Emeritus Professor

Biography

25 years in industry as bridge engineer, 1967-71; factory manager, 1972-73; operational researcher, 1973-78; corporate strategist, 1978-87; management consultant, 1987-91. Joined Warwick Business School in 1991 as Professor of Operational Research and Systems. Subsequently appointed Associate Dean of Executive Education and Professor of Management. Franz Edelman Award finalist 1995. Awarded the Beale medal by the operational Research Society in 2016.

 Research Interests

The focus of research has been the practice of operational research; how practice can be described, understood and improved. The perspective pursued is that of a practitioner. Particular topics include: the philosophy of OR; the process of OR; the transformation competence perspective; case studies of OR interventions; development of information systems strategies; strategic modeling; soft OR.

 Journal Publications

Ormerod RJ. "The fitness and survival of the OR profession in the age of artificial intelligence" Journal of the Operational Research Society 72(2021): 4-22.

Ormerod RJ. “Pragmatism in professional practice” Systems Research and Behavioural Science (2020): Open Access https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2739

Ormerod RJ. "The history and ideas of sociological functionalism: Talcott Parsons, modern sociological theory, and the relevance for OR" Journal of the Operational Research Society 71(2020): 1873-1899.

Ormerod RJ. "The pragmatic logic of OR consulting practice: Towards a foundational view" Journal of the Operational Research Society 71(2020): 1691-1709.

Ormerod RJ. "The logic and methods of OR consulting practice: Towards a foundational view" Journal of the Operational Research Society 69(2018): 1357-1379.

Ormerod RJ. “Writing practitioner case studies to help behavioural OR research: Application of the mangle perspective” Journal of the Operational Research Society 68(2017): 507-520.

Ormerod RJ. “Critical pragmatism for professional practice: some comments” Ulrich’s Bimonthly May-June (2016): 1-18.

Ormerod RJ. “Critical rationalism in practice and its relationship to critical systems thinking” Systems Research and Behavioural Science 33(2016): 4-23.

Ormerod RJ. “Critical rationalism in practice: Strategies to manage subjectivity in OR investigations. European Journal of Operational Research 235(2014): 784–797.

Ormerod RJ. "The mangle of OR practice: towards more informative case studies of ‘technical projects’" Journal of the Operational Research Society 65 (2014): 1245-1260.

Ormerod RJ. "OR competences: the demands of problem structuring methods" EURO Journal on Decision Processes 2(2014): 313-340

Ormerod RJ. and Ulrich W. “Operational research and ethics: A literature review” European Journal of Operational Research 228 (2013): 291–307.

Ormerod RJ. “Logic and rationality in OR interventions: an examination in the light of the ‘critical rationalist approach” Journal of the Operational Research Society 64(2013): 469–487.

Ormerod RJ. “OR as rational choice: a decision and game theory perspective” Journal of the Operational Research Society61(2010): 1761-1776.

Ormerod RJ. “Justifying the methods of OR” Journal of the Operational Research Society 61(2010): 1694-1708.

Ormerod RJ. “Rational Inference: deductive, inductive and probabilistic thinking” Journal of the Operational Research Society 61(2010): 1207-1223.

Ormerod RJ. “Articulate intervention revisited” Journal of the Operational Research Society 61(2010): 1078-1094.

Ormerod RJ. “The history and ideas of critical rationalism: the philosophy of Karl Popper and its implications for OR” Journal of the Operational Research Society 60(2009): 441-460.

Ormerod RJ. “The history and ideas of Marxism: the relevance for OR” Journal of the Operational Research Society 59(2008): 1573-1590.

Ormerod RJ. “The transformation competence perspective” Journal of the Operational Research Society 59(2008): 1435-1448.

Ormerod RJ. “The history and ideas of pragmatism” Journal of the Operational Research Society 57(2006): 892-909.

Ormerod RJ. “Putting soft OR methods to work: the case of IS strategy for the UK Parliament” Journal of the Operational Research Society 56(2005): 1379-1398.

Ormerod RJ. “On the nature of OR: taking stock” Journal of the Operational Research Society 53(2002): 475-491.

Leal de Matos P, Chen B and Ormerod RJ. “Optimisation models for re-routing air traffic flows in Europe” Journal of the Operational Research Society 52(2001): 1338-1349.

Leal de Matos P and Ormerod RJ. “The application of operational research to European air traffic flow management – understanding the context” European Journal of Operational Research 123(2000): 125-144.

Ormerod RJ, Delibassi P and Morris C. “Research Strategies used by OR/MS workers: extension of the analysis of the U.S flagship journals to the United Kingdom” Operations Research 48(2000): 527-534.

Ormerod RJ. “Putting soft OR methods to work - business improvement at PowerGen” European Journal of Operational Research 118(1999):1-29.

Ormerod RJ. “Putting soft OR methods to work - information systems strategy development at Palabora” Omega 26(1998): 75-98.

Pauley GS and Ormerod RJ. “The evolution of a performance measurement project at RTZ” Interfaces 28(1998): 94-118.

Ormerod RJ. “Beyond internal OR groups” Journal of the Operational Research Society 49(1998): 420-429.

Hsiao RL and Ormerod RJ. “A new perspective on the dynamics of IT-enabled strategic change” Information Systems Journal 8(1998): 21-52.

Ormerod RJ. “The role of OR in shaping the future: smart bits, helpful ways, and things that matter” Journal of the Operational Research Society 48(1997): 1045-1056.

Ormerod RJ. “The design of organisational intervention: choosing the approach” Omega. 25(1997): 415-513.

Ormerod RJ and Kiossis K. “OR/MS publications: extension of the analysis of U.S. Flagship Journals to the United Kingdom”. Operations Research 45(1997): 178-187.

Ormerod RJ. “OR models assist the Sizewell B public inquiry” OR Insight 10(1997): 2-7

Ormerod RJ. “An observation on publication habits based on the analysis of MS/OR Journals” Omega 26(1997): 599-603.

Ormerod RJ. “On the nature of OR – entering the fray” Journal of the Operational Research Society 47(1996): 1-17.

Ormerod RJ. “Combining management consulting and research” Omega 24(1996): 1-12.

Morley I and Ormerod RJ. “A language-action approach to operational research” Journal of the Operational Research Society 47(1996): 731-740.

Ormerod RJ. “Putting soft OR methods to work - information systems strategy development at Richards Bay” Journal of the Operational Research Society 47(1996): 1083-1097.

Ormerod RJ. “Information systems strategy development at Sainsbury’s supermarkets using ‘soft’ OR” Interfaces 26(1996): 102-130.

Ormerod RJ. “Putting soft OR methods to work: information systems strategy development at Sainsbury’s” Journal of the Operational Research Society 46(1995): 277-293.

Ormerod RJ. “The role of OR in information systems strategy development” International Transactions of Operational Research 2(1995): 17-27.

Ormerod RJ. “On the nature of information systems strategy development” Journal of Computing and Information Technology 1(1993): 285-293. 75-101.

Ormerod RJ. “The role of OR in strategy development” ORiON, The Journal of the OR Society of South Africa 9(1993): 71-87.

Ormerod RJ and McLeod J. “The development and use of the NCB strategic model” The Statistician 33(1984): 35-49.

Ormerod RJ. “Corporate planning and its use of O.R. in the N.C.B.: A personal view” Journal of the Operational Research Society 34(1983): 461-467.

Plackett MW, Ormerod RJ and Toft F. “The National Coal Board strategic model” European Journal of Operational Research 10(1982): 351-360.

Ormerod RJ. “Global resources of coal: opportunities, constraints and solutions” Resources and Conservation 7(1981): 69-73.

Ormerod RJ. “Energy models for decision making” European Journal of Operational Research 5(1980): 366-377.

 

Book Chapters

Ormerod RJ. “Mixing methods in practice” Rational Analysis for a Problematic World Revisited: Problem Structuring Methods for Complexity, Uncertainty and Conflict (2001): 311-336.

Ormerod RJ. “Putting systems theory to work – the synergy between theory and practice” Synergy matters: Working with Systems in the 21^st Century (1999): 19-24.

Ormerod RJ. “Mixing methods in practice: a transformation-competence perspective” Multimethodology: The Theory and Practice of Integrating Methodologies (1997): 29-58.

Ormerod RJ. “The role methodologies in systems strategy development: reflections on experience” Information Systems Provision: The Contribution of Soft Systems Methodology (1995): 75-101.

Ormerod RJ. “Managing IS in global companies” Systems Science: Addressing Global Issues (1993): 425-420.