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Putting soft OR methods to work: the case of IS strategy development for the UK Parliament

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  • R Ormerod

    (Warwick University)

Abstract

In 1999 a project was undertaken to develop an information systems strategy (ISS) for the UK Parliament. This was the first time that both Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons, had collaborated in such a venture. The paper describes the attempt to apply soft OR in the project. Because of the inherent interest of the context of the intervention, the paper describes the project in some detail. In the event the formal soft OR methods were not used but a soft approach was taken. The experience complements earlier studies in the retail, mining and electricity supply industries. The paper is the last in a series of published case studies, which describe attempts to apply soft methods in practice. Together the cases articulate the ‘strand of practice’ of one practitioner.

Suggested Citation

  • R Ormerod, 2005. "Putting soft OR methods to work: the case of IS strategy development for the UK Parliament," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 56(12), pages 1379-1398, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jorsoc:v:56:y:2005:i:12:d:10.1057_palgrave.jors.2601963
    DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601963
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ormerod, Richard, 1999. "Putting soft OR methods to work: The case of the business improvement project at PowerGen," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 1-29, October.
    2. Ormerod, RJ, 1998. "Putting Soft OR Methods to Work: Information Systems Strategy Development at Palabora," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 75-98, February.
    3. Keys, P., 1997. "Approaches to understanding the process of OR: Review, critique and extension," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Corbett, Charles J. & Overmeer, Willem J. A. M. & Van Wassenhove, Luk N., 1995. "Strands of practice in OR (the practitioner's dilemma)," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 484-499, December.
    5. Ormerod, R. J., 1997. "The design of organisational intervention: Choosing the approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 415-435, August.
    6. Richard J. Ormerod, 1996. "Information Systems Strategy Development at Sainsbury's Supermarkets Using “Soft” OR," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 102-130, February.
    7. Graeme S. Pauley & Richard J. Ormerod, 1998. "The Evolution of a Performance Measurement Project at RTZ," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 28(4), pages 94-118, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ana Gabriela Ramírez-Gutiérrez & Pedro Pablo Cardoso-Castro & Ricardo Tejeida-Padilla, 2021. "A Methodological Proposal for the Complementarity of the SSM and the VSM for the Analysis of Viability in Organizations," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 331-357, June.
    2. Georgiou, Ion, 2012. "Messing about in transformations: Structured systemic planning for systemic solutions to systemic problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 392-406.
    3. R J Ormerod, 2008. "Comments on Córdoba and Midgley: the Javeriana case," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(5), pages 719-721, May.
    4. Richard Ormerod, 2017. "Writing practitioner case studies to help behavioural OR researchers ground their theories: application of the mangle perspective," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(5), pages 507-520, May.
    5. G A Hindle & L A Franco, 2009. "Combining problem structuring methods to conduct applied research: a mixed methods approach to studying fitness-to-drive in the UK," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(12), pages 1637-1648, December.
    6. R J Ormerod, 2008. "Evaluating PSMs," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(1), pages 137-138, January.
    7. Yearworth, Mike & White, Leroy, 2014. "The non-codified use of problem structuring methods and the need for a generic constitutive definition," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 237(3), pages 932-945.
    8. Tom Pape, 2020. "Prioritising data items for business analytics: Framework and application to human resources," Papers 2012.13813, arXiv.org.

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