Operations Research Management Science Today - Letters To the Editor

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - December 2002</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>Letters To the Editor</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>In Defense of Smart People</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Challenging Conventional Wisdom</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> <I>To the editor:</I><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Andrew Boyd's Forum piece (<A HREF="../orms-10-02/frforum.html" TARGET="_top">"Are Smart People Overrated?" <I>OR/MS Today,</I> October 2002</A>) is fraught with "conventional wisdom" that deserves to be challenged.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The scenarios fail to discuss the reward system within the company that may, in fact, propel the employees towards short-sighted goals and abortive projects. The absence today of "moral rewards" that were the essence of the relationship between loyal employees and their loyal employers, and the pervasive sense that people can not be trusted to do the right thing, have made us into incentive and process freaks. Our inability to define robust processes or to "incentivize" the best behavior has resulted in a level and quality of performance that should not surprise or disappoint anyone. However ugly, Enron is our baby.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The link between advanced degrees and intelligence or "smarts" is weak at best, if not completely invalid. Even if a certain level of intelligence is required to succeed in graduate work, there is no easily defensible corollary to this premise. Some managers will inform you that, by and large, advanced degree holders are not suited for leadership roles (except in technical endeavors), and then will prove the point by the circular argument that there are no advanced degree holders in their leadership team. My not-so-tongue-in-cheek argument against the "smarts vs. degree" correlation is simply that it is unreasonable to ascribe above average intelligence to someone who "wastes" a number of years of income and seniority to obtain a degree that has such a stigma attached to it.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The issue is not one of undisciplined smarts or overrated advanced degrees. It is one of shallow understanding of optimization and processes (especially stochastic ones). As OR practitioners, we should see that clearly.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Alex Loewenthal<BR> <I>Westlake Village, Calif.</I><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Management du Jour</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> To the editor:<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> I would like to thank <I>OR/MS Today</I> for publishing <A HREF="../orms-10-02/frforum.html" TARGET="_top">"Are Smart People Overrated?"</A> Smart people are not overrated and there is no "Brain Drain" in America, but OR does have fundamental issues that need to be addressed. As Dr. Boyd pointed out, Malcolm Gladwell's "The Talent Myth" is thought-provoking, but the comments are easily dismissed and represent a classic case of "management du jour" correctly identifying an obvious effect, but completely misdiagnosing the cause. Hopefully, Dr. Boyd has pointed a few minds in the right direction and "The Talent Myth" represents the zenith of misconception that inundates corporate and academic America today.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> "Fundamental business issues stymies the growth of our discipline," and a looming OR issue is staffing. Due to misunderstanding of OR and the misplaced IT/technology backlash, today's young minds are forced away and new blood is being actively purged from the field. For example: I am a recent Ph.D. in applied stochastic modeling (mathematics), a former Naval officer with a security clearance, a Fulbright Scholar with a world-class international education, and a computer programmer. I have seven years of experience in high-level military/industrial/government statistical projects with a successful track record. Despite this, I have a 99.08 percentage rejection rate in applying to OR jobs in the United States.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> The most common rejection line I've heard: "You are overqualified, and if I hire you, you might take my job and you will be promoted before anyone else in the department." Frustrating, but not as inane as HR personnel and their complete lack of reading comprehension.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Good management of talent requires having talent that can achieve; hence OR needs to be less "opportunity reduction" and more "ongoing rejuvenation" if OR is to have another successful 50 years.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> Dr. Robert J. Pefferly Jr.<BR> <I>Traverse City, Mich.</I><BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</I></A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2003 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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