2: Management sciences : models and techniques
Oxford [etc.] : Pergamon press, 1960
Abstract:
The first six years of TIMS have seen not only a growth in membership, in publications, in meetings and Communications, but the beginning of a scientific basis for many of the major problems of management. Six years ago, few people felt that the progress which has been accomplished in this field could be even approached. It was not even clear, in view of the complexity of management problems, that the scientist could contribute in any significant fashion in such a short period of time ...; [read all]
The first six years of TIMS have seen not only a growth in membership, in publications, in meetings and Communications, but the beginning of a scientific basis for many of the major problems of management. Six years ago, few people felt that the progress which has been accomplished in this field could be even approached. It was not even clear, in view of the complexity of management problems, that the scientist could contribute in any significant fashion in such a short period of time in this area. However, as increasing numbers of scientific personnel have entered the field and management has increased its support of it, it has been possible to break these major problem areas into segments which could be meaningfully attacked directly.
This is the reason why TIMS has been organized functionally along the lines of colleges. These colleges emphasize, in some cases, techniques such as simulation, linear programming, and decision theory; and in other cases they emphasize such management problem areas as production and inventory management, and research and development management. Although there is overlapping among the colleges, the ability to focus attention on special areas in this fashion has proved a valuable communication medium and has contributed materially to the growth of TIMS.
There was a session at the Paris Meeting on each of the college subjects. In addition sessions were held on Methodology, Case Histories and Fundamentals of Management Education.
There were 78 papers presented at the Conference and most of the major nations of the world had sent representatives. The total number of participants was almost one thousand.
A special feature of the Conference was an extra day on September 11th devoted to the new area of management games. During the last three years, there has been considerable progress in the development of analytical descriptions of entire business enterprises and their interaction. Many such games may be played by management. In such games, small groups of five to ten people form an enterprise and compete with four or five other groups of similar size, using financial Information in thè way of balance sheets and profit and loss statements to help them make major management decisions. In general, electronic computers are then used to make the calculations of the results of these decisions and these results are then returned for another play of the game. Usually four plays correspond to a calendar year. These games serve an important purpose for training as well as research in investigating group interaction in industry. The opportunity was given to a number of participants to play the games which had been developed and tested in the United States, France, Great Britain and Denmark.
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