Operations Management - Introduction to Operations Research
Limitations of Operations Research
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OR has some limitations however, these are related to the problem of model building and the time and money factors involved in application rather than its practical utility.
Limitations of Operations Research
OR has some limitations however, these are related to the problem of model building and the time and money factors involved in application rather than its practical utility. Some of them are as follows:
Operations research models try to find out optimal solution taking into account all the factors. These factors are enormous and expressing them in quantity and establishing relationships among these require voluminous calculations which can be handled by computers.
OR provides solution only when all elements related to a problem can be quantified. All relevant variables do not lend themselves to quantification. Factors which cannot be quantified find no place in OR study. Models in OR do not take into account qualitative factors or emotional factors which may be quite important.
OR being specialist’s job requires a mathematician or statistician, who might not be aware of the business problems. Similarly, a manager fails to understand the complex working of OR. Thus there is a gap between the two. Management itself may offer a lot of resistance due to conventional thinking.
When basic data are subjected to frequent changes, incorporating them into the OR models is a costly proposition. Moreover, a fairly good solution at present may be more desirable than a perfect OR solution available after sometime. The computational time increases depending upon the size of the problem and accuracy of results desired.
Implementation of any decision is a delicate task. It must take into account the complexities of human relations and behaviour. Sometimes, resistance is offered due to psychological factors which may not have any bearing on the problem as well as its solution.
OR has some limitations however, these are related to the problem of model building and the time and money factors involved in application rather than its practical utility. Some of them are as follows:
(i) Magnitude of Computation
Operations research models try to find out optimal solution taking into account all the factors. These factors are enormous and expressing them in quantity and establishing relationships among these require voluminous calculations which can be handled by computers.
(ii) Non-Quantifiable Factors
OR provides solution only when all elements related to a problem can be quantified. All relevant variables do not lend themselves to quantification. Factors which cannot be quantified find no place in OR study. Models in OR do not take into account qualitative factors or emotional factors which may be quite important.
(iii) Distance between User and Analyst
OR being specialist’s job requires a mathematician or statistician, who might not be aware of the business problems. Similarly, a manager fails to understand the complex working of OR. Thus there is a gap between the two. Management itself may offer a lot of resistance due to conventional thinking.
(iv)Time and Money Costs
When basic data are subjected to frequent changes, incorporating them into the OR models is a costly proposition. Moreover, a fairly good solution at present may be more desirable than a perfect OR solution available after sometime. The computational time increases depending upon the size of the problem and accuracy of results desired.
(v) Implementation
Implementation of any decision is a delicate task. It must take into account the complexities of human relations and behaviour. Sometimes, resistance is offered due to psychological factors which may not have any bearing on the problem as well as its solution.
Tags : Operations Management - Introduction to Operations Research
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