This document, one of a series of reports examining the possible contribution of other disciplines to evaluation methodology, describes the major elements of general systems theory (GST), cybernetics theory (CT) and management control theory (MCT). The author suggests that MCT encapsulates major concerns of evaluation since it reveals that…

In the policy making process, one of the important steps is the consideration of the consequences deriving from the alternative choices. For the case of information policy, the present research has begun the development of a methodology for doing so. The methodology chosen was modeling. Information policy modeling serves the dual purposes of…

This paper offers a model that integrates chaos theory and cybernetics, which can be used to describe the structure of decision making within small groups. The paper begins with an overview of cybernetics and chaos. Definitional characteristics of cybernetics are reviewed along with salient constructs, such as goal-seeking, feedback, feedback…

This paper discusses the development, application, and implications of a statistical technique--a concordance index--for measuring the restrictions and constrictions (legal and societal) which inhibit individual decision making and adapting behavior. It was found that as sophistication sets in there will be less and less tolerance of these…

Attempts to provide the teacher with a view of system and organization, and points up crucial aspects of the educational system. (Author)

THREE METHODS OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS ARE DISCUSSED--USE OF COMPUTERS, MATHEMATICS, AND EXPERTISE. THE USE OF EXPERTISE IS EMPHASIZED. THE DISCUSSION ON EXPERTISE JUDGMENT IS BASED ON PAPERS BY O. HELMER, WHICH ILLUSTRATE THE DELPHI METHOD OR CYBERNETIC ARBITRATION. ALTHOUGH COMPUTER AND MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS (PARTICULARLY GAME THEORY) ARE BECOMING…

Systemic planning is an operational approach to using scientific rigor and qualitative judgment in a complementary manner. It integrates rigorous techniques and methods from systems analysis, cybernetics, decision theory, and work programing. The annotated reference sources in this bibliography include those works that have been most influential…

Discusses conceptual models of thought that have recently emerged to confront the conventional approaches to analysis and solution to complex environmental problems. In addition to a critical attack on the tradition of specialization and reductionism, several models are summarized that originated from ecology, cybernetics, and system theory. (BC)

Purpose: Seeks to explore the notion of organisational intelligence as a simple extension of the notion of the idea of collective intelligence. Design/methodology/approach: Discusses organisational intelligence using previous research, which includes the Purpose, Properties and Practice model of Dealtry, and the Viable Systems model. Findings: The…

Ideas that may help college and university administrators develop a more coherent and integrated view of the institutions they inhabit and, therefore, be more effective as they work in them are presented. Suggestions are made to help them think in more complex ways about their work and improving their performance. Thoughts are based on ideas that…

In almost all democratic countries, a rising incidence of nonformal means of political communication, e.g., polls, pressure groups, demonstrations, suggests a need to broaden participation in political decision making. Outlines two possible approaches for achieving this goal: the dual weighted-vote system and computerized politics. (Author/CS)

This document attempts to identify and promote human factors research that would likely produce results applicable to the evolutionary design of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) national space station to be launched in the 1990s. It reports on a symposium designed to yield information applicable to future space systems. The…

Trends in computer technology and electronic data processing as they relate to different facets of instruction and educational research are presented under four main topic areas: individualized instruction and social goals, computers in instruction and research, teaching the computer sciences, and information processing for education system.…

This paper begins by establishing the need for new world views and social invention. Its thesis is that: 1) reform must begin at both the individual and system levels; 2) we must clearly see how we are caught in systems within systems; and, 3) by responding somewhat acquiesently to these systems, we help keep them stabilized. The author first…