"No science has ever been born on a specific day. Each science emerges out of a convergence of an increased interest in some class of problems and the development of scientific methods, techniques, and tools which are adequate to solve these problems. Operations Research (O. R.) is no exception. Its roots are as old as science and the management function." (C West Churchman et al., "Introduction to Operations Research", 1957)
"An objective of O.R. as it emerged from this evolution of industrial organization, is to provide managers of the organizations with a scientific basis for solving problems involving the interaction of the components of the organization in the best interest of the organization as a whole. A decision which is best for the organization as a whole is called optimum decision." (C West Churchman et al, "Introduction to Operations Research", 1957)
"The systems approach to problems does not mean that the most generally formulated problem must be solved in one research project. However desirable this may be, it is seldom possible to realize it in practice. In practice, parts of the total problem are usually solved in sequence. In many cases the total problem cannot be formulated in advance but the solution of one phase of it helps define the next phase. For example, a production control project may require determination of the most economic production quantities of different items. Once these are found it may turn out that these quantities cannot be produced on the available equipment in the available time. This, then, gives rise to a new problem whose solution will affect the solution obtained in the first phase." (C West Churchman et al, "Introduction to Operations Research", 1957)
"The concern of OR with finding an optimum decision, policy, or design is one of its essential characteristics. It does not seek merely to define a better solution to a problem than the one in use; it seeks the best solution... [It] can be characterized as the application of scientific methods, techniques, and tools to problems involving the operations of systems so as to provide those in control of the operations with optimum solutions to the problems." (C West Churchman et al, "Introduction to Operations Research", 1957)
"Operational research is the application of methods of the research scientist to various rather complex practical operations." (John F T Hassell, "The Scientific Approach", 1965)
"Operations research (OR) is the securing of improvement in social systems by means of scientific method." (C West Churchman, "Operations research as a profession", 1970)
"Decision theory, as it has grown up in recent years, is a formalization of the problems involved in making optimal choices. In a certain sense - a very abstract sense, to be sure - it incorporates among others operations research, theoretical economics, and wide areas of statistics, among others." (Kenneth Arrow, "The Economics of Information", 1984)
"The lag between knowing the facts and knowing the system which generates the facts can be considerable. […] Similarly there is a lag in passing from the stage in which sets of empirical observations constitute exciting discoveries, to the stage of insight into underlying mechanism, in every field of management today. In controlling the economy and diplomacy and society at large, in controlling business and industry and commerce, we have collected facts and perhaps identified systems. But we have barely begun to explain their underlying mechanism. This is what operational research is for." (Stanford Beer, "Decision and Control", 1994)
