An examination of goldratt’s theory of constraints as a scientific theory: using the thinking processes to propose the “structure of a hypothesis” and the mystery analysis processes

The Goal written by Goldratt and Cox published in 1984 has been a best seller for over 30 years. The scientific management theory introduced in this book is Theory of Constraints (TOC). Since its introduction, TOC has been successfully applied to many different functional areas (production, cost accounting, sales, R&D, IT, logistics, etc.) organization environments (projects, supply chain, etc.) and industrial sectors (manufacturing, government, education, healthcare, etc.). What is remarkable about TOC is that it is simple and robust and brings reproducible, rapid and significant bottom-line results. Goldratt devoted his life to making TOC a “theory” in the social sciences at the same level of rigor as “theory” is understood in the hard sciences. This article examines TOC as a “scientific” theory. The logical “structure of a hypothesis” (SOH) is defined by examining the requirements for a theory to be scientific. Because of its simple, practical and graphical structure this SOH provides researchers the ability to clarify thinking, communication, testing and validation of research in both social and hard sciences.