The intellectual endeavours of OR and systems scholars: The dynamic evolution of intellectual interactions

Richard Ormerod

Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2025, vol. 42, issue 3, 607-628

Abstract: In conducting their research, academics engage in intellectual work. To illustrate the dynamic evolution of scholars collaborating over time, the development and use of critical systems heuristics (CSH) is taken as an example; historically, CSH consists of an intergenerational chain involving Churchman, Ulrich and Midgley, each a highly productive intellectual worker. Twenty‐four published papers are selected to provide qualitative empirical data. The data was then examined using a theoretical model developed by the sociologist Randall Collins. The Collins model is developed from an analysis of a wide variety of intellectual endeavours and depicts the rules of the dynamics of intellectual competition between academics. The purpose of this paper is to develop a simple method whereby systems and OR academics can evaluate past research strategies and actions, and inform future research decisions, big or small, that involve qualitative (soft) or quantitative (hard) OR and systems thinking.

Date: 2025
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