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Putting soft OR methods to work: The case of the business improvement project at PowerGen
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UNSPECIFIED (1999) Putting soft OR methods to work: The case of the business improvement project at PowerGen. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, 118 (1). pp. 1-29. ISSN 0377-2217.
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Abstract
In 1994 PowerGen, a UK electricity generating company, conducted a business improvement project. The project used a participative approach involving soft OR and systems thinking, an approach that was developed in earlier projects in food retailing and mining. The aim of the project was initially to conduct a benchmarking exercise and develop an information systems (IS) strategy. As the project progressed the emphasis moved to business process redesign and downsizing in the light of new perceptions of business prospects. The paper describes the design and implementation of the intervention, the evolution of the project, the problems encountered, and the outcome. Throughout it describes in some detail the interaction that took place. Although many improvements to current operations were identified for implementation, it proved difficult to obtain agreement to a fundamental change in the organisational structure. Two years after the project finished a new organisation based on the project's analysis has been adopted. The case is discussed drawing on a number of recent theoretical themes that have emerged from the debate about the process of OR. Conclusions are drawn about the value of the methods used in the intervention, the practicalities of mixing several methods, and the future direction the research programme should take. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH | ||||
Publisher: | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | ||||
ISSN: | 0377-2217 | ||||
Official Date: | 1 October 1999 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 118 | ||||
Number: | 1 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 29 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 1-29 | ||||
Publication Status: | Published |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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