Ackoff’s Article
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All technology, including information technology, is a means. The end is the satisfaction of the various organizational stakeholders, both intrinsically (in the pursuit of their objectives) as well as extrinsically (in the accomplishment of those objectives). A fundamental tenet of systems thinking is that the conception of ends should precede any conception of means.
The first phase of my decision on Ackoff’s assumptions deals with all the issues that have to do with the critical deficiency under which most managers operate is the lack of relevant information however, technology is also subject to the law of the hammer: Give a person a hammer, and everything begins to look like a nail in need of pounding! Or: If we’ve got it, we may as well use it. In other words, availability of information tends to have a seductive nature that makes it generate its own unintended uses and impacts. These unintended impacts have to do with not only unintended (and sometimes undesirable) uses of technology, they also have to do with the larger impacts of technology, namely the way information technology is transforming our life styles, our work habits, and our relationships to one another.
The community of systems thinkers is like a vast nation whose citizens all speak the same language, but with different accents and dialects. Due to diverse backgrounds, technological and economical changes and exposures, each one of us tends to think differently so I believe if a manger has the information and systems support he needs, the manager will ultimately make intelligible and effective decisions. If a manager has information he needs, he can implement an effective organizational communications patterns which are essential factors of effective management Organizations with more than