Is Management Science Arcane?

As has been previously noted by Klein and Butkovich [Klein, D., P. Butkovich. 1976. Can the professions of operations research/management science change and survive? Interfaces6 (3, May) 47–51.], “the regular reader of Interfaces has been confronted with constant prophesies of trouble for the profession.” Anyone reading the May 1976 issue of Interfaces would certainly come away with the idea that OR/MS is arcane [Grayson, C. J. 1973. Management science and business practice. Harvard Bus. Rev.51 (4, July–August).] and rapidly disintegrating. I propose to argue, however, that the opposite could be true and that subtle changes have been occurring in the profession which could result in a revitalization in the next decade. The following is a review of the articles in the May 1976 Interfaces discussing some of the causes of the lack of faith in MS/OR. Following this, some trends in the profession will be shown that may alleviate many of the previous ills, and further suggestions for progress are presented.