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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>That’s a good point from Gerard (and from Burt, off the
list)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>In my view “management science” is close to
meaningless in this context. Or at least needs to be historicized. It’s
clearly an aspirational term and is new in the post WWII era, though you’ll
also notice that it’s merely an inversion of “scientific management”
and so has no inherent difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>He’s probably using it to distinguish management research
from the work of actual managers and administrators (on one hand) and actual
scientists and engineers (on the other).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>So was it the first? Quite possibly, but it’s an odd claim
as it relies on what a computer was NOT used for rather than what it was used
for. The rise of operations research was inseparable from the computer, and OR
would be included in any plausible definition of “management science.”
Likewise the LEO team were very advanced in their business applications, and
did OR type work on their machine earlier. But they also ran payroll, etc which
Beer would probably stigmatize as an administrative chore beneath the dignity
of management science.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>So you need to reformulate the claim to have something that can
be given a definite answer. Maybe what Beer is really saying is “I headed
the first management research group well supported enough to order its own
computer without having to share it with people doing production work.” Though
as Gerard says we’d need log books to know if they successfully defended
it against geologists and engineers once it arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Tom<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Alberts,
G.<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, July 17, 2009 11:25 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Medina, Eden; members@sigcis.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [SIGCIS-Members] computers and management science<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div id=idOWAReplyText7733>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Dear Eden,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>What
in heaven would be the purport of such claim? Computers were not only
expensive, they involved major investments, certainly machines the size of
Pegasus. Hence, the legitimation for making such investment was seldomly based
on the single use for one field of application, or rather for one department in
an enterprise or university. Historians usually can trace the
considerations leading to the actual purchase in the company archives.
Also one may be able to guess where (in which subdepartment) the first
initiative to such deep investment in modernizing business originated. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>How
the machine was in fact used, once installed, is much harder to reconstruct. Did
the administrative support staff actually get to use the computer or were they
pushed out by the scientific computers from the laboratory departments.
Were management scientists favored before the statisticians
and the down to earth daily bookkeeping? In the incidental case where a
logbook is preserved, or where a very early computing center kept statistics,
one may be able to tell something about who was using the machine.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>So,
what could be the meaning of "dedicated to"? Was that
"dedicated" on the level of legitimation of the purchase, or was it
"dedicated" in terms of seconds and minutes of use of the
system? Let alone that we could judge the claim of "entirely" or
even "first".</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Rather,
to us historians being aware of inclusion and exclusion mechanisms around
the use of computers, simply power struggles if you will, the claim of
"dedicated entirely" made in a first person account has a clear
intent. Other users, other interested parties, were succesfully made invisible,
at least in the account of the "management science" department.
Probably bookkkeeping use didnot count, or was counted under management science
in the first place, etcetera.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Rather
than investigating the claim, my suggestion would be to investigate the fact
that such claim was made, when and by whom.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Best,
Gerard Alberts</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> members-bounces@sigcis.org on behalf of
Medina, Eden<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Fri 17-7-2009 17:11<br>
<b>To:</b> members@sigcis.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [SIGCIS-Members] computers and management science</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:black'>Dear SIGCIS colleagues:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>I am
hoping that your collective wisdom might help me check out a claim. The
British cybernetician Stafford Beer claims that the Ferranti Pegasus 1 machine
he bought in 1956 was the only computer at that time dedicated entirely to
applications in management science. Do you know of any other
examples of computers fully dedicated to management science applications
during this time period? </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Many
thanks,</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>--<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Eden Medina<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Assistant Professor of Informatics<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>School of Informatics and Computing<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Indiana University<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:edenm@indiana.edu">edenm@indiana.edu</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm">www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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