¹University of Hull, Hull, East Yorkshire, UK

Correspondence: MC Jackson, The Business School, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, East Yorkshire, HU6 7RX, UK. E-mail: m.c.Jackson@hull.ac.uk

Received November 2004; Accepted August 2005; Published online 9 November 2005.

Abstract

Some of the most influential pioneers of OR felt disappointed by the way it developed in the 1960s and 1970s. In their view, the original intention to create a holistic, interdisciplinary science addressed to strategic problems was betrayed. Problem structuring methods (PSMs) have made a significant contribution to taking OR/MS forward again in the direction charted by those pioneers. From a theoretical perspective, however, it is clear that the opportunities provided by PSMs tend to be limited to those drawn from the interpretive paradigm. That is only one way of adding to the positivist/quantitative approach of classical OR/MS. This paper suggests that OR has an obligation to explore a wider range of theoretical options and to convert the possibilities offered by all of these into a form that managers and management scientists can use. Only in this way can OR be reinvented to live up to the ambitions of its founders.