Visioning Is it OR Frances OBrien Maureen Meadows

Visioning - Is it OR? Frances O’Brien & Maureen Meadows

Outline of Talk z. What is visioning? z. What is OR? z. Visioning in the OR literature. z. What we think.

What is vision? z A vision is a statement of intentions; it defines a destination or future state that an individual or group finds desirable. z A vision gives us direction and purpose; for example, it is reported that many change programmes (such as BPR) fail due to lack of vision. z A vision is a vital element of strategic development; it drives strategic planning, and provides us with something to monitor our progress against.

Key stages in visioning z. Analysis of the current situation z. Assessment of the external environment z. Identification of the desired future state z. Connecting the future to the present z. Testing the vision Literature tends to focus on describing the purpose of a stage rather than prescriptive instructions about how to achieve it.

Visioning: Art or Science ? Rational, logical analysis Intuitive, creative thinking

Visioning in the literature z 1970 s & 80 s - OR literature (Ackoff) z 1990 s - Management literature z Last 5 years: y. Little evidence in OR or management literature y. Can be found in literature on: x. Planning x. Community Visioning x. Training, Development & Learning y. Similar story for participation x. Planning / community / regeneration / environmental

Importance of Visioning z (Broscow & Kleiner, 91) Managers of tomorrow need the following skills: y Anticipatory skills y Visioning y Value congruence y Empowerment z (Yearout, Miles & Koonce, 01) It is critical that every company develop strategic visioning and process tools to help it reassess and, if necessary, reframe its organisational vision periodically.

Vision & Visioning Vision ? The Business need The Process for meeting the need Organisations need vision & OR should be good at visioning

What OR people do. . . z New ‘What is OR leaflet’ from OR Society names 3 key skills used by people who work in OR (The ABC of OR): y. They identify & deploy appropriate Analytical techniques. y. They apply their understanding of the organisation’s Business. y. They use their Communication skills to explain solutions clearly.

What is OR? “…OR is a living subject concerned with the advancement of tactical and strategic decision-making and organisational effectiveness, through the use of analysis and facilitation, and any appropriate methods, models and methodologies. ” (Dyson)

Hard vs Soft OR “. . . Hard systems are characterised by easy to define objectives, clearly defined decision-taking procedures and quantitative measures of performance. At the other extreme are the ‘soft’ systems in which objectives are hard to define, decision taking is uncertain, measures of performance are at best qualitative and human behaviour is irrational. ” (Checkland)

Characteristics of Approaches for ‘Softer’ situations z Aim to aid understanding of the situation, rather than provide a definitive answer to a problem. z Help the user to look at a situation in a new way. z Process is often seen as important as end product. z Process often requires participation. z Focus on perceptions & opinions - not necessarily reliant on hard data. z Analytical component (typically qualitative) often present.

OR’s contribution z. Soft OR characteristics also true for visioning processes y Aim to aid understanding of organisation’s future y Typically participative & qualitative y Capturing mental models of future (new ways of looking at organisation) y Process as important as vision - organisational learning z“OR inside” most visioning processes y Visioning meets the ABC of OR z. Links to other methods y Scenario planning / other ‘soft’ approaches

Final thoughts z. OR has not made an obvious contribution to visioning. z. Visioning is currently a collection of approaches. z. Scope for recognition of visioning methods within OR family of techniques. z. So what next?