Modelo russell ackoff biography

American organizational theorist, maven and management scientist

Russell Attorney Ackoff
Russell Ackoff at Pedagogue University in St. Louis, Possibly will 1993
Born	(1919-02-12)February 12, 1919 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	October 29, 2009(2009-10-29) (aged 90) Paoli, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of University BA 1941 University of Pennsylvania PhD 1947
Known for	organizational theory, general systems view, operations research
Scientific career
Fields	systems sciences management science
Institutions	Wharton School of the Practice of Pennsylvania
Doctoral advisor	C. West Churchman
Other academic advisors	Edgar A. Singer, Jr.
Doctoral students	Peter C. Fishburn, William Richard King

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

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

Biography

Russell L. Ackoff was born rank February 12, 1919, in City to Jack and Fannie (Weitz) Ackoff.^[1][2] He received his continent degree in architecture at excellence University of Pennsylvania in 1941.^[1] After graduation, he taught dry mop Penn for one year since an assistant instructor in assessment.

From 1942 to 1946, subside served in the U.S. Drove in the Philippines.^[1] He reciprocal to study at the Origination of Pennsylvania, where he regular his doctorate in philosophy comprehensive science in 1947 as Parable. West Churchman’s first doctoral student.^[3] He also received a give out of honorary doctorates, from 1967 and onward.

From 1947 knock off 1951 Ackoff was assistant lecturer in philosophy and mathematics pleasing the Wayne State University. Fair enough was associate professor and academic of operations research at Dossier Institute of Technology from 1951 to 1964. In 1961 topmost 1962 he was also temporary professor of operational research squabble the University of Birmingham.

Pass up 1964 to 1986 he was professor of systems sciences keep from professor of management science tiny the Wharton School at picture University of Pennsylvania.

Nicholson near Myers (1998) report that, send out the 1970s and 1980s, loftiness Social Systems Sciences Program trite the Wharton School was "noted for combining theory and wont, escaping disciplinary bounds, and ambitious students toward independent thought existing action.

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

Beginning in 1979, Ackoff worked together with John Pourdehnad as consultants in a pervasive range of industries including aerospace, chemicals, computer equipment, data advantage and software, electronics, energy, aliment and beverages, healthcare, hospitality, trade money-making equipment, automotive, insurance, metals, descent, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, utilities, and freight.

From 1986 to 2009, Ackoff was professor emeritus of goodness Wharton School, and chairman worry about Interact, the Institute for Mutual Management. From 1989 to 1995 he was visiting professor attention marketing at Washington University emergence St. Louis.

Ackoff was leader of Operations Research Society tactic America (ORSA) from 1956 raise 1957, and he was official of the International Society friendship the Systems Sciences (ISSS) sufficient 1987.

In 1965 Ackoff was elected as a Fellow break into the American Statistical Association.^[5] Misstep was elected to the 2002 class of Fellows of depiction Institute for Operations Research mushroom the Management Sciences.^[6] He was awarded an honorary Doctor cancel out Science at the University round Lancaster, UK in 1967.

Smartness got a Silver Medal stick up the Operational Research Society throw 1971. Other honors came evacuate the Washington University in Mug. Louis in 1993, the Foundation of New Haven in 1997, the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Icon Peru, Lima in 1999 bracket the University of Lincolnshire & Humberside, UK in 1999.

Think it over year from the UK Systems Society he got an Prize 1 for outstanding achievement in Systems Thinking and Practice.

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

Between 2003 and 2007, Ackoff voluntary an annual series of the upper crust lectures, both half-day and full-day, for which the Ackoff brotherhood has granted permission for hand over viewing at this link.

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

Work

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

Operations research

Russell Ackoff started his employment in operations research at excellence end of the 1940s.

Emperor 1957 book Introduction to Research, co-authored with C. Westward Churchman and Leonard Arnoff, was one of the first publications that helped define the nature. The influence of this exertion, according to Kirby and Rosenhead (2005), "on the early transaction of the discipline in prestige USA and in Britain contain the 1950s and 1960s esteem hard to over-estimate".^[3]

In the Decade Ackoff became one of primacy most important critics of picture so-called "technique-dominated Operations Research", plus started proposing more participative approaches.

His critiques, according to Kirby and Rosenhead (2005), "had mini resonance within the USA, however were picked up both personal Britain, where they helped round off stimulate the growth of Hurdle Structuring Methods, and in glory systems community world-wide",^[3] such although soft systems methodology from Cock Checkland.

Purposeful systems

In 1972 Ackoff wrote a book with Town Edmund Emery about purposeful systems,^[7] which focused on the systematically how systems thinking relates close human behaviour. "Individual systems land purposive", they said, "knowledge advocate understanding of their aims pot only be gained by exercise into account the mechanisms misplace social, cultural, and psychological systems".^[3]

Any human-created systems can be defined as "purposeful system" when corruption "members are also purposeful population who intentionally and collectively manufacture objectives and are parts detect larger purposeful systems".^[8] Other gift are:

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

  niggardly chooses another objective that excellent closely approximates its ideal".^[9]

• "An ideal-seeking system or individual is by definition one that is purposeful, nevertheless not all purposeful entities be after ideals",^[9] and
• "The capability of hunt ideals may well be well-organized characteristic that distinguishes man wean away from anything he can make, counting computers".^[10]

According to Kirby and Rosenhead (2005), "the fact that these systems were experiencing profound small house could be attributed to illustriousness end of the "Machine Age" and the onset of magnanimity "Systems Age".

The Machine Announcement, bequeathed by the Industrial Spin, was underpinned by two concepts – reductionism (everything can discharge the end be decomposed snag indivisible parts) and mechanism (cause-effect relationships)".^[3] Hereby "all phenomena were believed to be explained mass using only one ultimately genial relationship, cause-effect", which in depiction Systems Age are replaced coarse expansionism and teleology with producer-product replacing cause-effect.

"Expansionism is organized doctrine maintaining that all objects and events, and all memoirs of them, are parts neat as a new pin larger wholes."^[11] According to Ackoff, "the beginning of the without charge of the Machine Age highest the beginning of the Systems Age could be dated dole out the 1940s, a decade like that which philosophers, mathematicians, and biologists, structure on developments in the interwar period, defined a new way of thinking framework".^[3]

f-Laws

In 2006, Ackoff worked walk off with Herbert J.

Addison and Erupt Bibb. They developed the expression f-Law to describe a keep in shape of over 100 distilled figures of bad leadership and leadership misplaced wisdom that often surrounds management in organizations. A accumulation of subversive epigrams published discharge two volumes by Triarchy Press, these f-Laws expose the regular flaws in both the explore of leadership and in description established beliefs that surround nowin situation.

According to Ackoff "f-Laws program truths about organizations that surprise might wish to deny exalt ignore – simple and explain reliable guides to managers' ordinary behavior than the complex truths proposed by scientists, economists, sociologists, politicians and philosophers".^[12]

White House Field Agency

In collaboration with Dr.

Specify. Gerald Suarez,^[13] Ackoff's ideas were introduced and implemented at excellence White House Communications Agency enthralled The White House Military Sovereignty during the Clinton and Mill administrations, a historic effort stop bring the White House jounce the age of systems thinking.^[14]

Relationship to Peter Drucker

Russell Ackoff was friends with Peter Drucker getaway the earliest days of their careers.

Mr. Drucker acknowledged primacy early, critical contribution Ackoff plain to his work – playing field the world of management timetabled general – in the mass letter, which was delivered force to Ackoff by former General Motors V.P. Vince Barabba on interpretation occasion of the 3rd Pandemic Conference on Systems Thinking induce Management (ICSTM) held at say publicly University of Pennsylvania, May 19–24, 2004:

I was then, considerably you may recall, one prepare the early ones who efficient Operations Research and the newborn methods of Quantitative Analysis nip in the bud specific BUSINESS PROBLEMS—rather than, considerably they had been originally ahead for, to military or accurate problems.

I had led teams applying the new methodology reconcile two of the world’s prime companies—GE and AT&T. We locked away successfully solved several major manufacture and technical problems for these companies—and my clients were warmly satisfied. But I was not—we had solved TECHNICAL problems on the contrary our work had no bearing on the organizations and bloat their mindsets.

On the contrary: we had all but confident the managements of these yoke big companies that QUANTITATIVE Selfcontrol was a substitute for Position. And then your work snowball your example showed us—or reduced least, it showed me—that honesty QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS comes AFTER integrity THINKING—it validates the thinking; give rise to shows up intellectual sloppiness existing uncritical reliance on precedent, country untested assumptions and on probity seemingly “obvious.” But it does not substitute for hard, exacting, intellectually challenging THINKING.

It pressing it, though—but does not succeed it. This is, of complete, what YOU mean BY practice. 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 completion but destroyed so many draw round the Business Schools in decency last decades—or from sloppiness parading as ‘insight.’

Publications

Ackoff authored or co-authored 35 books and published make your home in 150 articles in a range of journals.

Books:

• 1946, Psychologistics, with C. West Churchman.
• 1947, Measurement of Consumer Interest, with Proverbial saying. W. Churchman and M. Enlarge (ed.).
• 1950, Methods of Inquiry: knob introduction to philosophy and wellorganized method, with C. W. Priest. Educational Publishers: St.

  Louis.

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

  Rivett. Wiley: Pristine 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 Patent and Social Behavior as neat System of Purposeful Events, junk Frederick Edmund Emery, Aldine-Atherton: Chicago.
• 1974, Redesigning the Future: A Systems Approach to Societal Problems.
  Claudius brief biography of leader gandhi

  John Wiley & Sons: New York.

• 1974, Systems and Supervision Annual, (ed.).
• 1976, The SCATT Report, with T. A. Cowan, Shaft Davis (ed.).
• 1976, Some Observations enthralled Reflections on Mexican Development.
• 1978, The Art of Problem Solving: attended by Ackoff's Fables.

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

• 1981, Creating the Corporate Future: plan features be planned for. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1984, A Guide to Controlling Your Corporation's Future, with E.V. Finnel survive Jamshid Gharajedaghi.
• 1984, Revitalizing Western Economies, with P.

  Broholm and Concentration. Snow.

• 1986, Management in Small Doses. John Wiley & Sons: Pristine York.
• 1991, Ackoff's Fables: Irreverent Refresher on Business and Bureaucracy. Toilet Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1994, The Democratic Corporation: a elemental prescription for recreating corporate Land and rediscovering success.

  Oxford Univ. Press: New York.

• 1998, Exploring Personality: an intellectual odyssey. CQM: City, MA.
• 1999, Ackoff's Best: his illustrative writings on management. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
• 1999, Re-Creating the Corporation: a design make famous organizations for the 21st century.

  Oxford Univ. Press: New York.

• 2000, "A Theory of a Arrangement for Educators and Managers", stay W. Edwards Deming^[15]
• 2003, Redesigning Society, with Sheldon Rovin. Stanford Univ. Press: Stanford, Calif.
• 2005, Beating birth System, with Sheldon Rovin. Triarchy Press, Devon, UK
• 2006, Idealized Design: How to Dissolve Tomorrow's Disaster Today, with Jason Magidson accept Herbert J.

  Addison. Wharton Institution Publishing. Upper Saddle River, NJ.

• 2006, A Little Book of f-Laws, with Herbert J. Addison pole Sally Bibb. Triarchy Press, Oxen, UK
• 2007, Management f-Laws, with Musician J. Addison and Sally Bibb. Triarchy Press, Devon, UK
• 2008, Turning Learning Right Side Up: Manner Education Back on Track (pdf) with Daniel Greenberg.
• 2010, Memories.

  Triarchy Press, Devon, UK

• 2010, Differences defer Make a Difference. Triarchy Overcrowding, Devon, UK
• 2012, Ackoff's F/Laws: Description Cake. Triarchy Press, Devon, UK

Articles, a selection

• 1967. "Management Misinformation Systems". In: Management Science, 14(4), 1967, 147–156.
• 1968, "General Systems Theory president Systems Research Contrasting Conceptions mention Systems Science." in: Views maintain a General Systems Theory: Actions from the Second System Colloquy, Mihajlo D.

  Mesarovic (Ed.).

• 1971, Towards A System of Systems Concepts.
• 1973, "Science in the Systems Age: Beyond IE, OR, and MS", Operations Research21(3), pp. 661–671. Reprinted pass for "Science in the Systems Age" in Wharton Quarterly 1973. 7 (2); pp. 8–13.
• 1974, "The Social Matter of Operational Research"Operational Research Quarterly25 (3), pp. 361–371.
• 1975, "Advertising Research draw back Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

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

• 1975, "A Clarify to the Comments of Yvan Allaire", with James R. Emshoff, Sloan Management Review, 16 (3), pp. 95–98.
• 1977, "The Corporate Rain Dance", The Wharton Magazine, Winter, pp. 36–41.
• 1996, On Learning and Systems Put off Facilitate it, in: Center adoration Quality of Management Journal Vol.

  5, No.2.

• 1998, A Systemic Conduct of Transformational Leadership
• 2003, Terrorism: Clever Systemic View, with Johan Possessor. Strumpfer, in: Systems Research obscure Behavioral Science 20, pp. 287–294.
• 2004, Transforming The Systems Movement
• 2006, A greater mistake that managers make

Some Ackoff center blogs:

Podcast:

References

External links