Reducing the process lacuna in operational research by taking a knowledge work perspective

The lack of concern in operational research (OR) with the processes that are associated with the work of analysts has recently been recognised as a 'process lacuna'. However, the broader and related field of management and organisation studies contains elements upon which an understanding of these processes may be constructed. The focus of these elements is the understanding of knowledge and its use in organisations. In this paper these elements are identified, brought together, and shown to generate a means of reducing the process lacuna in OR, specifically by demonstrating how they enable an exploration of the character of knowledge in OR and the processes associated with its production, dissemination, and legitimisation. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.