Ackoff Center Weblog

Ackoff Memorial Service Date Set

NEWS BULLETIN

NOVEMBER 6, 200

from BECKY COLLINS ~ collinsb@sas.upenn.edu

The Memorial Service for Dr. Russell Ackoff will be held on February 12, 2010 (at The Wharton School, Huntsman Hall, 38th and Walnut St., Philadelphia), which would have been Dr. Ackoff’s 91st birthday. The Ackoff family has requested that all financial donations, gifts, and support in memory of Russ should be directed to the Russell L. Ackoff Systems Thinking Library in Organizational Dynamics at University of Pennsylvania. Your tax-deductible contribution, payable to the "Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania," can be mailed to:

Russell Ackoff Memorial Fund

Organizational Dynamics

School of Arts and SciencesOffice of External Affairs
3615 Market Street, Floor 2
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6318

Donations may also be made online at Russell Ackoff Memorial Fund:

https://medley.isc-seo.upenn.edu/giving/jsp/fast.do?program=SAS&fund=843142

Russell L. Ackoff, Management Consultant & Systems Thinker, 1919 -2009

Professor Russell L. Ackoff has been described as a Renaissance Man, architect, city planner, philosopher, behavioral scientist, trailblazer in the field of organizational operations, the pre-eminent authority on organizational systems theory, best-selling author, world traveler—even a humorist.  Recognized internationally as a pragmatic academic, Russ, as he was known to all, devoted most of his professional life to “dissolving” complex societal and organizational problems by engaging all stakeholders in designing solutions.

Born in Philadelphia to Jack and Fannie (Weitz) Ackoff, he completed undergraduate studies in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. From 1942 to 1946 he served in the U.S. Army, stationed in the Philippines. Upon returning from the war, he obtained a doctorate in the Philosophy of Science from Penn, where he met and married Alexandra Makar.

From 1947 to 1951 Dr. Ackoff was Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Mathematics at Wayne State University. It was here that he first sought to establish an institute devoted applying philosophical beliefs about the nature of man to the design and improvement of social institutions. In 1951, Ackoff and a group of colleagues were invited to join the Case Institute of Technology School of Engineering, where they were instrumental in establishing one of the world's first Departments of Operations Research, an accomplishment that still identifies Ackoff as the “Father of Operations Research.”

In 1964 the fledgling graduate business program at the Wharton School recruited Ackoff and his colleagues. In 1980, the Social Systems Sciences Department was established at Wharton. This innovative program combined organizational design theory and practice, sought to escape traditional disciplinary bounds, and cultivated students motivated by independent thought and action.  

In 1986 Dr. Ackoff retired from the Wharton School, became Anheuser Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science, and founded INTERACT, a consulting firm and think tank.

In September 2000, he was honored at Penn by the establishment of the Ackoff Center for Advancement of Systems Approaches (ACASA) in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the result of generous contributions of Ray Stata (chairman of the board, Analog Devices), the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, and the General Motors Foundation.  In 2002 the Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowship for Research was established in the Wharton School.

In 2003, at age 87, he returned to Penn as Distinguished Affiliated Faculty  in the Organizational Dynamics degree program in the School of Arts and Sciences in order to teach a graduate course in “Systems Thinking Applied to Management” and to advise graduate students.

In 2005, he co-founded Adopt a Neighborhood for Development, Inc., an organization dedicated to encouraging and facilitating self development programs in disadvantaged communities, and continued to lecture in universities around the world.

In 2007, the Ackoff Program, Tomsk University, Tomsk, Russia was established. In 2008 the Russell L. Ackoff Systems Thinking Library and Archive was created in the Organizational Dynamics program in the School of Arts and Sciences.  The Library holds his more than 300 scholarly publications and nearly three dozen books, his private manuscripts and personal library of more than 3000 books on systems, design, philosophy, social science, as well as his awards, fellowships, medals, endowment fund, and his 6 honorary doctorates in science and letters.  His books which include Introduction to Operations Research, The Art of Problem Solving, Creating the Corporate Future, and Management in Small Doses are read around the world and several have been translated into 15 or more languages.

In 2008  the Ackoff Program, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria was established, and in 2009 the Ackoff Center for Design Thinking, Da Vinci Institute, South Africa was created.

Over his years of teaching, traveling and lecturing he acquired a fiercely loyal following of students, colleagues and clients. Resisting always the moniker of “guru” so often applied to him in the popular business press, he once said “I am not a guru...gurus encourage followers who do things their way. I am an educator...I encourage others to go out and adapt these ideas...to do whatever is going to be the most effective solution for them.” Dr. Ackoff continued to teach including in September 2009 in Wharton’s Executive Education programs.  

Dr. Ackoff is survived by his wife of 22 years, Helen Wald Ackoff, three children from his first marriage, Alan Ackoff, Karen Ackoff, and Karla Ackoff Kachbalian; his stepson, Richard Wald. He passed away on October 29, 2009, due to complications following hip replacement surgery.

Link to Short Profile of Russell L. Ackoff:

http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/announcements/

UK Systems Society Conference 2009

UK Systems Society Conference 2009
Tuesday 1st & Wednesday 2nd September 2009
Call for Contributions
Paper submission is open from now until 31 May 2009
Registration opens 1 March 2009
‘Systems Research: Lessons from the Past– Progress for
the Future’ Keynote speaker: Prof. Peter Checkland

More information will be posted on: www.ukss.org.uk
Further details can be found in the Download UK_Systems_Society_Conference_2009

Ackoff's Keynote Address at ICSTM 2004 Conference

ICSTM 2004 keynote address on YouTube. 

The three videos run a total of 30 minutes.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLU3aoQ7t7c              (part 1)
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsF32GAHVfI              (part 2)
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z3hJIGHdfk               (part 3)

Short Profile of Russell L. Ackoff

We are delighted to have permission to post here a short profile of Russell L. Ackoff  that will appear in late 2008 or early 2009 as part of a book of profiles of major figures in Operations Research. The profile has been written by two UK academics - Maurice Kirby, Professor of Economic History at the University of Lancaster, and Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor of Operational Research at the London School of Economics. The book in which it will appear is:

Profiles in Operations Research edited by Saul Gass and Arjang Assad, to be published by Springer.

Russell Ackoff was one of the leading members of the second generation of Operations Researchers who established the subject as an academic discipline in the decades following World War II. As the profile makes clear he became increasingly dissatisfied with the direction that OR was taking, and in the end parted company with it decisively. Nevertheless he has been a strong influence on its development, though his message has been picked up more strongly in Europe and elsewhere than in the United States.

The profile covers not only his work directly in OR, but also his background and early life and studies, as well as some treatment of his position within the systems movement. To download the paper, please click on the following link: Download Ackoffprofile.pdf

Please note that it is copyrighted to Jonathan Rosenhead and Maurice Kirby. It should be noted that it cannot be reproduced or distributed in any form and it should be noted that the final version is to appear in S. Gass and A. Assad "Profiles in Operations Research", Springer, forthcoming 2008. The original publication will be available at springer.com.

Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowships Announced

  RISK MANAGEMENT AND DECISION PROCESSES CENTER (Est. 1984)

The Ackoff Fellowship Fund enables University of Pennsylvania PhD students interested in decision processes and choice under risk and uncertainty to pursue research in these areas. The fellowships take the form of research awards in the $1,000-$3,000 range to support data collection, travel, and other research-related expenses.

The Fund awarded 25 fellowships in 2008. Recipients represent various departments within Wharton as well as other departments at Penn. In January, the Ackoff Fellows reported on their research to students and faculty interested in decision process and risk management.

To see the list of the 2008 Ackoff Fellowships, click on the following URL: Risk Management  REVIEW

University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

July 13-18, 2008

ISSS2008: Systems that Make a Difference

Location: University of Wisconsin, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street, Madison, Wisconsin

The title for this conference borrows from Gregory Bateson’s definition of information as “a difference that makes a difference.” The question for systems researchers and practitioners is, “what difference are we making?”

For more information see the Madison 2008 main page, and the Madison 2008 Conference Announcement

Ackoff's Best: His Classic Writings on Management

This book has been translated into Chinese by the Wintop Group.
WINTOP is currently conducting translation projects to introduce Ackoff's thoughts to Chinese readers.

'complexity' publications from ISCE Publishing

1. Complex Systems Leadership Theory: New Perspectives from Complexity Science on Social and Organizational Effectiveness - Edited by James K. Hazy, Jeffrey A. Goldstein and Benyamin B. Lichtenstein - 550pp + index - ISBN 978-0-9791688-6-4. Click here for detailed contents, editorial and comprehensive index; and here to order with a 20% discount;

2. Thinking Complexity: Complexity and Philosophy Volume 1 - Edited by Paul Cilliers - 250pp + index - ISBN 978-0-9791688-7-1. Click here for for detailed contents, editorial and comprehensive index;  and here to order with a 20% discount;

3. Sustaining Our Social and Natural Capital: Proceedings of the 12th ANZSYS Conference - Edited by Roger Attwater & John Merson - 576pp - ISBN 978-0-9791688-8-8. Click here for detailed contents and editorial; and here to order with a 20% discount;

4. New issue of the international peer-reviewed journal Emergence: Complexity & Organization (Issue 9.3). Current subscribers can download the current issue from here. The print version will be sent out to subscribers who have requested the complementary print version will be sent out in a couple of weeks time. To order a subscription to Volume 9 of E:CO please visit here. Issue 9.3 includes:

Editorial: The Complexity of Change and Adaptation
Peter Allen
General Papers
Academic
Understanding Change in Organizations in a Far-from-Equilibrium World
Bob Hodge & Gabriela Coronado
The Dark Side of Knowledge
David Seidl
Practitioner
Assessing Organizational Capacity to Adapt
Eleanor D. Glor
Complexity Science Conflict Analysis of Power and Protest
L. Deborah Sword
Complexity and Philosophy
Approaching “Complexity” in Anthropology and Complexity Studies: The Principles of Socio-Political Organization and the Prospects for Bridging the Interdisciplinary Gap
Dmitri M. Bondarenko
Classic Complexity
The Philosophy of the Present
George Herbert Mead (with an introduction by Jeffrey A. Goldstein)
Forum
Rolling Complex Rocks Up Social Service Hills: A Personal Commentary
Michael Agar
Adjacent Opportunities: Ordinary Magic
Ron Schultz
Book Reviews
A Review of “Socioeconomic Democracy: An Advanced Socioeconomic system”
William P. Hall
A Review of “Complexity in World Politics: Concepts and Methods of a New Paradigm”
Ken Baskin
If you have any questions concerning ISCE Publishing's new or existing titles please contact Kurt Richardson at kurt@isce.edu.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Posted on Behalf of Robert Meyer (meyerr@wharton.upenn.edu)  
Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center

2008 Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowships for

Research on Human Decision Processes and Risk

Management

The Wharton Center for Risk and Decision Processes is pleased to announce the 3rd edition of the Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowships, which constitutes a new funding opportunity for doctoral research on human decision making at Penn.  The funding will take the form of research awards in the $1,000-$2,500 range, funds that can be used to support data collection, travel, and other research related expenses. The 2006-2007 fellowships supported 15 students from various departments at Wharton and Penn. In the coming year, we would like to support a similar number of fellowship recipients.

We hope to use these fellowships to facilitate the development of a doctoral student research community in the area of decision making under uncertainty.  As such, in addition to the direct funding, award recipients will be invited to participate in two Center-sponsored seminars to be hosted at the Wharton School, one in late Fall 2007 and a second in early Summer 2008.

The first seminar is designed to provide students with the opportunity to present their research ideas in the early stages. The 2007-2008 recipients will be responsible for organizing the second event, a one-day conference gathering doctoral students from Penn and other universities; a conference by and for doctoral students undertaking research in related fields.

Students engaged in on-going research that relates to problems in decision making under risk and uncertainty are encouraged to apply.  Proposals can reflect a broad range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, and may include tests on economic theories of risky decision making, investigations into the role of emotions in decision making, and group decision making.

Proposals should be 2-3 pages in length, and include the following information:

1. Project title and descriptive summary (1-2 pages);
2. Name of primary faculty member with whom the student is      working;
3. Proposal must be signed by the primary faculty member, or      by the advisor;
4. Detailed budget describing the anticipated expenses; and     
5. Description of other current sources of research and      travel funding from your department.

 The deadline for proposals is Friday, October 5, 2007.  

 Please send the complete proposal and additional information to Cynthia Anderson @Cynthia2@wharton.upenn.edu

The research fellowships are named in honor of an endowment provided to the Wharton School by Russell Ackoff, the Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science at the Wharton School.  Professor Ackoff is a very well-known and distinguished member of the Penn faculty community, whose life’s work has been dedicated to furthering our understanding of human behavior in organizations.  It is in the spirit of continuing this legacy by supporting doctoral training that the fellowships have been named.

The Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center is a nexus of people and projects devoted to furthering the practical understanding of how to manage situations of risk involving health, safety, and the environment in both the private and public sectors of our society. Since it’s creation in 1984, the Center has been at the forefront of research into the management of low-probability/high-consequence events, i.e. extreme events. In addition to working on programs of basic and applied research, Risk Center faculty serve on national and international advisory committees, with partnerships in government, academia, industry, and NGOs.

Building on the disciplines of economics, decision sciences, finance, insurance, and marketing, the Center's research program is focused on descriptive and prescriptive analyses. Descriptive research focuses on how individuals and organizations interact and make decisions regarding the management of catastrophic risk. Prescriptive analyses propose ways that individuals and organizations, both private and governmental, can make better decisions regarding risk. The Center supports and undertakes field and experimental studies of risk and uncertainty to understand better the link between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to decision-making in coping with technological and natural hazards under various regulatory, environmental, and market conditions. Center research investigates the effectiveness of such strategies as incentive systems, insurance, regulation, and the communication of risk information.

Website: http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/risk/

Howard Kunreuther                  Robert J. Meyer                      Erwann Michel-Kerjan

Co-Director                               Co-Director                             Managing Director

kunreuth@wharton.upenn.edu, meyerr@wharton.upenn.edu rwannmk@wharton.upenn.edu

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