Creativity, design and style in MS/OR

The place of creativity, design and style in MS/OR has never been doubted b ut there has not been a unified approach towards understanding the varied a nd significant roles they play. In this paper a means of examining creativi ty, design and style is presented that seeks to illuminate the key role tha t they play in explaining how practice in MS/OR goes beyond the application of technique and involves analysts in a rich mix of processes and activiti es. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.