Besliskunde, een vlag die de lading dekt?

Does operations research teach, how to make decisions? Some confusion seems to exist with regard to the subject of taking decisions. Decision making is not restricted to the field of management decisions; in every field of life we take decisions and branches of applied science exist to help us. Operations research is primarily research of operations, which means that it is both more and less than “the knowledge of decision making”. It is less, because only decisions about operations are concerned and because the decision itself is taken by a manager. This manager uses partly as a basis: conclusions drawn by staff people or consultants. It is more, because the element of research is not sufficiently stressed by the expression “knowledge of decision making”. Research in the field of methods of linear programming for example is called mathematical research; it is needed by Operations Researchers but also by other scientists and engineers. As far as decision theory is concerned, the point of view of Arrow (1957) is underlined. As a sideline it is pointed out, that a decision theory cannot be developed without help of psychologists and that leadership is much more than just taking decisions.