Commentary on “Visualization in Operations Management Research”

This valuable paper (Basole et al. 2021) promotes visualization in operations management (OM) research. However, I believe (1) that a wider scope would provide a stronger foundation for their encouragement and (2) that a more positive attitude would increase the chances of their succeeding.

The narrow focus on academic research means the audience for the two theory issues is academic researchers, but the third issue addresses the external audience of practitioners and fellow researchers. The authors are all academics, but I wish they would have included a professional researcher to broaden their perspective and increase their impact. OM researchers in commercial and government settings often have deep insights about what works and solid understandings of how to tailor OM theories and strategies to specific organizational needs.

A memorable example was the OM researcher at a large transportation company who was eager to introduce tree map visualizations for 225 managers to enable them to manage supply chains, equipment failures, schedule delays, and personnel issues. Even after substantial training, the managers made limited use of the general purpose visualization tool, even though it enabled exploration of large volumes of diverse data sources. However, after interviewing the managers, the OM researcher identified the specific tasks each manager was doing; he created a unique dashboard that showed only relevant current status when each manager opened his or her computer in the morning. This made for a successful rollout and enthusiastic continuing use, which resulted in measurably improved organizational performance.

My second comment is that the negative tone and fear of misrepresentation undermine the message that visualization is very powerful for OM tasks. Table 1 concisely gives some of the benefits of visualization. In a longer article, they could add examples and report on the strong empirical evidence that demonstrates its benefits. Simply put, visualization amplifies human cognition by presenting complex data in ways that facilitate bolder more appropriate decisions. It is often said that visualization is like a telescope or microscope, enabling users to view and understand processes that are otherwise invisible. The examples and figures in the paper are good demonstrations of the efficacy of visualization, which should be more celebrated in the text.

The bright positive stance is eclipsed by the shadow of fear of misrepresentation by omission and inclusion. Although Figure 5 gives good examples of preferable representations, phrasings such as “there are pitfalls to both omitting key elements as well as including issues that obfuscate” raise danger signs for potential converts to visualization. The authors do identify three analytical purposes of visualization: prescriptive, predictive, and descriptive. These are helpful, but they are presented in the context of “misrepresentation concerns” and “we have repeatedly seen researchers underutilize or incorrectly utilize visualization techniques in ways that result in biased or incorrect conclusions and interpretations.” The section on “Continuing and Emerging Concerns” adds to the worries readers might have about privacy, security, chart junk, uncertainty, bias, etc.

Every means of discovery and communication can be misused. Misinformation is a currently common theme; but the history of false texts, doctored images, and misleading statistics shows that every valuable communication method can be abused. The intense concerns about irreproducible results highlight the concerns about dangers in statistical hypothesis testing, so strong efforts are needed in every field to promote good practices that ensure the benefits of our analytic and communication tools.

The closing sentence has a positive message, but the complex wording makes it difficult to recognize it as an encouragement for visualization. I see a much brighter picture that clearly shows large benefits to using visualization in OM research and practice. I encourage these leading authors to do even more to advance the OM field and improve professional use of visualization, which enables deeper understanding and more thoughtful decisions.

Visualization is an increasingly powerful set of strategies, embedded in widely used software tools and heavily used in journalism, business, research, and education. The novelty of interpreting and making visualizations means that its acceptance is still growing, so readers should be energetically encouraged to benefit from visualization’s potent amplification of human cognition.