Systems: Research and Design by Donald P. EckmanReview by: David E. DebeauOperations Research, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 1962), pp. 572-573Published by: INFORMSStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/168059 .

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The Analyst's Bookshelf

Joseph F. MeCloskey, Editor

BOOKS

Reviews DONALD P. ECKMAN, Ed., Systems: Research and Design,

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., N. Y., 1961, 310 pages, $8.50

S YSTEMS: Research and Design is the proceedings of the First Systems Syin- 0 posium held at Case Institute of Technology in April 1960. The symposium brought to one platform speakers with highly diverse professional backgrounds and areas of research. These proceedings reflect this same diversity. The only thread of continuity among the speakers is the concept that a system is something more than the sum of its parts and, hence, must be described, studied, analyzed, evalu- ated, and understood as a whole rather than by subdivision and summation. The fourteen papers presented at the symposium and printed in this volume fully repre- sent the diversity of interests.

S. BEER, "Below the Twilight Arch-A Mythology of Systems." R. L. ACKOFF, "Systems, Organizations, and Interdisciplinary Research." C. J. HITCH, "On. the Choice of Objectives in Systems Studies." E. A. JOHNSON, "The Use of Operations Research in the Study of Very Large

Systems." R. J. NELSON, "A Problem in the Design of Large-Scale Digital Computer

Systems." H. GOODE, "A Decision Model for a Fourth-Level Model in the Boulding Sense." A. OPLER, "On the Impedance Matching Problems of Systems That Include

Men and Computers." A. CHAPANIS, "On Some Relations between Human Engineering, Operations Re-

search, and Systems Engineering." A. RAPOPORT, "In Search of Quantifiable Parameters of Group Performance." J. M. SALZER, "Evolutionary Design of Complex Systems." S. WV. HERWALD, "Reliability as a Parameter in the Systems Concept." E. MISHKIN AND J. G. TRUXAL, "On Identification and Evaluation of the Trans-

fer Dynamics of Physical Systems." A. R. AIKMAN, "On the Interrelationships of Systems Science and Systems

Engineering in the Processing Industries." H. CHESTNUT, "Systems Engineering from an Industrial Viewpoint."

Most readers will approach this volume as did the reviewer, with knowledge at the professional level of only a few of the many areas of research represented. The

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Books 573

first impression is that the papers are most uneven in depth and originality. The papers by CHARLES J. HITCH and ELLIS A. JOHNSON are well written and present clear, logical development from premise to conclusion. Yet, to a reader with ex- tensive experience in military operations analysis, the ideas have a too familiar ring. These authors have made these points before. Other papers in less familiar context appear at first reading to have greater depth and originality. It is probable that every paper in these proceedings that appears to be fresh and original to one who is not experienced in the specific field also appears to be old stuff to the old hands in the field. Each reader may expect to find some new and thought-provoking ideas and some with which he is already familiar.

One cannot escape this situation in an interdisciplinary symposium of the type reported in these proceedings. The editor and the individual authors have per- formed competently in attempting to present the breadth of phenomenological content and application of the field of engineering-oriented systems research and design. These proceedings, however, do not serve to provide the integrated systems approach to systems research and design analogous to that provided by systems re- search and design to engineering.

In conclusion may I recommend strongly that future volumes indicate the author's given name and affiliation. This information would be most helpful to the reader in assessing the environment in which the author performed his studies.

DAVID E. DEBEAU

North American Aviation, Inc.

JAMES R. BRIGHT, Ed., Technological Planning on the Corporate Level, Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration,

Boston, Mass., 1962, 253 pages, $3.50

T HIS collection of talks has as its central theme a realistic viewpoint of present and near-future decisions regarding R&D resource commitments, in terms of

on-going long-range technological developments and the longer-range implications of these developments. The talks were given by leading men in the field of in- dustrial-technological planning at a conference sponsored by the Harvard Business School on September 8 and 9, 1961.

In general, the talks (or articles) are excellent. Each one approaches the central problem of long-range planning from a distinctly different viewpoint. The authors emphasize a practical rather than a theoretical approach by describing various methods and approaches used in their own organizations-different ways of struc- turing the planning problem and considering its various elements.

RICHARD C. RAYMOND, in "Betting on New Technologies," refers to this era as the information age, and adds that an executive today can absorb only an estimated f0oo to /!4ooo of the information that is both available and significant to him.

The customer is classified as either an "emotional man" or a "rational man" in his buying philosophy and habits. Emotional man is defined as "time-delayed rational man."

Raymond states that customer needs and wants should be carefully evaluated. Failure to fulfill these needs has contributed to the international political instability

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