Operational research (OR) 'as if'

This poster lays out the main tenets of a philosophical perspective called 'as if' and derived from existing work that aims to connect Westernised thinking with Eastern philosophy. The main idea of 'as if' is to move away from rational validation of our engagements with the world (currently influenced by pragmatism), and open up space for conversation about rituals and their roles in our practices as researchers. Social distancing and lockdowns have shown the limitations of wanting 'others' to deliberate or debate as guided by a single idea of truth(s). Ritual as if offers opportunities to rediscover practices that have kept us all connected with ourselves and others. How we operationalise ritual could be helped in principle by thinking about systems boundaries to then reconsidering values like sincerity as proposed by Seligman, Puett and Others.