A Proposal for An "Institute for Operational Research"

Abstract

This document proposed the formation of an “Institute for Operational Research” within the organisational structure of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, an independent organisation in London that had been incorporated in London in 1947, with charitable status, to advance the application of the social sciences to societal problems. This final version of the proposal, submitted to the OR Society Council in November 1962 and, on being endorsed, was subsequently approved by the Council of the Tavistock Institute. IOR then came into existence on 1 May 1963 as one of five semi-autonomous units of the Tavistock Institute, reporting through a Sub-Council chaired by Sir Charles Goodeve. Its first Director was Neil Jessop, a member of the OR Society’s Council who had played a leading role in drafting the proposal. Earlier drafts, some hand-written and dating from 1961, have been deposited in the IOR archive at the Modern Records Centre in the University of Warwick, reference MSS335/IOR. See: http://dscalm.warwick.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=DServe3.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=NaviTree.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqItem=IOR/S&dsqField=RefNo#HERE