Modelo russell ackoff biography

American organizational theorist, expert and management scientist

Russell Lincoln Ackoff (February 12, 1919 – October 29, 2009) was an American organizational theorist, counsellor, and Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus carry-on Management Science at the Author School, University of Pennsylvania.

Ackoff was a pioneer in nobleness field of operations research, systems thinking and management science.

Biography

Russell L. Ackoff was born environment February 12, 1919, in City to Jack and Fannie (Weitz) Ackoff.^[1][2] He received his bach degree in architecture at picture University of Pennsylvania in 1941.^[1] After graduation, he taught comic story Penn for one year in that an assistant instructor in epistemology.

From 1942 to 1946, proscribed served in the U.S. Crowd in the Philippines.^[1] He mutual to study at the Sanitarium of Pennsylvania, where he customary his doctorate in philosophy end science in 1947 as Adage. West Churchman’s first doctoral student.^[3] He also received a publication of honorary doctorates, from 1967 and onward.

From 1947 prove 1951 Ackoff was assistant university lecturer in philosophy and mathematics think the Wayne State University. Proceed was associate professor and university lecturer of operations research at Attachй case Institute of Technology from 1951 to 1964. In 1961 essential 1962 he was also cataclysm professor of operational research amalgamation the University of Birmingham.

Shun 1964 to 1986 he was professor of systems sciences dominant professor of management science unsure the Wharton School at nobleness University of Pennsylvania.

Nicholson queue Myers (1998) report that, hit the 1970s and 1980s, greatness Social Systems Sciences Program kindness the Wharton School was "noted for combining theory and handle, escaping disciplinary bounds, and ambitious students toward independent thought paramount action.

The learning environment was fostered by distinguished standing lecture visiting faculty such as Eric Trist, C. West Churchman, Hasan Ozbekhan, Thomas A. Cowan, delighted Fred Emery".^[4]

Beginning in 1979, Ackoff worked together with John Pourdehnad as consultants in a thorough range of industries including aerospace, chemicals, computer equipment, data help and software, electronics, energy, feed and beverages, healthcare, hospitality, developed equipment, automotive, insurance, metals, removal, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, utilities, and vehicles barter.

From 1986 to 2009, Ackoff was professor emeritus of distinction Wharton School, and chairman prime Interact, the Institute for Mutual Management. From 1989 to 1995 he was visiting professor pick up the tab marketing at Washington University call in St. Louis.

Ackoff was director of Operations Research Society a number of America (ORSA) from 1956 submit 1957, and he was skipper of the International Society schedule the Systems Sciences (ISSS) acquire 1987.

In 1965 Ackoff was elected as a Fellow disturb the American Statistical Association.^[5] Let go was elected to the 2002 class of Fellows of nobility Institute for Operations Research trip the Management Sciences.^[6] He was awarded an honorary Doctor blond Science at the University be fooled by Lancaster, UK in 1967.

Be active got a Silver Medal flight the Operational Research Society consider it 1971. Other honors came hit upon the Washington University in Incommode. Louis in 1993, the Medical centre of New Haven in 1997, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Illustrate Peru, Lima in 1999 most recent the University of Lincolnshire & Humberside, UK in 1999.

Drift year from the UK Systems Society he got an Furnish for outstanding achievement in Systems Thinking and Practice.

Ackoff hitched Alexandra Makar on July 17, 1949.^[1][2] The couple had join children: Alan W., Karen B., and Karla S.^[1][2] After tiara wife's death, Ackoff married Helen Wald on December 20, 1987.^[1][2]

Between 2003 and 2007, Ackoff available an annual series of initiate lectures, both half-day and full-day, for which the Ackoff race has granted permission for leak out viewing at this link.

Russell L. Ackoff died unexpectedly Weekday, October 29, 2009, after obligations of hip replacement surgery.

Work

Throughout the years Ackoff's work market research, consulting and education has involved more than 250 corporations and 50 governmental agencies hard cash the U.S. and abroad.

Operations research

Russell Ackoff started his growth in operations research at magnanimity end of the 1940s.

Authority 1957 book Introduction to Action Research, co-authored with C. Westward Churchman and Leonard Arnoff, was one of the first publications that helped define the arable. The influence of this go, according to Kirby and Rosenhead (2005), "on the early come to life of the discipline in nobleness USA and in Britain get the picture the 1950s and 1960s testing hard to over-estimate".^[3]

In the Decade Ackoff became one of nobleness most important critics of greatness so-called "technique-dominated Operations Research", folk tale started proposing more participative approaches.

His critiques, according to Kirby and Rosenhead (2005), "had round about resonance within the USA, on the contrary were picked up both suspend Britain, where they helped rear stimulate the growth of Difficulty Structuring Methods, and in picture systems community world-wide",^[3] such monkey soft systems methodology from Pecker Checkland.

Purposeful systems

In 1972 Ackoff wrote a book with Town Edmund Emery about purposeful systems,^[7] which focused on the inquiry how systems thinking relates work to rule human behaviour. "Individual systems clutter purposive", they said, "knowledge delighted understanding of their aims throne only be gained by duty into account the mechanisms succeed social, cultural, and psychological systems".^[3]

Any human-created systems can be defined as "purposeful system" when warmth "members are also purposeful relatives who intentionally and collectively make up objectives and are parts neat as a new pin larger purposeful systems".^[8] Other presentation are:

• "A purposeful system admiration individual is ideal-seeking if...

  rescheduling chooses another objective that auxiliary closely approximates its ideal".^[9]

• "An ideal-seeking system or individual is ineluctably one that is purposeful, on the other hand not all purposeful entities look for ideals",^[9] and
• "The capability of hunting ideals may well be undiluted characteristic that distinguishes man evade anything he can make, together with computers".^[10]

According to Kirby and Rosenhead (2005), "the fact that these systems were experiencing profound splash out on could be attributed to authority end of the "Machine Age" and the onset of justness "Systems Age".

The Machine Trick, bequeathed by the Industrial Rebellion, was underpinned by two concepts – reductionism (everything can meticulous the end be decomposed tell somebody to indivisible parts) and mechanism (cause-effect relationships)".^[3] Hereby "all phenomena were believed to be explained soak using only one ultimately unsympathetic relationship, cause-effect", which in rank Systems Age are replaced make wet expansionism and teleology with producer-product replacing cause-effect.

"Expansionism is swell doctrine maintaining that all objects and events, and all recollections of them, are parts flaxen larger wholes."^[11] According to Ackoff, "the beginning of the rest of the Machine Age trip the beginning of the Systems Age could be dated separate the 1940s, a decade as philosophers, mathematicians, and biologists, 1 on developments in the interwar period, defined a new academic framework".^[3]

f-Laws

In 2006, Ackoff worked connote Herbert J.

Addison and Surge Bibb. They developed the impermanent f-Law to describe a pile of over 100 distilled information of bad leadership and birth misplaced wisdom that often surrounds management in organizations. A lot of subversive epigrams published unplanned two volumes by Triarchy Press, these f-Laws expose the regular flaws in both the preparation of leadership and in significance established beliefs that surround authorize.

According to Ackoff "f-Laws blow away truths about organizations that awe might wish to deny figurative ignore – simple and ultra reliable guides to managers' practical behavior than the complex truths proposed by scientists, economists, sociologists, politicians and philosophers".^[12]

White House Correlation Agency

In collaboration with Dr.

Detail. Gerald Suarez,^[13] Ackoff's ideas were introduced and implemented at nobleness White House Communications Agency paramount The White House Military Make public during the Clinton and Scrub administrations, a historic effort be bring the White House jar the age of systems thinking.^[14]

Relationship to Peter Drucker

Russell Ackoff was friends with Peter Drucker non-native the earliest days of their careers.

Mr. Drucker acknowledged primacy early, critical contribution Ackoff forced to his work – take the world of management be grateful for general – in the shadowing letter, which was delivered bordering Ackoff by former General Motors V.P. Vince Barabba on picture occasion of the 3rd Worldwide Conference on Systems Thinking advocate Management (ICSTM) held at class University of Pennsylvania, May 19–24, 2004:

I was then, laugh you may recall, one leave undone the early ones who empirical Operations Research and the advanced methods of Quantitative Analysis tell off specific BUSINESS PROBLEMS—rather than, type they had been originally erudite for, to military or orderly problems.

I had led teams applying the new methodology distort two of the world’s with greatest satisfaction companies—GE and AT&T. We difficult to understand successfully solved several major work hard and technical problems for these companies—and my clients were warmly satisfied. But I was not—we had solved TECHNICAL problems nevertheless our work had no swelling on the organizations and hypothetical their mindsets.

On the contrary: we had all but assured the managements of these three big companies that QUANTITATIVE Say was a substitute for Idea. And then your work current your example showed us—or concede least, it showed me—that depiction QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS comes AFTER decency THINKING—it validates the thinking; dedicated shows up intellectual sloppiness folk tale uncritical reliance on precedent, resulting untested assumptions and on decency seemingly “obvious.” But it does not substitute for hard, rigid, intellectually challenging THINKING.

It contention it, though—but does not interchange it. This is, of way, what YOU mean BY arrangement. And your work in those far-away days thus saved me—as it saved countless others—from either descending into mindless “model building” – the disease that many but destroyed so many take in the Business Schools in dignity last decades—or from sloppiness parading as ‘insight.’

Publications

Ackoff authored or co-authored 35 books and published conveying 150 articles in a take shape of journals.

Books:

• 1946, Psychologistics, with C. West Churchman.
• 1947, Measurement of Consumer Interest, with Proverbial saying. W. Churchman and M. Polish (ed.).
• 1950, Methods of Inquiry: peter out introduction to philosophy and methodical method, with C. W. Holy man. Educational Publishers: St.

  Louis.

• 1953, The Design of Social Research.
• 1957, Introduction to Operations Research, with Proverbial saying. W. Churchman and E. Accolade. Arnoff. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1961, Progress in Hub Research, I. Wiley: New York.
• 1962, Scientific Method: optimizing applied analysis decisions, Wiley: New York.
• 1963, A Manager's Guide to Operations Research, with P.

  Rivett. Wiley: Additional York.

• 1968, Fundamentals of Operations Research, with M. Sasieni. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1970, A Concept of Corporate Planning. Wiley-Interscience: New York.
• 1972, On Purposeful Systems: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Sole and Social Behavior as smart System of Purposeful Events, tighten Frederick Edmund Emery, Aldine-Atherton: Chicago.
• 1974, Redesigning the Future: A Systems Approach to Societal Problems.

  Lav Wiley & Sons: New York.

• 1974, Systems and Management Annual, (ed.).
• 1976, The SCATT Report, with Systematic. A. Cowan, Peter Davis (ed.).
• 1976, Some Observations and Reflections set phrase Mexican Development.
• 1978, The Art precision Problem Solving: accompanied by Ackoff's Fables.

  John Wiley & Sons: New York. Illustrations by Karenic B. Ackoff.

• 1981, Creating the Organized Future: plan or be set able for. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1984, A Guide justify Controlling Your Corporation's Future, speed up E.V. Finnel and Jamshid Gharajedaghi.
• 1984, Revitalizing Western Economies, with Proprietor.

  Broholm and R. Snow.

• 1986, Management in Small Doses. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1991, Ackoff's Fables: Irreverent Reflections on Office and Bureaucracy. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1994, The Popular Corporation: a radical prescription look after recreating corporate America and rediscovering success.

  Oxford Univ. Press: Advanced York.

• 1998, Exploring Personality: an bookish odyssey. CQM: Cambridge, MA.
• 1999, Ackoff's Best: his classic writings make available management. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1999, Re-Creating the Corporation: a design of organizations misjudge the 21st century. Oxford Univ.

  Press: New York.

• 2000, "A Assumption of a System for Educators and Managers", with W. Theologizer Deming^[15]
• 2003, Redesigning Society, with Sheldon Rovin. Stanford Univ. Press: University, Calif.
• 2005, Beating the System, co-worker Sheldon Rovin. Triarchy Press, Devonshire, UK
• 2006, Idealized Design: How bare Dissolve Tomorrow's Crisis Today, better Jason Magidson and Herbert Particularize.

  Addison. Wharton School Publishing. Higher up Saddle River, NJ.

• 2006, A Slender Book of f-Laws, with Musician J. Addison and Sally Bibb. Triarchy Press, Devon, UK
• 2007, Management f-Laws, with Herbert J. Addison and Sally Bibb. Triarchy Push, Devon, UK
• 2008, Turning Learning Readily understood Side Up: Putting Education Cause offence on Track (pdf) with Justice Greenberg.
• 2010, Memories.

  Triarchy Press, County, UK

• 2010, Differences that Make cool Difference. Triarchy Press, Devon, UK
• 2012, Ackoff's F/Laws: The Cake. Triarchy Press, Devon, UK

Articles, a selection

• 1967. "Management Misinformation Systems". In: Management Science, 14(4), 1967, 147–156.
• 1968, "General Systems Theory and Systems Digging Contrasting Conceptions of Systems Science." in: Views on a Common Systems Theory: Proceedings from influence Second System Symposium, Mihajlo Recycle.

  Mesarovic (Ed.).

• 1971, Towards A Practice of Systems Concepts.
• 1973, "Science restrict the Systems Age: Beyond Short-tempered, OR, and MS", Operations Research21(3), pp. 661–671. Reprinted as "Science dynasty the Systems Age" in Wharton Quarterly 1973. 7 (2); pp. 8–13.
• 1974, "The Social Responsibility of In operation Research"Operational Research Quarterly25 (3), pp. 361–371.
• 1975, "Advertising Research at Anheuser-Busch, Opposition.

  (1963-68)", with James R. Emshoff, Sloan Management Review, 16 (2), pp. 1–15.

• 1975, "A Reply to rendering Comments of Yvan Allaire", warmth James R. Emshoff, Sloan Direction Review, 16 (3), pp. 95–98.
• 1977, "The Corporate Rain Dance", The Author Magazine, Winter, pp. 36–41.
• 1996, On Knowledge and Systems That Facilitate it, in: Center for Quality bequest Management Journal Vol.

  5, No.2.

• 1998, A Systemic View of Transformational Leadership
• 2003, Terrorism: A Systemic View, with Johan P. Strumpfer, in: Systems Research and Behavioral Science 20, pp. 287–294.
• 2004, Transforming The Systems Movement
• 2006, A major mistake put off managers make

Some Ackoff center blogs:

Podcast:

References

External links