Operations Research Management Science - President's Desk

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - February 2004</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>President's Desk</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>Academic/Practitioner Cooperation, Part 1:<BR> Why is it Important? Why is it Hard?</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>INFORMS President<BR> Michael Rothkopf<BR> <I><A HREF="mailto:rothkopf@rutcor.rutgers.edu">rothkopf@rutcor.rutgers.edu</A></I></B></FONT><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    <P><IMG SRC="../art/PrezDesk_Rothkoph.jpg" WIDTH="133" HEIGHT="171" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ALIGN="Left" BORDER="0" ALT=" ">Given my campaign statement when I ran for INFORMS president-elect, it should come as no surprise that the first of my presidential columns deals with academic/practitioner cooperation. I believe it to be a strategic issue of great importance for the future of our profession. In this column, I want to explain why I think it is important and why I think it is hard. In a later column, I will talk about what INFORMS is doing about it and what more it can do. <P>Some members of INFORMS are both researchers and practitioners, but most of us are one or the other. Most researchers are academics, and most practitioners are not. There are many forces that tend to push practitioners and academics in separate directions. Many things are easier to do if the focus is narrowed. However, allowing these forces to take control is damaging to our profession. We are the people who make analysis practical. If we become two separate groups, one doing theory and not concerned about what is practical and one trying to solve business problems and not concerned about new theoretical developments, we will wither away. In the long run, no one needs "applied" mathematicians whose math is not, in fact, applied, and no one needs consultants with nothing new to offer. <P>Before I discuss solutions, I want to discuss some of the problems. Obstacles to academic/practitioner cooperation can be analyzed at different levels of specificity. At one level, there are the differences in "culture" between academics and practitioners. At a more detailed level are specific problems that these cultural differences cause. <P>I want to start with the cultural differences between academics and practitioners, but before discussing them, I want to point out that there are major differences within each category. The practice of military OR is different from the practice of OR in regulated industries, and both are different from the practice of OR in an unregulated company. In my personal experience, the practice of OR was different at Shell and Xerox and different in different groups within those companies. Similarly, OR at RUTCOR is different from OR at Wharton, and both differ from OR at Cal State Hayward, all places I have taught. Thus, the cultures I want to contrast are far from monolithic. <P>That said, there are some basic differences. Practitioners tend to care about practicality and simplicity. Academics tend to care about intellectual importance. Academics usually want to add to the world's body of knowledge by publishing their work widely, while practitioners often need to care about controlling information release to protect their competitive or political positions. Practitioners care about the magnitude of the impact of their work within their company or for their client. Academics care about the originality and elegance of their work. Practitioners want to hire graduates who are well-trained as well as well-educated. Academics want to produce well-educated graduates but care less about their training. Both academics and practitioners have reward systems that reward financially and in other very important ways success within their culture. <P>There are many obstacles to cooperation in specific situations. Here, I want only to try to mention a few. First, an important obstacle to cooperation that can arise is a lack of understanding and/or respect for the culture of the other. For example, if an academic <P>doesn't care if a practitioner's problem gets solved in a practical way or if a practitioner doesn't care if a faculty member gets to contribute to general knowledge, cooperation will be difficult. Excellence in both cultures is important to our profession. It has been said that a society that values a mediocre philosopher more than a good plumber will suffer because neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. A similar fate, I'm sure, awaits a society that values a mediocre plumber over a good philosopher. <P>A key specific obstacle to cooperation is the need to agree upon the handling of information or at least a way of deciding upon it. What must be kept secret? What can be published, and when? Another specific obstacle arises from the academic calendar. Academics may need to disappear from applied projects at critical times during the semester. <P>I believe that there are many win-win opportunities for co-operation, but they often require probing to unearth. However, they can be extremely valuable and are worth the effort. For example, many Edelman finalist papers have an academic as one of the authors. These papers always report a major impact on the clients of the work, and they often are highly cited and influential in shaping the direction of theoretical developments. <P>In my next column, I will talk about what INFORMS is doing to facilitate academic/practitioner cooperation and what more it and you can do. <BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2004 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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