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The purpose of this study is to formulate exploratory scenarios of Operations Research through the critical uncertainty approach and Soft Systems Methodology.

In this study, to formulate plausible scenarios, the discipline of operation research internal and external experts’ opinions of this field have been gathered through Delphi approach and uncertainty questionnaires. After use of the most important uncertainties, plausible scenarios of operations research have been mapped with the help of experts through co-thinking workshops.

Four scenarios are presented in this study. These scenarios include Solar System, Esfandiar's Eye, Rival’s Setraps and Legendary Simurgh. Naturally, the imagination of such a unitary future for all academic communities is an expectation far from reality, and given the conditions of each of these futures or any integration of them is imaginable.

Operations Research models have been faced with variously multiple changes since its emergence until now. Investigation into the future of operations research on the necessity for his planning has not received a reasonable notice in the literature. Sporadic activities that have been carried out are also lacking in the necessary methodology. Also, there has been no research about future study using the soft Operation Research tools (Soft Systems Methodology).

The paper aims to discuss the transformation of a multinational organization, Global Co, through the deployment of an operational excellence system at a time of turbulence and complexity. It illuminates the opportunities and challenges of implementing the system from the perspective of learning and change.

A case study method was utilized in the research based on a four-year longitudinal study. Formal and informal interviews, unobtrusive observations and archival records formed the core of the data collection that led to key insights reported in this paper.

A structured approach to managing work processes is essential for ensuring efficiency and reliability in work output. Performance improvement is sustained by operational discipline that strives for consistency in daily work practices. Organizations develop self-healing mechanisms to help address work-related gaps and issues, turning constraints into enablers for improvement.

The paper provides a wider dimension of organizational performance from the learning and change perspective. It considers organizations as organisms with self-healing properties supported by operational discipline. It redefines the impact of operational excellence through organizational significance.

This paper examines the perception and expectations of banking customers regarding the value being delivered to them by retail banks in South Africa. A literature review dealing with the concept of value was undertaken that presents the value disciplines of operational excellence, product leadership and customer intimacy. Results of a study of 150 managers are presented. The results show that customers were not satisfied with the service, products and level of customer intimacy delivered to them by their banks. Thus, they did not believe that they were getting the value they expected. Recommendations to retail banking management are made to help remedy the situation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution that problem structuring methods – a branch of the decision support discipline of operational research – have made in helping managers deal with situations of high complexity. The paper reviews the limitations of traditional operational research and argues that problem structuring methods have expanded the entire discipline and significantly contributed to its holistic nature and problem-solving orientation.

The paper provides a critical discussion of the limitations of the traditional operational research approach and examines how the development and successful application of problem structuring methods have opened up a new paradigm of analysis in management science.

In theoretical terms, problem structuring methods have moved the discipline of operational research away from its positivistic epistemology and towards interpretivism and the acceptance of a subjective social reality. In practical terms, they offer managers a broad range of appropriate analytical tools which provide transparency and offer the opportunity to those affected by the problem situation to be actively involved in the entire modelling process within a facilitated environment.

The paper offers a critical discussion of the contribution that problem structuring methods have made while also identifying the challenges they face as they try to achieve higher levels of recognition and acceptance in management science.

This paper aims to explore the way that the intellectual structure of the SCM discipline has been shaped over the last 20 years. The discipline is represented by the papers that are published in a network of ten leading academic journals in the field. As the SCM literature has grown, the analysis of the way that the characteristics of this network of journals have changed over time enables the identification of salient challenges facing SCM theory and practice for the new decade.

A combination of social network and citation analyses among the selected journals is applied. Citations between and within journals are collected and analysed using social network analysis metrics, that assess the communication patterns between and among the journals, the cohesion of the network and the role that each of the journals has performed (and is acquiring) in the dissemination of knowledge.

The analysis reveals that the current structure of the network of journals is characterised by an evident shift of focus of operations management journals towards more SCM phenomena, the cohesion of the discipline has improved but is still fragmented due to a lack of reciprocal co‐citations among the journals, and the emergence of three distinctive clusters in the network.

The study reflects the growth of supply chain management, by studying an eclectic number of academic journals over the past 20 years, but can be extended beyond this period and it can include more academic and practitioner journals to examine its extended problem domain.

The study confirms the inter‐disciplinary nature of supply chain phenomena and the opportunity for research in SCM to acquire a central role in the study of inter‐organisational systems.

Bibliographic studies have been conducted in the past in several (more established) disciplines. The study of where knowledge is communicated with co‐citations among papers and journals provides concrete evidence of the changing characteristics of an academic discipline. The SCM discipline is maturing as an academic discipline and the analysis of its intellectual structure can assist in establishing its legitimacy and future expansion.

The purpose of this paper is to recognize the concepts and disciplinary position of management, for faculty members in management circles, which can help them develop their academic career.

Based on review and clarification of domestic and international disciplinary concepts on management, this paper takes data from academic journals of international management as the sample, making use of the latest mapping knowledge domains method.

Reveals the disciplinary boundary of modern management and disciplinary position of general management as a basic discipline, demonstrates the relationship between management and other relevant disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, economics, mathematics, etc. shows the trend of ascending position of management in mankind's knowledge system as an independent discipline.

This paper identifies concepts and information in management sciences which will provide inspiration for management in China, to move forward to the international academic frontline.

Considers the potential use of operational research for strengthening community participation – terms that have formerly been employed ambiguously or with a variety of meanings. Begins by providing some explanation of “operational research”, identifying specifically those factors which have prompted the development of a “new paradigm” operational research. Of these, considers the need for new practices and particularly the value of operational research adopting practices derivative from participatory research. Outlines development of community operational research as an example of new paradigm operational research; some of the work of the Community Operational Research Unit in the UK is illustrated. Concludes by examining the value of community operational research as a potential tool for strengthening community participation.

This paper sets out to explore performance management as a discipline and propose an integrated performance management model.

This conceptual paper aims to clarify what performance management is and how it emerged as a discipline by tracking its evolution at strategic, operational and individual levels. Structured as a review, it enables the rediscovery of performance management and the identification of several key dichotomies, brought together under an integrated performance management model.

Three emerging approaches to performance management are presented as potential catalysts to accelerate the evolution of this discipline: systems thinking, learning and integration. An integrated performance management model is also proposed.

The paper draws on the consultancy and research experience of the author. The generated model is conceptual in essence and needs to be tested. Further research on the history of performance management as a discipline and the integration approach between organisational levels is needed.

The paper makes suggestions for improving performance management governance – the introduction of the Performance Management Office. It also suggests a higher emphasis on learning and integration during the implementation and usage of performance management systems.

By outlining the importance of systems thinking in managing organisational performance, this paper highlights the need for encouraging its applicability and implementation through systemic thinking. A higher emphasis on including elements of systems thinking in educational curricula may be a possible step forward.

The paper is relevant to both practitioners and academics, as it clarifies the existing body of knowledge and provides a platform for future research