savage led a session entitled “Tools and concepts.” The abstract for the session read, “To quote Gene Woolsey, ‘a pencil is a crutch, a calculator is a wheelchair, and a computer is an ambulance.’ This session will explore the relationship between the classroom use of management science tools and the understanding of the underlying concepts. Where do (OR/MS) tools rehabilitate and where do they cause atrophy?” (Savage 2004, p. 48). Now I believe that Doc Savage has hit it right on the button. A moment’s reflection on what I have done in my OR/MS career shows me that I find it important to use an approximate method the customer can understand before reaching for mathematical models. Also, as is well known, I have this quaint notion that we should consider modeling something only after we have watched the present process and, best of all, participated in doing it. Therefore, in honor of Doc Savage, I will present a trilogy of examples in three columns that demonstrate the rightness of his position.

Benchmarking patient improvement in physical therapy with data envelopment analysis

The purpose of this article is to present a case study that documents how management science techniques (in particular data envelopment analysis) can be applied to performance improvement initiatives in an inpatient physical therapy setting. The data used in this study consist of patients referred for inpatient physical therapy following total knee replacement surgery (at a medium-sized medical facility in the Midwestern USA) during the fiscal year 2002. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied to determine the efficiency of treatment, as well as to identify benchmarks for potential patient improvement. Statistical trends in the benchmarking and efficiency results were subsequently analyzed using non-parametric and parametric methods. Our analysis indicated that the rehabilitation process was largely effective in terms of providing consistent, quality care, as more than half of the patients in our study achieved the maximum amount of rehabilitation possible given available inputs. Among patients that did not achieve maximum results, most could obtain increases in the degree of flexion gain and reductions in the degree of knee extension. The study is retrospective in nature, and is not based on clinical trial or experimental data. Additionally, DEA results are inherently sensitive to sampling: adding or subtracting individuals from the sample may change the baseline against which efficiency and rehabilitation potential are measured. As such, therapists using this approach must ensure that the sample is representative of the general population, and must not contain significant measurement error. Third, individuals who choose total knee arthroplasty will incur a transient disability. However, this population does not generally fit the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health definition of disability if the surgical procedure is successful. Since the study focuses on the outcomes of physical therapy, range of motion measurements and circumferential measurements were chosen as opposed to the more global measures of functional independence such as mobility, transfers and stair climbing. Applying this technique to data on patients with different disabilities (or the same disability with other outcome variables, such as Functional Independence Measure scores) may give dissimilar results. This case study provides an example of how one can apply quantitative management science tools in a manner that is both tractable and intuitive to the practising therapist, who may not have an extensive background in quantitative performance improvement or statistics. DEA has not been applied to rehabilitation, especially in the case where managers have limited data available.

Business Technology Management: A Case Study

This paper describes how we integrated two courses and two disciplines into a single, required “hands-on” course for undergraduates studying management science (MS) and management information systems (MIS). The motivation for what was initially an experiment (and is now a permanent part of the curriculum) was to exploit the synergy between the analytical approaches to modeling, decision-making and project management that are the mainstay of MS with the increasingly rigorous discipline of business technology management and that field's models, methods, tools and techniques. We describe the previous two courses, the re-designed course and several examples of how management science methods, tools and techniques were used to solve real business technology management problems selected by Villanova University's Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Improving Resource Efficiency Through Management Science

Optimal management of resources is a very complex and difficult task for healthcare systems. Nevertheless, healthcare providers can employ data-driven methodologies and management science tools, coupled with managerial insights, to significantly improve both their resource effectiveness and efficiency. Understanding the full technical complexities of management science models is a daunting task for healthcare managers, but they can be aided by the increased availability of management science software. Readily available software does not require extensive technical competencies and is easily adaptable to resource changes. This article reports how a large healthcare system improved the cost effectiveness and service efficiency of its laboratory courier service through the use of management science techniques and readily available software. The laboratory courier system existed to serve a large multihospital healthcare system located in a major Texas metropolis. The routing and scheduling solution reported in this article yielded a very substantial 16.4 percent reduction in annual laboratory courier costs and a significant improvement in service levels. This study indicates that management science techniques and software are readily adaptable to the healthcare environment and are amenable to use by healthcare administrators.

Bioinformatics and Management Science: Some Common Tools and Techniques

In April of 2003, Science (2003) and Nature (2003) published special issues marking two significant achievements in the history of science: the 50th anniversary of discovering the double helical structure of the DNA, and the completion of the Human Genome Project. The first discovery led to a new age in genetics, and the second event marked the beginning of a new era that uses the genome in medicine. The international efforts to determine the human DNA sequence and assess its ethical, legal, and social implications started in 1990. Since then, the data from the project has been available in public databases for researchers and scientists around the world. The vast increase in biological data led to increasing interest in computational biology and an emerging multidisciplinary research area known as bioinformatics. Most people working in this area have mathematics, biology, biochemistry, or computer science backgrounds and have learned about the field by using tools from another discipline to answer questions in biology. The current challenge is to utilize the genome data to its full extent and to develop tools that improve our understanding of biological pathways and accelerate drug discovery. Many of the algorithms needed to solve these problems have management science and operations research aspects. This paper introduces some of the fundamental problems in bioinformatics to an operations research audience and demonstrates the application of management science tools in their formulation and solution.

Causes of the Decline of the Business School Management Science Course

The business school management science course is suffering serious decline. The traditional model- and algorithm-based course fails to meet the needs of MBA programs and students. Poor student mathematical preparation is a reality, and is not an acceptable justification for poor teaching outcomes. Management science Ph.D.s are often poorly prepared to teach in a general management program, having more experience and interest in algorithms than management. The management science profession as a whole has focused its attention on algorithms and a narrow subset of management problems for which they are most applicable. In contrast, MBA's rarely encounter problems that are suitable for straightforward application of management science tools, living instead in a world where problems are ill-defined, data is scarce, time is short, politics is dominant, and rational “decision makers” are non-existent. The root cause of the profession's failure to address these issues seems to be (in Russell Ackoff's words) a habit of professional introversion that caused the profession to be uninterested in what MBA's really do on the job and how management science can help them.

Numerical procedures for input–output analysis

Input–output analysis is one of the most important tools of management science, one ideally suited to today's ubiquitous PC. The present paper introduces the method with a miniscule solution routine. With this Lagrange multiplier constraints are easily included and the resulting formulation is then condensed to an equivalent penalty factor result, simple cases of this being especially easy to use in practice. Finally, a general purpose band solution routine of the type much used in the Finite Element Method is given, it being useful to structure IOA models in an `element' fashion and, indeed, to understand the continuum character that large IOA models may possess.

The Teachers’ Forum: Six Key Modeling Heuristics

In a recent column I described a course in the art of modeling I have taught for a number of years to MBA students. This is an elective, second-year course. The students typically have a minimal background in the core tools of management science (optimization, decision analysis, and simulation). The purpose of the course is not to deepen their knowledge of MS/OR tools per se but to strengthen their fundamental modeling skills. The course is styled on the art studio, in which students learn to paint by painting under the watchful eye of an instructor. In this course, the students work on a series of practical modeling assignments, each of which is taken from a real situation. The students build and analyze models as they need them to solve the problem at hand, without any cues as to which tools or approach to use.

A Literature Analysis of the Use of Management Science Tools in Strategic Planning

A literature analysis was conducted to examine the application of Management Science (MS) tools in Strategic Planning. The 766 abstracts were classified into a series of strategic categories to identify their contribution to specific phases of the Strategic Planning process. A functional classification was used to indicate the key issue or type of problem involved. Industry, publication date, and publication source were also considered. To identify potential application areas for the MS tools, beyond those found in this sample, a gap analysis was performed using Reisman's methodology for finding researchable topics.

A Literature Analysis of the Use of Management Science Tools in Strategic Planning

A Literature Analysis of the Use of Management Science Tools in Strategic Planning