Short communication

Letter to the editor

A.M. Lee qolls.Royee Limited~ P.O. Box 31, Moor Lane, Derby DE2 ~BI, England

23 May 1977

I wish to associate myself with Professor Colcutt (in his letter in the March 1977 issue) in exonerating Stafford Beer from responsibility for the membership controversy which affected the OR Society in the early 1970's after publication of the Marlow Plan.

Professor Beer has always been - and I hope he will remain - a controversial figure in the OR world. He has a distinguished record of achievements and the Marlow Plan, produced during his term as President of this Society, is not least among them. It recog-

nised that during the 1960's the OR Society had changed de facto though not de lure from a com- pact, unitary body into a confederation of inter- secting interest groups. It proposed an appropriate confederal form of organisation which has proven beneficial and adaptable.

A precondition for successful confederation, how- ever, is the willingness of the different interest groups within it to coexist in a spirit of tolerance and under- standing. In one respect this spirit was lacking in regard to the Maflow Plan. The aspirations of one interest group - those who believed the Society should provide some form of professional accredita- tion to those who wanted and merited it - were denied by a vote in which very many members of the Society failed to take part. As an individual, l thought this was regrettable and I still do. Many repu- table OR scientists therefore felt compelled to form a separate organisation to promote this interest.

I am pleased to say, however, that most of those whose interest was denied did not resign from the OR Society and several, indeed, are among our most active and distinguished members.

© Notth-HoUand Publishing Company European Journal of Operational Research 1 (1977) 265.

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