The logic and methods of OR consulting practice: towards a foundational view

Richard J. Ormerod

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2018, vol. 69, issue 9, 1357-1378

Abstract: OR consultants aspire to provide their clients with good reasoning. OR methods are designed to support the process of developing good reasoning. Logic examines what counts as good reasoning. The aim of the paper is to investigate the foundations of OR in terms of the relationship between logic and the activities and methods of OR inquiry. The approach taken is: (i) to identify the types of activities that OR practitioners typically engage in during an OR project; (ii) to introduce some of the main areas of logical reasoning, particularly those relevant to OR practice such as deductive, inductive, modal, and informal logic; and (iii) to bring these two lines of thinking together in order to examine the relationship between logic and OR practice and methods. The key finding is that although the core activities and methods of gathering data, analysing it and developing models are logically well founded, the management of uncertainty in the line of argument could benefit from the insights and methods provided by logic. From this analysis, some practical suggestions are made to improve the process of OR, the development of the line of argument, and the honing of advice given to clients.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01605682.2017.1392407 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tjorxx:v:69:y:2018:i:9:p:1357-1378

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tjor20

DOI: 10.1080/01605682.2017.1392407

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Operational Research Society is currently edited by Tom Archibald

More articles in Journal of the Operational Research Society from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().