Problems ranging
It is ironic that the idea of utilizing knowledge from a variety of disciplines was a central tenet of early the days in OR/MS. From the beginning, practical problems were seen not to fit into neat disciplinary boundaries. OR/MS became established in organizations and interdisciplinary teams and positions included mathematicians, statistician, psychologists, economists, sociologists, etc. However, over the years the interdisciplinary teams were broken up and new recruits into OR/MS tended to come from applied mathematical and statistical backgrounds. Academically, OR/MS became increasingly focused on mathematical models and strategic solution algorithms. OR/MS was locked into a hard, technical shell. In recent years, however, this situation is changing with the arrival of "soft" methodologies and critical systems thinking.