Information Systems in Management Science—The Role of Management Science

Mathematical optimization is a collection of techniques for finding the highest ground in a well-defined region. There are a number of good computer systems available for linear programming, as well as integer, mixed-integer, and nonlinear programming. Furthermore, there are simulation languages which allow the user to search a region for near-optimal solutions. Although these techniques are valuable, I feel that no matter how interesting they prove to be, they are less important than techniques for defining the regions of interest. By techniques of definition, I mean those techniques such as writing scenarios, “brain-storming,” or decision theory, which encourage the problem solver to provide the decision maker with alternative solutions rather than a simple optimal solution. Because of their importance to management, I feel that they deserve a great deal more attention than they have gotten.