Ackoff Center Weblog Comments http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/ The <i>Ackoff Center Weblog</i> provides an opportunity to keep up with the latest research in Systems Thinking. It is also a forum where you can interact with others in the field and share your own experiences. en-us 2012-04-28T17:32:34+00:00 Harold Nelson comments on "Proceedings of the 2004 Systems Thinking Conference at University of Pennsylvania" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2011/12/proceedings-of-the-2004-systems-thinking-conference-at-university-of-pennsylvania.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20162fecc52ba970d I have been able to open all three videos after several tries so please disregard my last request for an alternative source. Thank you again for providing these great videos. I have been able to open all three videos after several tries so please disregard my last request for an alternative source. Thank you again for providing these great videos.

]]> Harold Nelson 2011-12-31T16:04:13+00:00 Harold Nelson comments on "Proceedings of the 2004 Systems Thinking Conference at University of Pennsylvania" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2011/12/proceedings-of-the-2004-systems-thinking-conference-at-university-of-pennsylvania.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e201675fbfe424970b Thank you for providing these videos. They are very interesting. I am unable to get the first video to open. Is there another version available? At some point I would like to see a serious effort to sweep design into such systems thinking conferences. Design was one of Russs primary interests. Thank you for providing these videos. They are very interesting. I am unable to get the first video to open. Is there another version available?

At some point I would like to see a serious effort to sweep design into such systems thinking conferences. Design was one of Russ's primary interests.

]]> Harold Nelson 2011-12-31T14:52:23+00:00 Eric Phillips comments on "A converstaion between Russell Ackoff and Edward Deming" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2011/04/a-converstaion-between-russell-ackoff-and-edward-deming.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20154340aef42970c Please put up a copy of the interview with page 36 in the correct place. If needed, send me the document and I will return it with the correction. Sincerely, Eric Phillips Please put up a copy of the interview with page 36 in the correct place. If needed, send me the document and I will return it with the correction. Sincerely, Eric Phillips

]]> Eric Phillips 2011-07-27T17:22:42+00:00 Ramon Marin comments on "Third International Congress of Systems Sciences -- Mexico City, Mexico" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2011/06/third-international-congress-of-systems-sciences-mexico-city-mexico.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e2015433672eb1970c Live on Internet: http://t.co/VJzwClF http://t.co/zBAxcZY Or RealPlayer rtsp://videont.uia.mx/broadcast/congreso_sistemas Twitter Backchannel HashTag #3ICSS http://twitter.com/search?q=%233ICSS http://twitter.com/AMCSistemas Live on Internet:

http://t.co/VJzwClF
http://t.co/zBAxcZY

Or RealPlayer rtsp://videont.uia.mx/broadcast/congreso_sistemas

Twitter Backchannel HashTag #3ICSS

http://twitter.com/search?q=%233ICSS

http://twitter.com/AMCSistemas

]]> Ramon Marin 2011-07-01T17:36:57+00:00 David Kamien comments on "A converstaion between Russell Ackoff and Edward Deming" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2011/04/a-converstaion-between-russell-ackoff-and-edward-deming.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e2015432d768ff970c Whose work today exemplifies a successful combination of scientific and systems thinking, and has resulted in an enhanced ability to predict change and complexity? Whose work today exemplifies a successful combination of scientific and systems thinking, and has resulted in an enhanced ability to predict change and complexity?

]]> David Kamien 2011-06-07T11:11:59+00:00 Hub Gerats comments on "The Future of Operational Research is Past" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2003/10/the_future_o_op.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20154329a683a970c I cant open the PDF The future of operational research is past. Could you please send this paper by email? Thanks in advance, Hub Gerats Netherlands I can't open the PDF The future of operational research is past. Could you please send this paper by email?
Thanks in advance,
Hub Gerats
Netherlands

]]> Hub Gerats 2011-05-28T06:40:32+00:00 Harold Nelson comments on "A converstaion between Russell Ackoff and Edward Deming" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2011/04/a-converstaion-between-russell-ackoff-and-edward-deming.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e2014e875cb883970d Thank you so much. This is an invaluable document. Can you tell us when and where this interview took place? Thank you so much. This is an invaluable document. Can you tell us when and where this interview took place?

]]> Harold Nelson 2011-04-09T15:27:06+00:00 Lemuel Fahngonlfahngon comments on "A Systemic View of Transformational Leadership" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2004/12/a_systemic_view.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20148c757a35c970c I find the materials informative, rewarding and exciting. For example, the distinction drawn between growth and development particularly hits home. In the sixties, Liberia (a native of) had a per capita (approximately $600) comparable to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, but behind that veneer of economic prosperity was a significant lack of development. To date, liberia is an impoverihed and heavily indebted nation while Japan and Korea are an economic success. Growth is not necessarily development.Thanks I find the materials informative, rewarding and exciting. For example, the distinction drawn between growth and development particularly hits home. In the sixties, Liberia (a native of) had a per capita (approximately $600) comparable to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, but behind that veneer of economic prosperity was a significant lack of development. To date, liberia is an impoverihed and heavily indebted nation while Japan and Korea are an economic success. Growth is not necessarily development.Thanks

]]> Lemuel Fahngonlfahngon 2011-01-05T19:14:36+00:00 Tim Boone comments on "Announcement from Russell L. Ackoff Group (Linkedin Groups)" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2010/07/announcement-from-russell-l-ackoff-group-linkedin-groups.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20134852fa35f970c I am interested as I have been using systems thinking in my human systems effectiveness consulting practice for 40+ years. I know Russell Ackoff has made a significant contribution and I would be interested in seeing this endeavor grow in stature and impact. Please send me more information. Tim Boone, PhD timothy.boone@comcast.net I am interested as I have been using systems thinking in my human systems effectiveness consulting practice for 40+ years. I know Russell Ackoff has made a significant contribution and I would be interested in seeing this endeavor grow in stature and impact.

Please send me more information.

Tim Boone, PhD
timothy.boone@comcast.net

]]> Tim Boone 2010-07-03T18:21:28+00:00 RalfLippold comments on "Systems Methodology" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2004/03/systems_methodo_1.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20134849cabfd970c Thanks for sharing your thoughts. SystemDynamics has been my passion since my days at BMW. Figuring out why cars are too late on the production gate is always and everywhere a challenge. Organizations are living systems and so the reasons may change over time, making the assumptions and impacts clear to the whole team that is SystemDynamics useful for. More see JayForresters paper on the issue: http://sysdyn.clexchange.org/sdep/Roadmaps/RM1/D-4468-2.pdf Thanks for sharing your thoughts. SystemDynamics has been my passion since my days at BMW. Figuring out why cars are too late on the production gate is always and everywhere a challenge. Organizations are living systems and so the reasons may change over time, making the assumptions and impacts clear to the whole team that is SystemDynamics useful for.

More see JayForrester's paper on the issue: http://sysdyn.clexchange.org/sdep/Roadmaps/RM1/D-4468-2.pdf

]]> RalfLippold 2010-06-18T10:48:07+00:00 Yeu Wen comments on "Seeing Your Company as a System" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2010/05/seeing-your-company-as-a-system.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e201348360140b970c More recently, systems thinking and social complex system are now considered 2 out of 4 distinct contextual problem domains (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin). More recently, systems thinking and social complex system are now considered 2 out of 4 distinct contextual problem domains (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin).

]]> Yeu Wen 2010-06-05T12:29:22+00:00 M comments on "The change of the location of the Memorial Service for Dr. Russell Ackoff " http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2010/02/the-change-of-the-location-of-the-memorial-service-for-dr-russell-ackoff-.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20120a8be6c47970b I am interested in subject of wisdom in my studies and I find this article title: Ackoff, R. L., From Data to Wisdom but I cant find a site to download it. Can anyone please send it for me? ( mnabi64@yahoo.com ) I am interested in subject of wisdom in my studies and I find this article title:
Ackoff, R. L., "From Data to Wisdom"
but I can't find a site to download it. Can anyone please send it for me?
( mnabi64@yahoo.com )

]]> M 2010-02-21T09:29:09+00:00 Doug Samuelson comments on "A Message from Dean of The Wharton School, Tom Robertson about Ackoff Memorial Service" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2009/11/a-message-from-dean-of-the-wharton-school-tom-robertson-about-ackoff-memorial-service.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e201287792b298970c I write a column for OR/MS Today, the news magazine of INFORMS. INFORMS is the professional society for OR, Russ primary field. In December 2009, I devoted my column to remembrances of Russ, especially his three declarations, at approximately ten-year intervals, that OR was a dying field because it had gotten too narrowly focused and because too many OR analysts valued mathematical sophistication more than solving the clients problem. I had gotten the chance to ask him once, How much faith would you have in a doctor who pronounced the same patient dead three times, at ten-year intervals? He laughed and responded, with a wry smile, Let me let you in on a little secret. The more the theoreticians dislike me, the more my clients love me. Once again he showed that he really knew what he was doing. In the column I also mentioned R.E.D. Gene Woolsey, a giant of the field in his own right. Gene, who is not generally known for excessive modesty, thanked me profusely, explaining, Im deeply honored and humbled to be mentioned in the same column as Russ Ackoff. He, Churchman and Arnoff were the three giants I always looked up to, the true fathers of the field. I write a column for OR/MS Today, the news magazine of INFORMS. INFORMS is the professional society for OR, Russ' primary field. In December 2009, I devoted my column to remembrances of Russ, especially his three declarations, at approximately ten-year intervals, that OR was a dying field because it had gotten too narrowly focused and because too many OR analysts valued mathematical sophistication more than solving the client's problem. I had gotten the chance to ask him once, "How much faith would you have in a doctor who pronounced the same patient dead three times, at ten-year intervals?" He laughed and responded, with a wry smile, "Let me let you in on a little secret. The more the theoreticians dislike me, the more my clients love me." Once again he showed that he really knew what he was doing.

In the column I also mentioned R.E.D. "Gene" Woolsey, a giant of the field in his own right. Gene, who is not generally known for excessive modesty, thanked me profusely, explaining, "I'm deeply honored and humbled to be mentioned in the same column as Russ Ackoff. He, Churchman and Arnoff were the three giants I always looked up to, the true fathers of the field."

]]> Doug Samuelson 2010-02-11T22:03:18+00:00 Tom Doughty comments on "Russell L. Ackoff, Management Consultant & Systems Thinker, 1919 -2009" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2009/10/russell-l-ackoff-management-consultant-systems-thinker-90.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e20128773a5edb970c Russell Ackoff always encouraged students to try to avoid thinking in one dimension. He encouraged students to try two dimensions to achieve a measure of enlightenment. As a humorous way into the subject, he asked students to consider the tendency of people to think of others in one dimension, say, as either “fakes” or “fools” implying a one dimensional view of people. In examining the meaning of the two words, he came up with a 2 dimensional “Knowledge” grid. Imbedded in the definitions of fool and fake is the actual amount of knowledge that a person has and the amount he pretends to have. So the 2 dimensional picture would indicate 4 types-fakes, fools and two other types. Interestingly, there seems to be no common one word noun describing someone who knows something and pretends to know nothing. Also, interestingly, there seems to be no common one word description for someone who knows something and pretends to know something. But we do know well the words “fool” and “fake”. Russell Ackoff always encouraged students to try to avoid thinking in one dimension. He encouraged students to try two dimensions to achieve a measure of enlightenment. As a humorous way into the subject, he asked students to consider the tendency of people to think of others in one dimension, say, as either “fakes” or “fools” implying a one dimensional view of people. In examining the meaning of the two words, he came up with a 2 dimensional “Knowledge” grid. Imbedded in the definitions of fool and fake is the actual amount of knowledge that a person has and the amount he pretends to have. So the 2 dimensional picture would indicate 4 types-fakes, fools and two other types. Interestingly, there seems to be no common one word noun describing someone who knows something and pretends to know nothing. Also, interestingly, there seems to be no common one word description for someone who knows something and pretends to know something. But we do know well the words “fool” and “fake”.

]]> Tom Doughty 2010-01-31T14:29:31+00:00 John R. Broomfield comments on "Russell L. Ackoff, Management Consultant & Systems Thinker, 1919 -2009" http://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/ackoff_center_weblog/2009/10/russell-l-ackoff-management-consultant-systems-thinker-90.html#c6a00d8345244ea69e2012877144b05970c For Dr Russ Ackoffs dedication, research, thinking, teaching and insights to enable others to dissolve problems, before and after they occur, the Nobel Prize? Thank you Russ. For Dr Russ Ackoff's dedication, research, thinking, teaching and insights to enable others to dissolve problems, before and after they occur, the Nobel Prize?

Thank you Russ.

]]> John R. Broomfield 2010-01-26T09:13:27+00:00