The Relation between Formal Procedures for Pursuing OR/MS Activities and OR/MS Group Success

This paper examines the relation between the formalization of OR/MS procedures and OR/MS group success in more man 100 large US industrial organizations. The research gathered evidence on the existence of a formal charter for the OR/MS group and on the use of formalized project procedures. After dev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Operations research 1973-03, Vol.21 (2), p.451-474
Main Authors: Neal, Rodney D, Radnor, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business structures
Degrees of freedom
Formalization
Frequency distribution
Knowledge management
Management science
Oil companies
Operations management
Recommendations
Statistical median
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Summary:This paper examines the relation between the formalization of OR/MS procedures and OR/MS group success in more man 100 large US industrial organizations. The research gathered evidence on the existence of a formal charter for the OR/MS group and on the use of formalized project procedures. After developing an idealized set of ten procedural phases for projects, we used them as a guide in determining the degree of procedural elaboration followed by each OR/MS group. We recorded various measures of success and used them to show a strong correlation between proceduralization and success, in terms of these measures. We examined the effects of several other behavioral and environmental variables on this relation: the orientations of the OR/MS manager, top-management behavior, OR/MS-group age and size, and OR/MS diffusion within the organization. Finally, we note the possibility that proceduralization may be either, or both, a cause or an indicator of OR/MS success.
ISSN:0030-364X
1526-5463
DOI:10.1287/opre.21.2.451