The Role of Management Science in Office Automation

The fields of Management Science and office automation have a great deal in common: both attempt to make new business techniques and procedures useful to the business community; both find themselves delivering computer-based tools to professionals; both are altering the information handling capabilities of their user organizations; and both recognize large gaps between the potential of their technologies and the realities of their utilization. In fact, thoughtful office automation professionals include Management Science techniques among the tools they may implement in the service of user managers; i.e., they view Management Science as a “subset” of office automation. To the extent that office automation professionals structure previously unstructured information processes in the organization, their role appears very similar to common definitions of the function of Management Science. Coming from the office automation perspective, I would propose to the Management Science community that our roles do indeed overlap but are not competitive. On the contrary, very close collaboration is necessary for both communities to achieve their respective and related goals.