Operational Research and the Knowledge Structure of Management Disciplines

The discipline of Operational Research (OR) has always been important in the management field. It has a problem‐ solving/decision‐support focus; it guides the development of many management disciplines, such as management accounting, logistics management, and information systems design, to name a few. It is, in brief, a vital subject for guiding management practices and management development. Because of that, it can appear disturbing to note that contemporary OR has been facing a number of challenges and is obsessed with a number of theoretical/methodological concerns. Two recent examples illustrate this situation: