The Role of Operations Research in Systems Analysis

This paper focuses its attention on the role of Operations Research practitioners. In particular, the field of Operations Research is contrasted with that of mathematics. A particular example in circuit switching for a military voice system is described. The example illustrates the need to evaluate real world systems (existing or hypothesized) in order to establish a mathematical model's applicability and accuracy. To achieve real world relevance. Operations Research should be more oriented to attack problems organized by industry and, within each industry, to suggest heuristic approaches where no one model is satisfactory.