Operational research practice as storytelling
Operational research practice as storytelling
This paper considers the role of storytelling in operational research (OR) practice. We review the debate on successful OR practice, and adopt the perspective of OR as a process in which OR analysts seek to persuade their clients by means of changing client knowledge. We introduce storytelling in the context of OR practice, and argue that there are two important types of OR story: the story of the content of an OR model and the story of the intervention that generated the model of which the content story can be seen as a 'sub-plot'. We illustrate these ideas with some examples from past practice. We discuss further the nature of OR intervention as story, and consider performative aspects of stories. We relate the use of storytelling in OR practice to the broader area of organizational narrative engineering: the systematic and deliberate use of storytelling perspectives to bring about change within organizations. We consider the evaluation of the potential benefits of storytelling within organizations. The paper offers a contribution that is both descriptive—reflecting on the ways in which OR practice might be seen as storytelling—and prescriptive—offering some practical guidance to those keen to apply storytelling as an OR approach.
operational research practice, storytelling, narrative, knowledge management, soft OR, narrative engineering
1-8
Klein, J.H.
639e04f0-059a-4566-9361-a4edda0dba7d
Connell, N.A.D.
20c3599b-f2e6-49fb-9b95-870b421fc27e
Meyer, E.
f2e4fe13-ba46-43e7-99e1-979cf3983c64
December 2006
Klein, J.H.
639e04f0-059a-4566-9361-a4edda0dba7d
Connell, N.A.D.
20c3599b-f2e6-49fb-9b95-870b421fc27e
Meyer, E.
f2e4fe13-ba46-43e7-99e1-979cf3983c64
Klein, J.H., Connell, N.A.D. and Meyer, E.
(2006)
Operational research practice as storytelling.
Journal of the Operational Research Society, 58 (12), .
(doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602277).
Abstract
This paper considers the role of storytelling in operational research (OR) practice. We review the debate on successful OR practice, and adopt the perspective of OR as a process in which OR analysts seek to persuade their clients by means of changing client knowledge. We introduce storytelling in the context of OR practice, and argue that there are two important types of OR story: the story of the content of an OR model and the story of the intervention that generated the model of which the content story can be seen as a 'sub-plot'. We illustrate these ideas with some examples from past practice. We discuss further the nature of OR intervention as story, and consider performative aspects of stories. We relate the use of storytelling in OR practice to the broader area of organizational narrative engineering: the systematic and deliberate use of storytelling perspectives to bring about change within organizations. We consider the evaluation of the potential benefits of storytelling within organizations. The paper offers a contribution that is both descriptive—reflecting on the ways in which OR practice might be seen as storytelling—and prescriptive—offering some practical guidance to those keen to apply storytelling as an OR approach.
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Submitted date: October 2006
Published date: December 2006
Keywords:
operational research practice, storytelling, narrative, knowledge management, soft OR, narrative engineering
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 42657
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/42657
ISSN: 0160-5682
PURE UUID: 5373ecbc-9a04-4b51-afd0-d38c09df8c6e
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Date deposited: 14 Dec 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:34
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E. Meyer
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