Russell L. Ackoff, Professor of Systems Sciences in the University of Pennsylvania, published in 1979 in the Journal of the Operational Research Society two papers on the status of Operations Research (OR).¹ In the first paper, "The Future of Operational Research is Past", Ackoff — who himself is one of the leading pioneers of OR — argues that »American Operations Research is dead even though it has yet to be buried». In the second article, "Resurrecting the Future of Operational Research", Ackoff suggests that OR might be resurrected by adopting an »alternative paradigm to that currently used in OR».