Operations research is the science of rational decision-making and optimizing complex systems through modeling and informed decisions. It was developed during World War II to optimize war resources and later applied to civilian industry. While definitions have evolved, operations research uses interdisciplinary teams to represent problems mathematically and provide quantitative analysis to support executive decision making.
2. INTRODUCTION
• Operations Research is the science of rational decision-making and the study,
design and integration of complex situations and systems with the goal of
predicting system behaviour and improving or optimizing system performance.
• The formal activities of operation research were initiated in England during World
War II to make decisions regarding the best utilization of war material.
• After the war the ideas advanced in military operations were adapted to improve
efficiency and productivity in the civilian sector.
• That developed to today’s dominant and indispensable decision-making tool,
Operations research.
• It encompasses managerial decision making, mathematical and computer
modelling and the use of information technology for informed decision-making
3. MEANING
• The term “operations research” has a number of quite distinct
variations of meaning.
• OR is that certain body of problems, techniques, and solutions that
has been accumulated under the name of OR over the past 30 years,
and we apply OR when we recognize a problem of that certain genre.
• To others, it is an activity or process-something we do, rather than
know-which by its very nature is applied.
4. DEFNITION
• Operations Research has been defined so far in various ways and still not
been defined in an authoritative way.
• Some important and interesting opinions about the definition of OR which
have been changed according to the development of the subject been
given below:
• OR is a scientific method of providing executive departments with a
quantitative basis for decision regarding the operations under their control.
-Morse and Kimbal(9164)
• OR is a scientific method of providing executive with an analytical and
objective basis for decisions. - P.M.S.Blacket(1948)
5. • OR utilizes the planned approach (updated scientific method) and an
inter-disciplinary team in order to represent complex functional
relationships as mathematical models for purpose of providing a
quantitative basis for decision making and uncovering new problems
for quantitative analysis. - Thieanfand”Klekamp (1975)