اگر می خواهید کارتان درخاطرها بماند، آن را خاطره انگیز کنید! روش هایی برای بهبود آموزش در زمینه پژوهش درعملیات

In this article I summarize the main points I made in the keynote presentation of the same title I gave at the EURO XXIV conference in Lisbon, Portugal in July of 2010. Each of these points deals in some way with making communications between an operations research professional (academic or practitioner) and a student, client, subordinate, supervisor, or colleague more effective. Furthermore, each point is directly related to some realization (or epiphany) that I have had with regard to communication since I began teaching ORMS in 1984. It is noteworthy that these communications share a common objective; we are trying to facilitate learning. Since I have spent most of my career in academia, my primary emphasis is on communication with students (particularly those enrolled in introductory ORMS courses). However, I have also spent a great deal of time working on operations research problems outside of academia, either as an employee in private industry or as an operations research consultant to corporations and not-for-profit organizations, and I hope as a consequence my discussion is also relevant to those working in the practice of ORMS.

This article is a text summary of the eponymous keynote presentation I gave at the EURO XXIV conference in Lisbon, Portugal in July of 2010 (Cochran, 2010). I welcome the opportunity to write this article for the European Journal of Operational Research, not only because I appreciate any occasion to discuss issues in operations research/management science (ORMS) education, but also because this article gives me a chance to (hopefully) express my thoughts in a more complete and eloquent manner. As one progresses through a career in ORMS, whether in academia or practice, the importance of effective communication becomes ever more apparent. If those with whom we are working (be they students, colleagues, subordinates, supervisors, or clients) do not understand fundamentally what we are doing or what our results mean, then our work as operations researchers/management scientists has little value. In these communications we often have specific points we want our audience to understand and remember. At some level, whether dealing with students, clients, subordinates, supervisors, or colleagues, these communications share a common objective; we are trying to facilitate learning. For our purposes I define learning to be the integration of cognitive, emotional, and/or environmental influences and experiences to develop, enhance, and/or modify an individual’s understanding of some concept or phenomena. In this paper I summarize some realizations (or epiphanies) I have had about communication since I began teaching ORMS in 1984 (it is not lost on me that I am writing on the importance of clear communication for a discipline I entered in the Orwellian year of 1984!). Since I have spent most of my career in academia, my primary emphasis is on communication with students. However, I have also spent much time working on ORMS problems outside of academia (as an employee in private industry and as an ORMS consultant to corporations and not-for-profit organizations), and I hope as a consequence my discussion is also relevant to those working in the practice of ORMS (please note the author believes all operations researchers/management scientists are actually nontrivial convex combinations of academician and practitioner).