Discrete-Event Simulation and System Dynamics for Management Decision Making

5Philosophical Positioning of Discrete-Event Simulation and System Dynamics as Management Science Tools for Process Systems: A Critical Realist Perspective

Kristian Rotaru,¹ Leonid Churilov² and Andrew Flitman³

¹Department of Accounting, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

²Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia; RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

³Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

5.1 Introduction

Management science (MS) has historically developed as a scientific approach to analysing management problems and making management decisions, and is distinct from other disciplines by applying scientific principles in the context of practical management decision making. In line with Kuhn (1970) and Meadows (1980), a scientific discipline is traditionally supported by a set of explicitly formulated assumptions underlying its approach to the main phenomena under investigation. These assumptions, in particular, encapsulate ontological and epistemological bases of a given scientific discipline, that is postulate ‘the way human beings comprehend knowledge about what is perceived to exist’ (Becker and Niehaves, 2007, p. 201; Burrell and Morgan, 1979). The main phenomenon of investigation for MS is management decision making. MS achieves its aims through the use of scientific methodologies. Explicit articulation of the fundamental philosophical assumptions underlying MS methodologies ...