Decision and Control: The Meaning of Operational Research and Management Cybernetics

"Stafford Beer is undoubtedly among the world’s most provocative, creative, and profound thinkers on the subject of management, and he records his thinking with a flair that is unmatched. His writing is as much art as it is science. He is the most viable system I know." Dr Russell L Ackoff, The Institute for Interactive Management, Pennsylvania, USA. "If anyone can make it [Operations Research] understandably readable and positively interesting it is Stafford Beer everyone in management should be grateful to him for using clear and at times elegant English and even elegant diagrams." The Economist Awarded the 1966 Lanchester Prize by the Operations Research Society of America for the best work published in 1966 in the field of management science this book has been regarded as a ‘Classic’ ever since. "in the literature of management there is nothing to be compared with it " Operational Research Quarterly "This superb book is one of the very best I have ever read on management science." Management Science "A brilliant book which rose far above the ruck of jargon–ridden ephemera. This is a study profound, wide ranging, witty, graceful and self–critical of the working of managerial systems " The Sunday Times "The sheer scale and scope of Beer’s book would rate it management text of the year in any list" The Statist "Decision and Control is a major work, both elegant and erudite." The Guardian "Beer’s imagination and enthusiasm stimulate those with whom he works to seek and cause improvements " The Director

THE NATURE OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH. An Initial Posture. On Fixing Belief. Some Dangerous Precedents. The Wedged Bear. The New Look. THE ACTIVITY OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH. About Models. Models in Aspic. The Formal Languages. A Walk in the Ramified System. Apollo′s Gift. THE RELEVANCE OF CYBERNETICS. About Systems. Coping with Complexity. Controlling Operations. Self–Organizing Systems. Controlling Enterprises. OUTCOMES. The Outcome for Industry. Information and Automation. The Outcome for Government. The Outcome for Management Science. On Practicability. Index.