Soft Operational Research Research Articles

Soft OR in China: A critical report

As China’s reform steps into the ‘deep water zone’ where value complexity becomes paramount, general-purpose decision-making aids such as Operational Research (OR) are increasingly confronted with the challenge of dealing with interest conflicts. However, due to historical events and institutional circumstances, OR in China to date is largely constrained by a technocratic approach which is not fit for purpose. Encouragingly, recent OR innovations inside China signify a conscious move to embrace value plurality and tackle social conflicts. OR is not merely a neutral tool for solving technical problems, but a world-building discourse that shapes society. The future of OR, particularly Soft OR, in China will be determined by whether OR workers are willing and capable to act as institutional entrepreneurs promoting scientific and democratic decision-making that deepens the reform toward an open, just and prosperous society. The implications go beyond the OR community and China’s borders.

An RBV and real options-based soft OR heuristic for solution strategising

This paper develops a heuristic for applying the abstract and complex theories of real options and the resource-based view (RBV) to provide managerial prescription on promising technology solutions to business problems. We draw upon the tradition of soft operational research (OR) with its reliance on graphical techniques to develop a decision-making matrix called the CUReO Grid for identifying preferred solutions under different conditions of decision context uncertainty and the capability of the firm to exploit the technologies under consideration. Our grid is obtained by a two-stage mapping of the real options available in a technology solution, such as options for altering scale and scope or for strategic growth, to a two-dimensional space defined by contextual uncertainty and firm capability. We illustrate our general methodology by applying it to two very different but major contemporary problems: enterprise integration in information technology and lean production in operations management.

Abstracting and Engaging: Two Modes of Systems Thinking Education

This paper presents two modes of systems thinking education to help make sense of previous and future experiences in this field as well as in soft operational research in general. Using Abbott's ideas on professional knowledge I present these modes as based on either (1) abstracting or (2) engaging. The former emphasises the value of systems thinking in helping people understand abstractions to deal with complex situations. The latter focuses on using abstractions to facilitate students' engagement with complex situations in areas outside operational research including sustainability and project management. I present each mode based on my experience in a higher education setting in the UK, and I highlight key elements and possibilities for these modes that could inform future developments in systems thinking and operational research education.

How do we know who to include in collaborative research? Toward a method for the identification of experts

Collaborative research, defined as research involving actors participating in the problem situation under study, has an important role in operational research, strategic management and systems thinking. In a recent study, we found that a strong organizational focus incorporated into many soft operational research (OR) approaches is inadequate for studying societal problem situations, which are fragmented and have no clear boundary. Specifically, we failed to find a process of identifying individuals that is capable of representing the perspectives of actors and sufficient for research into societal problem situations. We found no clear terminology accounting for ontological differences between actors, individuals representing them and conceptual representations of acting entities. In response to this gap in the literature, we propose terminology that differentiates among actors (individuals or collective entities in the real world), experts (individuals capable of representing the perspective of an actor) and agents (ideal-typical representations of actors). Based on this terminology, we propose an iterative method to guide the assembly of an expert group to undertake collaborative research into societal problem situations. To demonstrate the application of our method, we present selected insights from our study in an electronic supplement.

Application of Soft Operations Research for Enhancing the Servicescape as a Facilitator

Servicescape provides a visual metaphor for an organization's total offering. It can also act as a facilitator by either adding or hindering the abilities of employees and customers in performing their activities. Repatronage of the service provider is assumed to be dependent on consumers' level of satisfaction with the service rendered. This paper discusses the use of Soft Operations Research in dealing with the issues of designing, improving, and managing the Servicescape for organizations delivering high contact services like shopping malls. Cross-functional co-operation in planning and management of Servicescape is of paramount importance because of participation of many actors having different perceptions, conflicting interests, etc. So, analytical approaches to decision-making must take into account the human dimensions like wider consultation with different stakeholders. This emerging trend in business strategy research is reflected in the growing application of Soft OR because it applies models to help group decision-making. A selective mixing of two Soft OR methodologies — Soft System Methodology and Strategic Choice Approach — has been applied for enhancing the Servicescape as a facilitator. This mixing can enhance and enrich the process of decision-making because each methodology can adequately emphasize only a particular aspect of the problem. Root definition and CATWOE (from SSM) are used for understanding and defining the business (Servicescape) model while uncertainty space and commitment package (from SCA) are used for handling risk and uncertainty inherent in it. AHP has been used to prioritize the major dimensions of the Servicescape, which gives general interiors as the most important dimension, followed by social dimension, internal display facilities, and then exterior facilities. While comparing the conceptual model with the real world, AHP indicated intangibility element and capital cost as the major concerns. Further, AHP prioritized various uncertainty areas in the process of development and management of Servicescape, with uncertainty about working environment as the most important problematic area. To reduce it, technical response has been used in the form of research investigation and analytical analysis (using optimization tools). Finally, a conceptual model for the project was developed after a number of detailed and structured discussion rounds, using the participative bottom-up Soft OR modeling process. Traditional OR tools were also deployed to decide upon three desirable and culturally feasible decision packages. These were compared using DEA with respect to their relative performance efficiencies and finally the most efficient decision package (commitment package) was decided upon. Throughout the action-research process, the emphasis has been on group decision-making, consensus building, and extracting cognitive commitment for the process of change. Thus, wider consultation and channelizing the discussion towards a common goal using Soft OR techniques may significantly contribute towards the success of developing and managing the service environment of shopping malls.

Social imperatives in systems development: A conceptual model

The focus of this article is on systems development; and the development of a methodology appropriate for complex organisations. A conceptual systems development methodology OASES is presented. It is developed from findings from studies conducted within five NHS hospitals located in the North-East of England. OASES is a non-instrumental (in effect does not pertain to directives or rules) soft systems-based methodology. It therefore emphasises an alternative social imperative which will be of primary interest to soft operations research scholars. We find not only the existence of numerous social imperatives in systems development, but also that overall success during systems development is achieved by ensuring conflict neither exist between the systems and the organisations culture, the worldview of its stakeholders, or the prevailing business environments.

Exploring complex sociocultural situations through soft operational research

A paradigm can be thought of as a living commodity system, carried by a self-organising group. The commodity is often "practical knowledge", and the paradigm maintains a life cycle that begins with commodity gestation, leading to commodity depreciation through death or transformation. During its normal life processes paradigm grow their commodities incrementally, but the growth processes become bounded through the very conceptualisations that made them successful, limiting their pragmatic capabilities. Paradigms have not only normal lives, but also post-normal lives. In the current cultural environment normal paradigmatic life processes are said to be hard, while post-normal ones are said to be soft, with this change being facilitated through epistemological shift. An illustration of a new framework called sociohistory is shown to be a soft OR approach. Its purpose is to describe, explore and evaluate complex sociocultural problem situations, with the potential to create intervention strategies that might be able to improve them.

The use of robustness analysis for planning actions in a poor Brazilian community

This paper reports on the use of Robustness Analysis for planning actions in a poor Brazilian community. The focus is on food and agricultural production and the project is based on a participatory approach incorporating both community-driven development and sustainability in food production. A comparison is made with other soft Operations Research (OR) methodologies and first actions and results are reported.

SOFT OR APPROACHES

This paper is an inquiry into the nature and characteristics of the so-called soft approaches in Operational Research (OR). After a first outline of soft approaches, six wellknown and widely applied soft approaches are selected for further study and characterisation applying a multi-dimensional framework. In addition, some reflexions about the limitations of such a framework are discussed.

A transdisciplinary approach for formalized integrated planning and decision-making in complex systems

Multi-sectoral systems, such as cities or regional economies, face strategic challenges of optimal development due to the complexity of interacting perspectives, interests, and preferences of decision-makers and stakeholders. In coping with these challenges, integrated approaches in strategic planning and decision support promise to generate more efficient and effective results than sectoral approaches. In this article, we follow the concept of operational research (OR) by applying a formalized approach to cross-sectoral integrated planning and decision-making in complex, i.e., multi-sectoral systems. The presented Transdisciplinary Integrated Planning and Synthesis (TIPS) approach relies on (soft) OR methods combined in a multi-methodological framework that is adapted to the cognitive skills and habits of the stakeholders and experts involved in mutual and joint learning processes (transdisciplinarity). This methodological contribution structures, formalizes, and empirically illustrates cross-sectoral integrated strategic planning step by step, and evaluates the TIPS methodology against requirements for integrated approaches derived from literature.

Multimethodology in series and parallel: strategic planning using hard and soft OR

This paper examines two distinct ways in which hard and soft operational research (OR) methodologies can be combined, in series and in parallel. Multimethodology in series is acknowledged as the simpler and more common approach. Multimethodology in parallel is identified as having the potential to provide significant benefits to projects in political, changing, or ‘wicked’ contexts that multimethodology in series cannot. Observations regarding these approaches to multimethodology are examined in light of an information systems strategic planning project in the Australian public sector. Two distinct methodologies were combined in the project: soft systems methodology and project management. These methodologies are based on the soft and hard paradigms, respectively. However, findings in this paper have the potential to be transferred to combinations of other hard and soft OR methodologies.

Connecting organizations: Developing the idea of network learning in inter‐organizational settings

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a form of analysis that is important in the development of inter‐agency working and partnerships. Social network analysis is being seen as increasingly important in understanding inter‐organizational life. The paper will introduce the idea of network learning, which is in principle a way of making social networks explicit and using an understanding of them as a part of a learning process for partnership development. The paper will also argue for a practice of network learning which integrates social network analysis with Soft Operational Research. This combination, it will be shown, provides further insights into understanding collaboration (a systems‐level phenomena) in inter‐agency networks or partnerships. These ideas will be described and reviewed in detail via a case study. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

<b>O design na pesquisa quali-quantitativa em engenharia de produção – questões epistemológicas</b>

O presente artigo pretende discutir e apresentar uma proposta de design de pesquisa operacional aplicado à engenharia de produção que contemple os elementos materiais e formais do processo investigativo, concentrando a discussão nas bases epistemológicas do desenvolvimento cientifico, nos critérios internos e externos de validade da pesquisa e na formação do pesquisador como elemento primário e estratégico do processo de produção de conhecimento. O artigo divide-se em quatro secções sendo que inicialmente apresenta-se a controvérsia entre Popper e Kuhn quanto à cientificidade e método cientifico para em seguida apresentar o constructo dos autores a esse respeito. Em seguida caracterizam-se os métodos qualitativos e quantitativos e justifica-se a necessidade de predominância da abordagem qualiquantitativa em algumas áreas da engenharia de produção. A terceira secção trata do projeto de pesquisa ou design de pesquisa, suas características, seus elementos materiais e formais, o uso disciplinado de critérios de validação interna e externa e o seu uso na formação do pesquisador. Palavras-chave: Pesquisa Quali-quantitativa em Engenharia de Produção, Pesquisa Operacional Soft, Epistemologia.

The theoretical underpinnings of soft systems methodology—comparing the work of Geoffrey Vickers and Humberto Maturana

AbstractThis paper seeks to juxtapose the work of Sir Geoffrey Vickers and Humberto Maturana with a view to thinking more about the theoretical underpinnings of Peter Checkland's soft systems methodology (SSM) and of soft systems and soft operational research more generally. The paper argues that Maturana's ‘Theory of the Observer’ can usefully complement Vickers by specifying more precisely the nature of the cognitive structures that underpin people's descriptions of situations, by clarifying the relationship between cognitive creativity and the historical and relational constraints that bear upon people's descriptions and explanations, and by providing a more complete description of the dynamics that underpin individual and social learning. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mixing methodologies to enhance the implementation of healthcare operational research

Healthcare Operational Research (OR) has had limited success in achieving a sufficient level of stakeholder acceptance to lead to implementation of results. This research study is aimed at combining OR methodologies to achieve greater acceptance of results for organizational change. Patient flow delays in the Paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin were identified using case studies. Patient flow was modelled using hard OR (simulation) using case study findings, with active stakeholder participation, and enhanced with outcomes research. Outcomes research allowed achieving greater clinical relevance of OR findings. Results from hard OR, particularly for politically sensitive issues, were persuasive but inadequate to result in change. Soft OR (cognitive mapping) was used to identify new issues and enhance results. Consequently, the planned PICU expansion was deferred, and resources focused on improving staffing strategies identified independently from both hard and soft OR. These findings suggest that: (1) Outcomes research can play a unique role to enhance results in healthcare OR. (2) After obtaining a holistic understanding of the system using hard and soft OR, stakeholders are willing to implement results from each independently, supporting the development of a common form of knowledge, which is consistent with Mixed-Mode Modelling. (3) Hard OR, enhanced with outcomes research, with active stakeholder participation, and combined with soft OR, results in greater acceptance and sustained organizational change.

Operational research: a multidisciplinary field

This paper is focusing on the following question: What is Operational Research (OR)? We will show that there is not a single and simple answer. Epistemological assumptions and practical traditions define different types of OR. We have identified three: The technical or hard OR, the practical or soft OR, and the critical OR. Following a historical perspective we will present these three schools. Habermas' theory about the three cognitive interests will provide a framework to understand this development. Finally, some final remarks about the future of OR will be outlined.

A Study of the Philadelphia Knowledge Economy

A local civic organization, Greater Philadelphia First, engaged us to study the knowledge economy of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region and make recommendations on ways to improve its rate of growth. To structure our thinking and the interviews with local entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and others, using soft operations research techniques, we developed a framework for collecting ideas through interviews, generating our own by reflecting on the interviews, and organizing the resulting ideas. We generated a large number of useful ideas for improving the local knowledge economy. The organization sifted through the collection of ideas and selected the ones it is now advocating.

Contemporary OR/MS in strategy development and policy-making: some reflections

It is now widely accepted that strategy-making and policy development require both rational analysis and an ability to work with insights that are sometimes hard to pin down. Can operational research (OR) contribute to this process in which soft and hard are interwoven? Simon's longstanding distinction between substantive and procedural rationality is helpful in addressing this question. Undoubtedly, OR has made major contributions to strategy development, although there has been a marked tendency to argue for even greater use of substantive rationality. In addition, some soft OR methods are also successfully used in strategy development as ways to provide procedural rationality. Add to this the suggestion of Sagasti that metaphor and language are powerful tools in strategizing, then there is a powerful case for the greater use of OR/management science is strategy development and policy-making.

Scenario planning––lessons for practice from teaching and learning

This paper begins with an introduction to the scenario concept in relation to futures thinking, Soft Operational Research and strategic development. A brief overview of the range of scenario development methods available is then presented. The paper goes on to introduce a particular scenario development methodology as advocated in the 1970s and 1980s, which for a number of years has formed a core component of a strategic development course taught at the University of Warwick. A large number of participants from a variety of backgrounds have experienced the course over a 15 year period and have developed scenarios for real organisations in workshops and live settings. This paper draws from such experiences, by identifying a number of common pitfalls concerning scenario development, and then recommending a revised methodology that addresses them. A selection of scenarios developed by participants are used both to illustrate the pitfalls observed and the improvements achieved.

Mapping Policy Discourse with CRANES: Spatial Understanding Support Systems as a Medium for Community Conflict Resolution

In this paper I will report on the development of a new spatial understanding support system (SUSS) for representing community disputes. It is argued that the more traditional approach of spatial decision support systems (SDSS) has had limited success in its application to actual community conflicts. In this study I have therefore adopted an alternative approach to spatial decision support, broadly following the paradigm of soft operational research. A prototype system termed CRANES (coordinator for rational arguments through nested substantiation) has been developed based on this alternative approach, integrated with a GIS. CRANES is a computer-assisted communication tool that aims to structure conflicts with their geographical, strategic, and argumentative dimensions. In the case study CRANES was introduced into an actual consultation exercise on an urban regeneration scheme in London. Results show that the multidimensional representation realised by CRANES contributed to a richer understanding of other peoples' arguments. Furthermore these arguments structured by and stored in CRANES proved to be a useful public resource for future decision making. It is concluded that SUSS such as CRANES could be incorporated into a future consultation process for many real-world community conflicts.