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Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowships

CALL FOR PROPOSALS – deadline: March 4, 2018

The Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowship program of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center provides grants to University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. students who are pursuing research in decision making under risk and uncertainty.  The research fellowships are named in honor of an endowment provided to the Wharton School by the Anheuser-Busch Charitable Trust.  Professor Emeritus of Management Science, Russell Ackoff’s work was dedicated to furthering our understanding of human behavior in organizations.

The fellowship awards range from $1,000-$4,000.  Funds may be used for data collection, travel, and other direct research expenses (not stipend support, research assistants or computer purchases). Potential initiatives to receive funding include Insurability and Risk Management; Managing Environmental, Health and Safety Risks; Behavioral Economics; and Decision Processes.  Doctoral students throughout Penn engaged in on-going research that relates to problems in decision making under risk and uncertainty are encouraged to apply.  To apply:  Applications must include a proposal and Ackoff_application-form-2018.

Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowships

 

ACKOFF TAPE # 1

This is the first of eight segments recorded over two days at a Naval Training Facility in the 80's. In the first segment Russell Ackoff walks us though the progression of system science from mechanical, to organic, to social systems.

ACKOFF TAPE # 1

From Mechanistic to Social Systemic Thinking

By

Russell Ackoff , Kellie Wardman

 

The Systems Thinker

"Each of us has a theory of reality, a concept of the nature of the world which is referred to as our worldview. Our worldview is the cement that holds our culture together; we absorb it by osmosis in the process of acculturation. We are currently in the early stages of a tremendous change in the dominant worldview—a shift in age as large in its implications as the movement from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance to the Machine Age. In order to understand the change we are experiencing we need to look more closely at the philosophies and ideas that have shaped our current view of the world and the shift in thinking that is required as we move from the Machine Age into the Systems Age. To understand the challenges we face requires a historical perspective that traces the evolution of Western thought from the Middle Ages to the present."

From Mechanistic to Social Systemic Thinking

Organizational Leadership for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Emerging Research and Opportunities

Peter A.C. Smith (The Leadership Alliance Inc., Canada) and John Pourdehnad (University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Release Date: February, 2018|Copyright: © 2018 |Pages: 125

 

Description

Digital technology has transformed business and management methodology in the modern era. As technologies continue to evolve and change, designing a platform for business architecture requires flexibility and practicality.

Organizational Leadership for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides the latest research on the approaches to dealing successfully with newly emerging digital technologies and the dynamic complexity leaders are facing now and in the future. While highlighting topics such as business architecture, interactive planning, and strategic capital, this book explores the implications of technologies on business and leadership as well as the development of leadership methods and applications. This book is an important resource for professionals, practitioners, upper-level students, and managers seeking current research on leadership and business advancement in the digital era.

Topics Covered

The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to:

• Business Architecture
• Complex Environments
• Digital Technologies
• Human-Centered Environment
• Interactive Planning
• Leadership Development
• Retrospective and Prospective Reflections
• Strategic Capital

Organizational Leadership for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Emerging Research and Opportunities