Systems, Experts, and Computers

The Systems Approach in Management and Engineering, World War II and After
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-262-51604-4
Verlag: MIT Press Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 519 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 144 mm x 221 mm, Gewicht: 783 g

Reihe: Dibner Institute Studies in the History of Science and Technology

This groundbreaking book charts the origins and spread of the systems movement.After World War II, a systems approach to solving complex problems and managing complex systems came into vogue among engineers, scientists, and managers, fostered in part by the diffusion of digital computing power. Enthusiasm for the approach peaked during the Johnson administration, when it was applied to everything from military command and control systems to poverty in American cities. Although its failure in the social sphere, coupled with increasing skepticism about the role of technology and "experts" in American society, led to a retrenchment, systems methods are still part of modern managerial practice.This groundbreaking book charts the origins and spread of the systems movement. It describes the major players including RAND, MITRE, Ramo-Wooldrige (later TRW), and the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis—and examines applications in a wide variety of military, government, civil, and engineering settings. The book is international in scope, describing the spread of systems thinking in France and Sweden. The story it tells helps to explain engineering thought and managerial practice during the last sixty years.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hughes, Agatha C.

Hughes, Thomas Parke

Weitere Mitwirkende

Mindell, David A.

Rau, Erik P.

Johnson, Stephen B.

Bugos, Glenn

Hecht, Gabrielle

Mackenzie, Donald

Akera, Atsushi

Edwards, Paul N.

Hounshell, David A.

Jardini, David R.

Dyer, Davis

Kaijser, Arne

Tiberg, Joar

Brooks, Harvey

McDonald, Alan

Levien, Roger E.

Kay, Lily E.

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Forschung und Information Kybernetik, Systemtheorie, Komplexe Systeme
• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Interdisziplinär Systemtheorie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Systemisches Management

Über Autor(innen)

Akera, Atsushi
Atsushi Akera is Assistant Professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Brooks, Harvey
Harvey Brooks was the Benjamin Pierce Professor of Technology and Public Policy Emeritus in the Kennedy School of Government and Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics Emeritus in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.

Edwards, Paul N.
Paul N. Edwards is Professor in the School of Information and the Department of History at the University of Michigan. He is the author of The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America (1996) and a coeditor (with Clark Miller) of Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance (2001), both published by the MIT Press.

Hughes, Thomas Parke
Thomas P. Hughes is Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mackenzie, Donald
Donald MacKenzie is Professor of Sociology (Personal Chair) at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Inventing Accuracy (1990), Knowing Machines (1996), and Mechanizing Proof (2001), all published by the MIT Press. Portions of An Engine, not a Camera won the Viviana A. Zelizer Prize in economic sociology from the American Sociological Association.

Mindell, David A.
David A. Mindell is Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, Professor of Engineering Systems, and Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. He is the author of Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics and War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor.

Hecht, Gabrielle
Gabrielle Hecht is Frank Stanton Foundation Professor of Nuclear Security and Professor of History at Stanford University. She is the author of The Radiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity after World War II (MIT Press).

Thomas P. Hughes is Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.