Some firms have all operations research in one department. Others scatter operations research personnel through all divisions. Some operations research analysts specialize in one type of application. Other analysts are generalists. Most operations research analysts start out as generalists.
Some analysts have a great deal of professional autonomy, while others are more closely supervised.
Operations research analysts work closely with senior managers. These managers have a wide variety of support needs. Regardless of the industry or structure of the organization, operations research uses a similar set of procedures. Managers begin the process by describing the symptoms of a problem to the analyst. The analyst then formally defines the problem.