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The Epistemologies of Non-Forecasting Simulations, Part I: Industrial Dynamics and Management Pedagogy at MIT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2009

William Thomas  and
Lambert Williams
William Thomas
Affiliation:
Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, College Park, Maryland
Lambert Williams
Affiliation:
Harvard University and Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
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Argument

This paper is the first part of a two-part examination of computer modeling practice and philosophy. It discusses electrical engineer Jay Forrester's work on Industrial Dynamics, later called System Dynamics. Forrester developed Industrial Dynamics after being recruited to the newly-established School of Industrial Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which had been seeking a novel pedagogical program for management for five years before Forrester's arrival. We argue that Industrial Dynamics should be regarded in light of this institutional context. Unlike economics, as well as operations research and management science (twin fields which were also gaining traction at that time), Industrial Dynamics was not meant to be applied by mathematicians and technical specialists in consultation with managers, but by managers themselves. This concern shifted the emphasis in modeling from the specialist act of analysis of a crucial problem to the managerial act of choosing which problems were crucial and developing effective policies around them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , June 2009 , pp. 245 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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