History of Operations Research

The term operations research (O.R.) was invented during World War II , when the British military management called upon a group of scientists together to apply a scientific approach in the study of military operations to win the battle. The main objective was to allocate limited resources in an effective manner to various military operations and to the activities within each operation. Due to the availability of faster and flexible computing facilities and the number of qualified O.R. professionals, it is now widely used in military, business, industry, transportation, public health, crime investigation, etc.

Introduction
It is concerned with co-ordinating and controlling the operations or activities within the organization. O.R takes tools from subjects like mathematics, statistics, engineering, economics, psychology, etc. and uses them to know the consequences of possible alternative actions. Operations research is a discipline plainly devoted to help decision makers.

Various names for operations research are; operational research, management science, and decision analysis.

Operations
The activities carried out in an organization related to attaining its goals and objectives.
The process of observations and testing described by the scientific method. The steps of the process include observing the situation and formulating a problem statement constructing a mathematical model Assuming that the model represents the important aspects of the situation and validating the model through experimentation.

Research

Organization The society in which

the problem arises or for which the solution is important. It may be a corporation, a department, or a branch of government

Definitions
O.R. is concerned with scientifically deciding how to best design and operate man-machine systems usually under conditions requiring the allocation of limited resources. O.R. Society of America Operations research is a scientific approach to problem solving for executive management. H.M. Wagner O.R. is the application of scientific methods, techniques and tools to problems involving the operations of a system so as to provide those in control of the system with optimum solution to the problem. Churchman, Ackoff and Arnoff O.R. is the application of the theories of Probability, Statistics, Queuing, Games, Linear Programming, etc. to the problems of war, govt. and industry.

Characteristics of O.R.

System Orientation of OR: The systems approach to problems recognizes that the behaviour of any part of a system has some effect on the behaviour of the system as a whole.

Thus, operations research attempts to evaluate the effect of changes in any part of a system on the performance of the system as a whole and to search for causes of a problem that arises in one part of a system in other parts or in the interrelationships between parts.

Characteristics of O.R.

Use of Inter-disciplinary Teams: OR requires a team approach to a solution of the problem. This requires a blend of people with expertise in the areas of mathematics, statistics, engineering, economics, management, computer science and so on. Application of scientific method: Simulation models can be used to conduct experiment on the large organized systems. Provided the model is good, experiments (called simulations) can be conducted on it, or other methods can be used to obtain useful results.

Characteristics of O.R.

Uncovering of new problems: When optimizing one system, it may results in few other problems added. Therefore a continuous research is required in OR Objective: OR attempts to locate the best or optimal solution to the problem. Therefore it is necessary that a measure of effectiveness is defined which is based on the goals of the organization. This measure is then used as a basis to compare the alternative courses actions. Use of Computer: The computer may required due to the complexity of the model, volume of the data required and the computations to be made.

Phases and Processes of O.R.

Formulate the problem: In this phase the O.R. scientist gets sufficient information and support to proceed and to formulate the problem. This process starts with understanding of the organizational climate, its objectives and expectations. Develop a model: Once a problem is formulated, the next step is to express the problem into a mathematical model that represents systems, processes or environment in the form of equations, relationships or formulas. Select appropriate data input: No model will work appropriately if data input is not appropriate. The purpose of this step is to have sufficient input to operate and test the model.

Solution of the model: After selecting the appropriate data input, the next step is to find a solution. If the model is not behaving properly, then updating and modification is considered at this stage. Validation of the model: A model is said to be valid if it can provide a reliable prediction of the systems performance. Implement the solution: The implementation of the solution involves so many behavioral issues and the implementing authority is responsible for resolving these issues. A properly implemented solution obtained through O.R. techniques results in improved working and wins the management support.

Techniques of Operations Research

Linear Programming. Linear Programming (LP) is a mathematical technique of assigning a fixed amount of resources to satisfy a number of demands in such a way that some objective is optimized. Transportation Problems. The transportation problem is a special type of linear programming problem, where the objective is to minimize the cost of distributing a product from a number of sources to a number of destinations. Dynamic Programming. Dynamic programming is a methodology useful for solving problems that involve taking decisions over several stages in a sequence.

Sequencing Model. It is applicable when the facilities are fixed but the order of servicing may be controlled. The scheduling of service or the sequencing of jobs is done to minimize the relevant costs.

The other models of O.R. are;

Queuing Theory Game Theory Inventory Control Models Simulation. Nonlinear Programming Integer Programming Network Scheduling-PERT and CPM. Symbolic Logic Information Theory

Summary
O.R. is a relatively new academic discipline. It has its origin in World War II and soon became very popular throughout the world. Developing appropriate mathematical models for situations, processes, systems is the basic essence of O.R. study. Linear programming, dynamic programming, game theory, simulation, etc. are some of the models & techniques that are used in O.R. There is role of O.R. in almost all areas of business decisions.

Self Test Questions

1.What is Operations Research? 2. Describe the various steps involved in O.R. study.

3.

Discuss in detail the characteristics of O.R.

4. Enumerate, with brief description, some of the techniques of O.R.

5. Identify some areas of application of O.R. technique in your organization.