Management science

For the academic journal, see Management Science (journal).

Management science (MS) is the broad interdisciplinary study of problem solving and decision making in human organizations, with strong links to management, economics, business, engineering, management consulting, and other fields. It uses various scientific research-based principles, strategies, and analytical methods including mathematical modeling, statistics and numerical algorithms to improve an organization's ability to enact rational and accurate management decisions by arriving at optimal or near optimal solutions to complex decision problems. Management science helps businesses to achieve goals using various scientific methods.

The field was initially an outgrowth of applied mathematics, where early challenges were problems relating to the optimization of systems which could be modeled linearly, i.e., determining the optima (maximum value of profit, assembly line performance, crop yield, bandwidth, etc. or minimum of loss, risk, costs, etc.) of some objective function. Today, management science encompasses any organizational activity for which the problem can be structured as a functional system so as to obtain a solution set with identifiable characteristics.

Overview

Management science is concerned with a number of different areas of study: One is developing and applying models and concepts that may prove useful in helping to illuminate management issues and solve managerial problems. The models used can often be represented mathematically, but sometimes computer-based, visual or verbal representations are used as well or instead. Another area is designing and developing new and better models of organizational excellence.

Management science research can be done on three levels:

• The fundamental level lies in three mathematical disciplines: probability, optimization, and dynamical systems theory.
• The modeling level is about building models, analyzing them mathematically, gathering and analyzing data, implementing models on computers, solving them, experimenting with them—all this is part of management science research on the modeling level. This level is mainly instrumental, and driven mainly by statistics and econometrics.
• The application level, just as in any other engineering and economics disciplines, strives to make a practical impact and be a driver for change in the real world.

The management scientist's mandate is to use rational, systematic, science-based techniques to inform and improve decisions of all kinds. The techniques of management science are not restricted to business applications but may be applied to military, medical, public administration, charitable groups, political groups or community groups.

History

Its origins can be traced to operations research, which became influential during World War II when the Allied forces recruited scientists of various disciplines to assist with military operations. In these early applications, the scientists used simple mathematical models to make efficient use of limited technologies and resources. The application of these models to the corporate sector became known as management science.

In 1967 Stafford Beer characterized the field of management science as "the business use of operations research".

Theory

Some of the fields that management science involves include:

• Data mining
• Decision analysis
• Engineering
• Forecasting
• Game theory
• Industrial engineering
• Logistics
• Mathematical modeling
• Optimization
• Operational research
• Probability and statistics
• Project management
• Psychology
• Simulation
• Social network / Transportation forecasting models
• Sociology
• Supply chain management
• Management consulting

as well as many others.

Applications

Applications of management science are abundant in industries such as airlines, manufacturing companies, service organizations, military branches, and in government. Management science has contributed insights and solutions to a vast range of problems and issues, including:

• scheduling airlines, both planes and crew
• deciding the appropriate place to site new facilities such as a warehouse or factory
• managing the flow of water from reservoirs
• identifying possible future development paths for parts of the telecommunications industry
• establishing the information needs of health services and appropriate systems to supply them
• identifying and understanding the strategies adopted by companies for their information systems

Management science is also concerned with so-called soft-operational analysis, which concerns methods for strategic planning, strategic decision support, and problem structuring methods (PSM). At this level of abstraction, mathematical modeling and simulation will not suffice. Therefore, since the late 20th century, new non-quantified modelling methods have been developed, including morphological analysis and various forms of influence diagrams.

See also

• Econometrics
• Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
• John von Neumann Theory Prize
• Managerial economics
• Management engineering
• Management fad
• Innovation Management

Further reading

• Kenneth R. Baker, Dean H. Kropp (1985). Management Science: An Introduction to the Use of Decision Models
• Stafford Beer (1967). Management Science: The Business Use of Operations Research
• David Charles Heinze (1982). Management Science: Introductory Concepts and Applications
• Lee J. Krajewski, Howard E. Thompson (1981). "Management Science: Quantitative Methods in Context"
• Thomas W. Knowles (1989). Management science: Building and Using Models
• Kamlesh Mathur, Daniel Solow (1994). Management Science: The Art of Decision Making
• Laurence J. Moore, Sang M. Lee, Bernard W. Taylor (1993). Management Science
• William Thomas Morris (1968). Management Science: A Bayesian Introduction.
• William E. Pinney, Donald B. McWilliams (1987). Management Science: An Introduction to Quantitative Analysis for Management
• Gerald E. Thompson (1982). Management Science: An Introduction to Modern Quantitative Analysis and Decision Making. New York : McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.