Community Operations Research

Community Operational Research (Community OR) has been an explicit sub-domain of Operations Research (OR) for more than 30 years according to Midgley et al. (2018). It has defined as “OR... for community development” (Midgley & Ochoa-Arias, 2004, p.3).

• Community OR cannot be defined by its clients, practitioners or methods
• Is characterised by its concern for meaningful engagement of communities

Relationship with its parent discipline

1. More explicitly political
2. Claims that it should be grounded in the theory, methodology and practice of systems thinking
3. There exist similarities and differences between the UK and US traditions
4. Extent to which Community OR offers an enhanced understanding of practice that could be useful to OR more generally

The term ‘Community OR’ was first coined, according to Midgley et al. (2018), in the UK in the mid-1980s at a time when public and private sector OR was in decline (Fildes & Ranyard, 1997), and the Operational Research Society was looking for new application domains for the expertise of its members (Ritchie & Taket, 1994; Rosenhead, 1986).

References

• Fildes, R. A., & Ranyard, J. C. (1997). Success and survival of operational research groups: A review. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 48(4), 336–360. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2600389.
• Midgley, G., Johnson, M. P., & Chichirau, G. (2018). What is community operational research?. European Journal of Operational Research, 268(3), 771-783.
• Midgley, G., & Ochoa-Arias, A. E. (2004a). An introduction to community operational research. In G. Midgley, & A. E. Ochoa Arias (Eds.), Community operational re- search: OR and systems thinking for community development. New York: Kluwer. doi:10.1007/978- 1- 4419- 8911- 6_1.
• Ritchie, C., & Taket, A. (1994). Operational research and community operational re- search – Some background. In C. Ritchie, A. Taket, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Commu- nity works: 26 case studies showing community operational research in action. Sheffield: Pavic Press.

Rosenhead, J. (1986). Custom and practice. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 37, 335–343. doi:10.1057/jors.1986.61.