The general concern in operational research is how to make the 'best' use of resources. One example is the problem of allocating limited resources within an organisation. Each of the departments would generally like more resources and, for the good of the organisation as a whole, a balanced allocation has to be made.
Operational research is used by a large variety of organisations.
As a career, operational research offers a wide range of opportunities, and, as a university subject, offers intellectually exciting theories and challenging mathematical model building activity.