Description
Book SynopsisRussell Ackoff is a very special management thinker. As an architect, city planner, doctor of philosophy, behavioral scientist, trailblazer in the fields of organizational, operations, and systems theory, bestselling author, distinguished Wharton School professor, and head of his own management education and consulting firm, he qualifies, as do few others in this century, for the title of Renaissance Man. Fortunately, he makes up for this grievous shortcoming by also being an outrageously funny observer of homo commercium. Now, Ackoff''s Best offers you an opportunity to become acquainted with this irreverent genius who, over the past forty years, has done so much to shape our understanding of the modern business organization.
Compiled by the author, Ackoff''s Best encapsulates the author''s most controversial, influential, and wittiest work to appear since the 1970s. Ackoff''s groundbreaking exploration of systems theory and its effect on business provides the backbon
Trade Review
"Russ Ackoff uses words that cut through the familiar and open doors in one's brain."-Arie de Geus, author of The Living Company
Table of Contents
SYSTEMS.
Our Changing Concept of the World.
Reflections on Systems and Their Models.
Growth versus Development.
Toward a System of Systems Concepts.
Beating the System.
PLANNING.
The Nature of Planning.
Alternative Types of Planning.
Problem Treatments.
Mess Management.
Ends Planning.@aMission Statements.
Creativity and Constraints.
APPLICATIONS.
Consumer Design.
Education.@aNever Let Your Schooling Interfere with Your Education.
Crime.
The Effect of Advertising on Sales: A Study of Relations.
On Pairs and Trios: The Smallest Social Systems.
Why People Drink: Toward Understanding Objectives.
Corporate Perestroika: The Internal Market Economy.
Design of Management Systems.
SCIENCE.
The Nature of Science and Methodology.
Objectivity.
Rationality.
The Future of Operational Research Is Past.
Epilogue: The Role of Business in a Democratic Society.
Index.
