OPERATIONS RESEARCH

Operations Research (OR) is defined, according to the International Federation of Operational Research Societies, as a scientific approach to the solution of problems in the management of complex systems. Unlike the natural sciences, OR is a science of the artificial in that its object is not natural reality but rather human-made reality, the reality of complex human-machine systems. OR involves not just theoretical study but also practical application. Its purpose is not only to understand the world as it is, but also to develop guidelines about how to change it in order to achieve aims or to solve certain problems. Ethical considerations are thus crucial to almost all aspects of OR research and practice.

Origins

OR as a specific scientific discipline dates back to the years immediately preceding World War II. First in the United Kingdom and later in the United States, interdisciplinary groups were constituted with the objective of improving military operations through a scientific approach. A typical example is the British Anti-Aircraft Command Research Group, better known as Blackett's Circus, which consisted of three physiologists, four physicists, two mathematicians, one army officer, and one surveyor.

Experience with OR in the military context during the war was the basis for new applications in industry afterward. The development of complex, large, and decentralized industrial organizations together with the introduction of computers and the mechanization of many functions required novel scientific approaches to decision making and management. This need led to the establishment, not only in industry but also in academia, of what formally became known as operational research in the United Kingdom, and operations research or management science in the United States (these last two terms are often used synonymously).

The first national OR scientific society was founded in 1948 in the United Kingdom. The U.S. societies, Operations Research Society of America (ORSA) and the Institute of Management Science (TIMS), which later merged as the Institute for Operational Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), followed a few years later. In 1959 the International Federations of Operational Research Societies was established.

Optimization plays a major role in OR methodologies: Problems are formulated by means of a set of constraints (equalities or inequalities) and an objective function. The maximization or minimization of the objective function subject to the constraints provides the problem's solution.

Codes versus Principles

Ethics in any applied science develop along two complementary lines. First scientific or professional codes of ethics can be created. These are typically sets of rules, sometimes well-defined, sometimes generic. Useful as they are, ethics codes are external directives not evolved from any individual's ethical beliefs and may lead to double standards. Some evidence suggests that people apply ethical standards at work that are often different and significantly lower than those they follow in their private lives. Although no major national OR society has a formal ethics code, the codes of related scientific disciplines may be applied to OR.

A second way to develop a particular ethics is through an individual approach based upon principles and values instead of rules that govern behavior. According to philosopher Hans Jonas (1903–1993), the following principle can be the basis of an ethical discourse: People have a responsibility toward others, be it humankind (past, present, and future generations) or nature. Another principle of responsibility complements this general rule: Knowledge in all forms must be shared and made available to everyone; cooperation rather than competition should be at the basis of research activity. The latter is called the sharing and cooperation principle (Gallo 2003). These principles are basic to confronting two issues that are crucial to the survival of society: increasing societal inequalities and sustainability.

Models and Methods

If the above are accepted as appropriate principles of responsibility, they can be applied to OR, and, in particular, to model building, which is the fundamental OR activity. The first issue in this regard is determining whether ethics has anything to say about model construction. In his excellent book on ethics and models, William A. Wallace (1994) reports a consensus in the OR research community to the effect that "one of the ethical responsibilities [of modelers] is that the goal of any model building process is objectivity with clear assumptions, reproducible results, and no advocacy" (Wallace 1994, p. 6), and on the "need for model builders to be honest, to represent reality as faithfully as possible in their models, to use accurate data, to represent the results of the models as clearly as possible, and to make clear to the model user what the model can do and what its limitations are" (Wallace 1994, p. 8).

But might responsibility also arise at an earlier stage, when choosing the methodology to create the model? In other words, are methodologies (and hence models) value neutral? This is a controversial issue. It can be argued that behind the role of optimization in OR and the parallel development of optimality as a fundamental principle in the analysis of economic activities and in decision making related to such activities, there are assumptions with ethical implications. Among these is whether self-interest is the only motivation for individual economic choices; whether maximization of the utility function is the best formal way to model individual behavior; and whether, by applying the proper rate of substitution, anything can be traded for anything else, with the consequence that everything can be assigned a monetary value.

These considerations have led some, including J. Pierre Brans (2002), to advocate the use of multicriteria approaches in order to balance objective, subjective, and ethical concerns in model building and problem solving. Such approaches do not reduce, by weighting, different, often noncommensurable, criteria (including those derived from ethical considerations) to one single criterion. Instead each criterion maintains its individuality, leading to a solution that is acceptable to or appropriate for the parties, rather than one that is objectively optimal.

Another issue in the application of principles of responsibility is that optimization-based models are often solution oriented: The final goal of the model is the solution, for instance, the recommendation of action to be made to the client. Some argue that the process is more important than the solution: creating a learning process in which all parties involved acquire a better understanding of the problem and of the system in which the problem arises, with its structure and its dynamics, and have a say in the final decision. These concerns, which call for a broader sense of responsibility not only with respect to the client but to all stakeholders, have led to divisions in the OR community. The development of alternative approaches such as systems thinking and soft operational research are some results.

Clients and Society

Another important question concerns the kind of clients served. As pointed out by Jonathan Rosenhead (1994), OR practitioners "have worked almost exclusively for one type of client: the management of large, hierarchically structured work organizations in which employees are constrained to pursue interests external to their own" (Rosenhead 1994, p. 195). Yet these are not the only possible clients. Other types of organizations exist, operating by consensus rather than chain of command, and representing various interests in society (health, education, housing, employment, environment). Such organizations usually have limited resources though the problems they face are no less challenging for the OR profession.

This fact has ethical relevance. Because the use of models constitutes a source of power, the OR profession runs the risk of aiding the powerful and neglecting the weak, thus contributing to the imbalance of power in society. A positive but rather isolated example of OR assistance outside the sphere of big business is community operational research in the United Kingdom. This initiative has allowed many OR researchers and practitioners to work with community groups, such as associations, cooperatives and trades unions.

Another way OR may contribute to power imbalances at the international level is in the strict enforcement of patents and intellectual property rights. Wide dissemination of methodologies and software, in accordance with the sharing and cooperation principle mentioned above, might reduce the technology divide between rich and poor countries.

GIORGIO GALLO

SEE ALSO Management;Models and Modelling.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brans, J. Pierre. (2002). "Ethics and Decisions." European Journal of Operational Research 136: 340–352.

Gallo, Giorgio. (2003). "Operations Research and Ethics: Responsibility, Sharing and Cooperation." European Journal of Operational Research 153: 468–476.

Rosenhead, Jonathan. (1994). "One-Sided Practice—Can We Do Better?" In Ethics in Modeling, ed. William A. Wallace. Tarrytown, NY: Pergamon.

Wallace, William A., ed. (1994). Ethics in Modeling. Tarrytown, NY: Pergamon.