OR/MS Today - June 2000 - Issues In Education

June 2000

Issues In Education

Satisfying Industry's Needs

By Tom O'Malley

DOES AN OPERATIONS RESEARCH EDUCATION SATISFY INDUSTRY'S NEEDS?

As an industry practitioner of some 20-plus years and a former college professor, I offer a simple answer to this question: Yes. In many ways, it is a resounding yes. Regular readers of these pages appreciate the value of such an education, but many managers have little idea of how to answer this question. We need only point to the booming job market for today's OR graduates as evidence that people trained in the field are highly valued. As to the value of OR itself, we could point to the annual Edelman competition, where the cumulative benefits of the finalist entries are easily measured in the billions of dollars. The impact for the participating companies is often startling and includes significant gains in market share and redefinition of the industry's playing field.

But, do OR programs develop graduates who will help identify, define and shape the new opportunities that are emerging in today's world? They certainly do in many cutting-edge areas of transportation, supply chain management, finance and new uses of the Internet. In fact, OR was there even before it was called the Internet.

What is industry looking for in today's graduates?

I believe there are a handful of core traits that are desirable in OR practitioners that schools ought to seek ways to foster:

Problem oriented. We will always need technique-oriented OR people, but we want people to be as good at defining problems as they are at solving them. We need people with a knack for delineating the problem setting and prototype solutions.

Scientific curiosity. Scientists wonder about the entire phenomenon they are observing; they like to ask, Why? The scientific method is their road map for addressing the world. They are proficient at inductive as well as deductive thinking. They are good at formulating assumptions and testing them.

Engineering drive. Engineers like to set up and solve problems. But they also like to get things working, to cut through the formalities and to tinker with what is at hand. They understand the value of trial and error. Good engineers also understand, as part of this approach, the inherent risk of reaching invalid conclusions.

Resource oriented. We need people that frequently ask questions like, Has this problem been solved before? If so, where? What approach has been found to work elsewhere? Our urge to be creative can result in ignorance of a wealth of existing solutions. How much energy has gone into solving production lot-sizing problems using variants of the EOQ formula while the problem solvers knew nothing of set-up reduction techniques, MRP, JIT or TOC? How many hours have been spent writing custom computer programs or even entire systems without knowledge of existing off-the-shelf software offering better, more robust solutions? Someone once provided a name for this phenomenon: the tyranny of originality.

Holistic outlook. We need people who can see the big picture, who are part visionary and part pragmatist, who can "think outside the box." We need people who care about how the pieces fit together even beyond the scope of the defined problem, and who care how all stakeholders will be affected. Such traits are often ascribed to great leaders, but we should not fail to see them in ordinary workers who are hungering to make a contribution.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive. But how can schools produce people with such traits? Do some of these have more to do with intrinsic attributes like humility, the desire to win or native intelligence? Should extensive experience be required before graduation? Students need to be confronted with open-ended, messy problems having many hidden attributes. For example, the hidden agenda that only surfaces after an elegant solution is implemented. And students need the experience of failing. Numerous writers have pointed to the crippling affect in modern organizations of the "fear of failure."

While we struggle to "teach" experience and wisdom, we should not forget the importance of a solid foundation. Students will always need to master the basics: mathematics, science, statistics, liberal arts and critical thinking.

And what of teaching itself? Numerous teachers are initiating fresh ideas in active, hands-on learning and group learning. Are these random events? Or is learning at colleges and universities beginning to take center stage? And if we want students to gain real experience, should we require it of their teachers? As someone who taught full-time prior to a career in industry and still teaches an occasional course, I look forward to seeing how the answers to these questions will begin to emerge.

Tom O'Malley works in operations research at McDermott Technology Inc. and can be reached at tom.j.omalley@mcdermott.com.

This is a regular column sponsored by INFORMED, the INFORMS Forum on Education. Contact Salwa Ammar at ammars@palm.lemoyne.edu

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