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.
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About the Author
T. J. Demos is a Lecturer in the Department of History of Art, University College London and the author of The Exiles of Marcel Duchamp (MIT Press, 2007). His essays have appeared in such journals as Artforum, Grey Room, October, and Texte zur Kunst.
Thomas P. Hughes is Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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Examining, as this volume does, "the spread of the systems approach," suggests that some coherent approach to systems emerged within engineering before it diffused into other disciplines such as social policy and urban planning. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
military planning process, phased planning, paperwork operations, blind firing, reliability growth modeling, global data networks, future weapon systems, gunfire control, civil systems, systems ventures, gun director, large technical systems, scriptural representations, operations analysts, program budgeting Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, World War, Cold War, Department of Defense, Rad Lab, Soviet Union, Radiation Laboratory, Bureau of the Budget, Santa Monica, Warren Weaver, San Francisco, Ivan Getting, Club of Rome, Great Society, Basic Books, Harvard University Press, White House, Los Angeles, Princeton University Press, Bell Labs, Ford Foundation, Armen Alchian, Burton Klein, Charles Hitch New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Examining, as this volume does, "the spread of the systems approach," suggests that some coherent approach to systems emerged within engineering before it diffused into other disciplines such as social policy and urban planning. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
military planning process, phased planning, paperwork operations, blind firing, reliability growth modeling, global data networks, future weapon systems, gunfire control, civil systems, systems ventures, gun director, large technical systems, scriptural representations, operations analysts, program budgeting Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, World War, Cold War, Department of Defense, Rad Lab, Soviet Union, Radiation Laboratory, Bureau of the Budget, Santa Monica, Warren Weaver, San Francisco, Ivan Getting, Club of Rome, Great Society, Basic Books, Harvard University Press, White House, Los Angeles, Princeton University Press, Bell Labs, Ford Foundation, Armen Alchian, Burton Klein, Charles Hitch New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
5
books
cite this book:
- The Digital Hand: How Computers Changed the Work of American Manufacturing, Transportation, and Retail Industries by James W. Cortada in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- From Warfare to Welfare: Defense Intellectuals and Urban Problems in Cold War America by Jennifer S. Light in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology) by David A. Mindell in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Scientists in the Classroom: The Cold War Reconstruction of American Science Education by John L. Rudolph in Back Matter
- Trw: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900 by Davis Dyer in Back Matter
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