A systems approach to identifying knowledge voids in problem solving disciplines and professions: A focus on the management sciences

As problem solving disciplines or professions mature their dependence on experience based knowledge lessens in favor of the science which has evolved. Knowledge for problem solving disciplines or professions, such as engineering or management, can be subdivided into three sectors, data, methodology/theory and applications. This paper discusses the significance of the availability of knowledge in each of these sectors and in each overlap between these sectors. Next the paper discusses and illustrates a systematic approach to meta analyses of past research in a field toward the ends of synthesizing what is known and presenting the results in a manner that is both efficient and effective, and finding and specifying literature voids in each of the above sectors. Such specifications may be viewed as topics with a potential for research. Arnold Reisman is a professor of operations research at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the founder of and serves on the board of the Greater Cleveland Coalition on Health Care Cost Effectiveness.