Elsevier

Omega

Volume 22, Issue 6, November 1994, Pages 579-588
Omega

Doing community operational research with multicultural groups

https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-0483(94)90049-3Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper presents two brief case studies from our work with multicultural groups, and explores some of the issues of OR practice in this context. The paper particularly focuses on issues to do with the process of OR, rather than on the detailed content of the case studies. In the discussion that follows, we examine one theme which we see as central to O(u)R practice, namely working with ‘difference’; present some guidelines that we have found useful in practice; and examine the question of the accessibility of community OR to community groups.

References (26)

  • C Ritchie

    Community OR—five years of organised activities and beyond

    Int. Trans. OR

    (1994)
  • G Deleuze et al.

    Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

    (1984)
  • C Eden et al.

    Messing About in Problems

    (1983)
  • RL Flood et al.

    Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention

    (1991)
  • F Franisella et al.

    A Manual for Repertory Grid Technique

    (1977)
  • J Habermas

    Theory of Communicative Action

    (1985)
  • D Held

    Introduction to Critical Theory

    (1980)
  • L Heldke

    Recipes for theory making

    Hypatia

    (1988)
  • N Howard et al.

    Manifesto for a theory of drama and irrational choice

    J. Opl Res. Soc.

    (1992)
  • MC Jackson

    Community operational research: purposes, theory and practice

    Dragon

    (1987)
  • MC Jackson

    Community Operational Research

  • J-F Lyotard

    The Postmodern Condition: a Report on Knowledge

    (1984)
  • Cited by (15)

    • Operational Research for, with, and by citizens: An overview

      2023, European Journal of Operational Research
    • Applying systems thinking models of organizational design and change in community operational research

      2018, European Journal of Operational Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      Numerous authors have discussed the history of Operational Research (OR) and the origins of Community OR (see, for example, Johnson, 2012; Midgley & Ochoa-Arias, 2004). Citing Bajgier, Maragah, Saccucci, Verzilli, and Prybutok (1991) and Taket and White (1994), Johnson and Smilowitz (2012) clarify how “UK-style” Community OR deviates from the “consultant” view of traditional operational research: “successful community-based OR models and applications require substantial stakeholder participation in problem definition, solution, and implementation (p. 104). OR has a long history of community applications (see Ackoff, 1970, for one of the seminal papers).

    • Spontaneous emergence of Community OR: Self-initiating, self-organising problem structuring mediated by social media

      2018, European Journal of Operational Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      Pioneering work can be seen from Ackoff's work with leaders in the black community in Mantua, USA (Ackoff, 1970), Cook's work in Aston, Birmingham, UK (Cook, 1984), Eden's et al. work with charities (Jones & Eden, 1981), and Beer's work with the Allende government of Chile (Beer, 1974). After an explosion of interest, a number of clusters of applications have sprung up (Jones & Eden, 1981), including work in housing (Johnson, 2007, 2012; Midgley, Munlo, & Brown, 1998; Rosenhead & White, 1996; Thunhurst & Ritchie, 1992; Thunhurst, Ritchie, Friend, & Booker, 1992), health (White, 1999, 2003), poverty (Taket & White, 1994), and sustainability (Waltner-Toews, Neudoerffer, Joshi, & Tamang, 2005). It seems that the extant literature on Community OR involves the application of methods in an enhanced way to problems in which interests of underrepresented or vulnerable populations in communities are the main concern, and for which solutions to these problems are difficult (Midgley & Ochoa-Arias, 1999).

    • A systems approach to understanding the perspectives in the changing landscape of responsible business in Scotland

      2018, European Journal of Operational Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      These ideas inform desirable and feasible change, through deliberation on the problematic situation, options for transformation, and possible actions to improve the situation (Checkland, 1999). This is important in the context of COR models and their application, as they require substantial stakeholder participation in problem definition, solution and implementation (Bajgier, Maragah, Saccucci, Verzilli, & Prybutok, 1991; Taket & White, 1994; Johnson & Smilowitz, 2007). In this study, we recognised that the problem could not be addressed by the client alone, and we acknowledged Olsson and Sjöstedt's (2004) suggestion that SSM is a powerful tool to invest in social capital – particularly in making the problem area transparent for those who are addressing it.

    • Understanding behaviour in problem structuring methods interventions with activity theory

      2016, European Journal of Operational Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      There could also be a focus on political representation that seeks to establish whether the system of representation has conferred agency to the represented, i.e. whether the representation process has distributed agency throughout a system. In this way, the political sense of ‘representation’—as the delegation of authority to speak and act on behalf of others (Latour, 1987; Taket & White, 2000b; White & Taket, 2000) is taken to be merged with a semiotic conception of a sign ‘speaking’ on behalf of its object (see Taket & White, 1994). Models as semiotic resources form an increasingly important part of our understanding of the process, reflecting what some have termed the emergence of a problem structuring culture (Ackermann, 2012; Eden & Ackermann, 2013).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text