Abstract
In his seminal article, The Future of Operational Research is Past, Russell Ackoff (1979) outlined his view of organisational problems thus: “Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other.” These he termed ‘messes’ 1.
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References
Ackoff, R.L., 1979, The future of operational research is past, J. Operational Res. Soc. 30, 2:93–104.
Ackoff, R.L., 1980, The art and science of mess management, S 3 Papers. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 80-106.
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Ackoff, R.L., 1981, Beyond prediction and preparation, S 3 Papers. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 82-106.
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A response to one such source of criticism may be found in: Ackoff, R.L., The hard-headedness and softheartedness of M.C. Jackson, Journal of Management Studies, 20: 56-69.
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Agyeman, S. (1995). Learning to Love and Leave Ackoff. In: Ellis, K., Gregory, A., Mears-Young, B.R., Ragsdell, G. (eds) Critical Issues in Systems Theory and Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9883-8_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9883-8_27
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