Ackoff Center Weblog

Ackoff at UNAM -- The National Autonomous University of Mexico

Javier Livas kindly shared the video that he took from the talk given by late Russell Ackoff at the conference on "Participation and Development: The Mexico of the Future." The conference was in Mexico City: Celebrating Russell L. Ackoff’s 87^th Anniversary, February 14 – 15, 2006.

Russ Ackoff had a long history of collaboration with Mexican scholars and professionals since the early 60’s. His planning methodology has been put into practice in several instances along a variety of institutions and corporations. All of the projects he has been involved in are unmistakably geared towards development with emphasis in stakeholder participation. His books in systems thinking, organizational design, development and other topics are widely used in Mexican universities. Many Mexican students as well as professionals have benefited from his thought by directly interacting with him as graduate students, in seminars, consulting or through personal communication.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) through the Institutes of Applied Mathematics and Systems (IIMAS), Engineering (II) and The School of Engineering (FI) organized the Symposium honoring Dr. Ackoff, focused on participation, development and the Mexico of the future.

To watch the video, click on the following link: ACKOFF AT UNAM

 

Proceedings of the 2004 Systems Thinking Conference at University of Pennsylvania

By popular request, Russell Lincoln Ackoff Systems Thinking Library, recently uploaded the proceeding of the International Conference on Systems Thinking and Management, 19 May 2004 at the University of Pennsylvania.

The theme of the conference was: Transforming Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Success.
The University's Ackoff Collaboratory for the Advancement of Systems Approach (ACASA) and the Association For Enterprise Integration (AFEI)  co-hosted the conference.

The Conference featured a celebration of over 50 years of contributions to the management sciences by the late Russell L. Ackoff.  Many of the top systems thinkers in the world were present including: the late Russell Ackoff, Vince Barabba, Peter Checkland, Michael C. Jackson, Allenna Leonard, Michael Maccoby, Ian Mitroff, Barry Siverman, John Sterman, and Margaret J. Wheatley. 

To watch the proceedings of the conference, please click on the link: http://www.organizationaldynamics.upenn.edu/node/2026

Building Resilience: Responding to a Turbulent World

Call for Papers - UK Systems Society International Conference 2008

At Oxford University on the 1st -3rd September 2008

Keynote speakers:

Professor Ralph Stacey, Professor of Management at the Business School, University of Hertfordshire, author of numerous books on complexity.
Dr. Tony Kendle, Foundation Director at the Eden Project.
Mark Lynas, Journalist and author of three books on climate change.
Sarb Sembhi, Director of Metis-For, is a world expert on networked surveillance, IT security and cybercrime.

Please download the Conference 2008 Flyer

The Devil is Not in the Details!

Presented by John Pourdehnad at In2:InThinking Network 2007 Forum,
Los Angeles, April 14, 2007

The cliché "the devil is in the details” means that it is easy to talk about the current reality but difficult to arrive at. With the world characterized by complexity, chaos and discontinues changes, such admonitions no longer stand the test of times. To arrive at the “current reality,” with the world that is dynamically and globally interconnected, management scientists and practitioners are increasingly turning to approaches that are holistic in nature. A familiar proverb: “a picture is worth a thousand words” that refers to the idea that complex stories can be told with just a single still image, is touted as a thought process to untangling complexities. An approach that would help us to visualize where substantial amounts of data and information must be absorbed quickly in order to arrive at innovative strategies. To address the above challenges, we need to develop a thinking that is distinct from conventional management thinking. “System thinking” as an alternative world view to conventional thinking will be introduced and the implications for management will be discussed.

To see the presentation, click on the link: The Devil is Not in the Details!

 

Summit for the Future

May 3-5, 2006
Club of Amsterdam

The Club of Amsterdam presents its global "Summit for the Future", which will take place in Amsterdam on May 3-5, 2006. This second Summit will bring together international Thought Leaders to discuss significant, global challenges and opportunities. This time the speakers will focus on the subject of risk and the role of risk in innovation and global growth.

The topics are Life Sciences, Media & Entertainment, Trade - Asia, Healthcare, Corporate Governance , Innovation as Risk Taking, Knowledge based Risk Management, Values and Spirituality, Cross-Cultural Competence and Creative Leadership.

To read more about this event, please click on the link: Summit for the Future

Daring to Explore

The Fifth Annual Forum of the In2:InThinking Network, March 30-April 4, 2006,  Los Angeles, California, USA

The Fifth Annual Forum, themed Daring to Explore – Creating Possibilities Together, continues to expand “thinking about thinking”, raising the consciousness of better thinking in individuals and organizations. To that end, the organizers of the conference have invited pioneering thinkers who “Dare to Explore.” In addition, they are partnering with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to offer seven pre-conference workshops and one post-conference workshop. The 2006 Forum aims to promote an environment where compelling ideas and insights will evolve from an exposure to new thoughts, and inthinking colleagues. (And these ideas and insights may lead the participants in untold exciting directions in their work and life after the Forum.)

Download in2in06-brochure.pdf

Systems Thinking, lnnovation, Quality, Entrepreneurship and Environment

CALL FOR PAPERS

for the 8th International Conference on Linking

Systems Thinking, lnnovation, Quality, Entrepreneurship and Environment

STIQE 2006

To be held in Maribor, Slovenia, June 28 - 30, 2006

The. STIQE 2006 Conference is the continuation of the discussion launched at seven previous STIQE conferences in Maribor, Slovenia. They encouraged an interdisciplinary discussion about mutual links of theory and practice of Systems Thinking, Quality, Innovationg, Entrepreneurship and Environmental Care.

STIQE has developed to a unique event. It is a rare one in the world covering the mutual links rather than the above viewpoints/disciplines named alone. The previous STIQEs gathered (systems) thinkers with diverse professional and intellectual backgrounds. Their fruitful discussions and dialogues showed that the five disciplines are closely related and interactive.

The STIQE 2006 Conference aims at addressing some of the following questions:

1. Can Systems Thinking be a platform for necessary adaptations of national policies on their road towards knowledge society?

2. How processes of globalization support and oppose systems thinking, innovation, quality, entrepreneurship, and safe environment?

3. How to shape social and business environment for entrepreneurship to make it capable of serving as an agent of change and diffusor of new ideas and knowledge?

4. Are the application of Systems Thinking and Its findings able to make the accomplishment of Innovation, Quality, Entrepreneurship and Environmental Care easier, not only regarding products, services, and management, but also the environment and life, and how?

5. How systemic is the entrepreneurship research and how entrepreneurial is the systems movement? Is there any innovative systems movement left, at all?

6. How systemic and linked to innovation, entrepreneurship, quality movement, is the sustainable development movement?

7. How systemic and linked to innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainable development, is the movement for excellent business quality?

8. Can the synergy of Systems Thinking, Innovation, Quality, Entrepreneurship, and Environmental Care reinforce the chances for prosperity of transitional countries in the age of globalisation?

Many mere aspects and topics seem to make sense and are worth a further exploration, as the (unfinished) list has just shown. You may want to participate in it.

All abstracts and papers should be sent to us in English that is going to be the working language of the conference. Detailed instructions for formatting the paper together with other information on the conference content and venue will be sent to authors after acceptance of their papers for presentation.

We will again publish a book of selected papers, and best papers will be considered for publication in peer-reviewed journal.

The fee for all participants will be 250 EUR, including participation in the conference, its proceedings with all edited papers, and refreshments between the sessions. The fee for the participants with papers accepted and presented will be reduced to 200 EUR.

Deadlines of the STIQE 2006:
10^th January, 2006:
Submission of abstracts (1 page) and a 1/3 page of the author's C.V. By e-mail.
1^st March, 2006:
Acceptance or rejection of papers: instructions for preparing the final papers. By e-mail.
15^th April, 2006;
Submission of the final papers covering 8 – 10 pages (maximum). By e-mail.
15^th May, 2006:
Final program and information about the conference. By e-mail.

Submission of abstracts, suggestions, requests for other information and other questions should be addressed to:

Prof. Dr. Miroslav Rebernik ([email protected]) or

Prof. Dr. Matjaz Mulej ([email protected])

Postal address:
University of Maribor
Faculty of Economics and Business
P.Q. Box 142 (EPF)
Slovenia

Participation and Development: The Mexico of the Future

Mexico City 2006: Celebrating Russell L. Ackoff’s 87^th Anniversary, February 14 – 15, 2006

Russ Ackoff has a long history of collaboration with Mexican scholars and professionals since the early 60’s. His planning methodology has been put into practice in several instances along a variety of institutions and corporations. All of the projects he has been involved in are unmistakably geared towards development with emphasis in stakeholder participation. His books in systems thinking, organizational design, development and other topics are widely used in Mexican universities. Many Mexican students as well as professionals have benefited from his thought by directly interacting with him as graduate students, in seminars, consulting or through personal communication.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) through the Institutes of Applied Mathematics and Systems (IIMAS), Engineering (II) and The School of Engineering (FI) is proud to invite you to this Symposium honoring Dr. Ackoff, focused on participation, development and the Mexico of the future.

The 3rd International Conference on Systems Thinking in Management (ICSTM 2004)

Transforming Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Success

The 3rd International Conference on Systems Thinking in Management (ICSTM 2004) will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA on May 19 - 21, 2004 at the University of Pennsylvania.
The University's Ackoff Center for the Advancement of Systems Approaches (ACASA) and the Association For Enterprise Integration (AFEI) are co-hosting the conference.

The Conference will feature a celebration of over 50 years of contributions to the management sciences by Russell L. Ackoff. In addition, for the first time ever, many of the world's best known systems thinkers will be in one place at one time. This is an event that you cannot afford to miss if you are interested in systems thinking or in transforming your organization.

The conference will feature many of the top systems thinkers in the world, including:

Russell Ackoff, Professor Emeritus, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Chris Argyris, Harvard University and the Monitor Group
Vince Barabba, Former GM Executive, Chairman, Internet Home Alliances and the author of the forthcoming book in systems thinking to be published by Oxford University Press - Surviving Transformation: Lessons from GM's Surprising Turnaround.
Peter Checkland, Lancaster University Management School, UK
Michael C. Jackson, University of Hull, UK
Allenna Leonard, American Society for Cybernetics
Michael Maccoby, author and President of The Maccoby Group
Ian Mitroff, University of Southern California
John Sterman, MIT System Dynamics Group
Margaret J. Wheatley, author and President of the Berkana Institute

To read about the Conference, please click on the link: The 3rd International Conference on Systems Thinking in Management (ICSTM 2004)

Ackoff Workshop - Archived Live Webcast

Making a Difference: Systems Thinking / Systems Change

Among the topics Dr. Ackoff discussed during the workshop were:

The history and application of systems thinking,
How do social systems allow us to understand and overcome long term problems in today's environment?
How can you effect change within the system in which YOU play a role?

This workshop was made possible by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Motorola, the Justice Web Collaboratory, Chicago-Kent College of Law and the Cook County Bureau of Public Safety and Judicial Coordination.

View the Archived Live Webcast