On the Mismatch between Systems and their Models

In their article "On the Mismatch between Systems and their Models," Russell Ackoff and Jamshid Gharajedaghi discuss deficiencies in the management of our principal social systems. Noting that while there is no one reason for such system failures, they propose that the major contributing factor is a serious mismatch between increasingly more complex social systems and the oversimplified models of them in use. In response to this dilemma, the authors present five characteristics they believe social systems should have in order to function as effectively as possible.

This is a revised version of their original article: "Reflections on Systems and Their Models," by Russell Ackoff and Jamshid Gharajedaghi that was published in Systems Research, Vol. 13, No. 1, March 1966, pp. 13-23.