OPERATION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2352 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
- “A basic process that applies to an operand and yields a transform” (K. KRIPPENDORFF, 1986, p.54).
KRIPPENDORFF gives as examples “the multiplication of two numbers, driving a nail with a hammer, baking” (Ibid).
R. ACKOFF gives the following descriptive definition of the term: “Loosely put, a set of acts can be said to constitute an operation if each act is necessary for the occurence of a desired outcome and if these acts are interdependent. The nature of this interdependence can be precisely defined. The relevant outcome involved in an operation can each be defined by a set of properties which can be treated as variables” (1960, p.2).
ACKOFF wrote this in 1960. One wonders if this quite deterministic attitude, proper at the time of operations research could still be maintained nowadays in view of what we are learning from chaos theory (even in man-managed systems), particularly in systems with various and more or less independent initial conditions.