operasjonell

Operasjonell is a Norwegian adjective meaning related to an operation or to the practical functioning of a system. It is used across fields such as medicine, business, engineering and the social sciences to indicate a focus on observable, measurable aspects rather than theory alone.

In medical contexts, operasjonell can refer to matters tied to a surgical operation or to the operational phase of patient care. In business and management, it describes the day-to-day running of an organization or its processes; phrases like operasjonell effektivitet (operational efficiency) and operasjonell risiko (operational risk) are common, the latter referring to risks arising from internal processes, people, or systems rather than external market factors.

In research and analysis, operasjonell definisjon and operasjonalisering denote turning abstract concepts into measurable constructs. An operational definition specifies how a concept will be observed or measured; for example, satisfaksjon could be operationalized as a specific score on a standardized survey.

Etymology and usage notes: the term derives from operasjon (operation) with the suffix -ell. It is related to operativ but not identical; operasjonell tends to emphasize concrete operations and measurements, whereas operativ can have a broader sense of being functional or capable of acting in a given context.