In Search of Effective Simulation-Based Intervention in Farm Management

In the era of Operations Research/Management Science that preceded the DSS, models were used by experts primarily to identify optimum actions for manager clients “to substitute formal analysis for intuitive judgments” (Hutton, 1965). In the 1970’s, after thirty years of clients ignoring this normative approach, the DSS was heralded as a way to use models differently (Keen, 1987) as a tool in decision process rather than proxy for decision process. In DSS, a model was to be used by managers themselves. It was a tool to enable the manager to generate and analyse more alternatives, but not alter the use of his/her judgement in selecting alternatives and assessing results. ‘What if?’ became the cliché of the field (Keen, 1987).