Management Science Process—Problem Construction and the Influence of O.R.

The article below was the keynote address at the Australian Operational Research Society Conference last summer. It deals with a major issue in the Management Science process, the problem of consultant-client relationships, as well as the larger topic of the decision support systems, which are being discussed frequently in America and in the pages of this journal. An earlier exposition of some of these same ideas by Professor Eden and his colleague Professor David Sims appeared in the February 1981 “Management Science Process” column; hopefully, a greater interface between the work being done in these areas in the United States and elsewhere will be stimulated. (from the foreword of the column editor Robert J. Graham.)