2020-08-10
August 10 (the second Monday of the month) is the 82nd meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The preregistration (providing a web conference link) was at https://tavi-s3.eventbrite.com .
Tavistock, Social Systems Science, Action Learning
Organization studies in the systems sciences have a long history, from:
the post-WWII Tavistock Institute in the UK circa 1946-1966 (e.g. with Eric Trist and Fred Emery);
the Social Systems Science (S3) program circa 1964-1986 (e.g. with Russell Ackoff, Eric Trist, Hasan Ozbehkhan) and
the Action Learning Group at York University (Toronto) circa 1967-1989 (e.g. with Eric Trist, Rafael Ramirez, Gareth Morgan).
With decades of publications as a legacy, there are some individuals to knew many of the figures, first-hand.
With our August session convening over the Internet, we are honoured to welcome David L. Hawk to join us in conversation.
David Hawk was a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) from 1981 to 2010. His appointments included dual professorships to the School of Management and School of Architecture. He is (in)famous as Dean of the School of Management, 2005-2008.
In his educational history, David Hawk was at University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1979. After completing master's degrees in architecture and city planning, he graduated with a Ph.D. in Social Systems Science, naming professors Russell Ackoff, Hasan Ozbehkhan and Eric Trist as his mentors.
Upon the 40th anniversary of his dissertation, David Hawk has written a new introduction and republished its contents as Too Early, Too Late, Now What? (See on AuthorHouse.com, on Amazon.ca , on Amazon.com, on GoogleBooks.ca, on GoogleBooks.com, and on Chapters.Indigo ).
David Hawk has taught at many universities globally (Stockholm School of Economics, Helsinki U. of Technology (now Aalto University), Tsinghau University) and consulted with multinational enterprises (IBM, Nokia, China Construction America). He now runs a corporate rehabilitation centre in Fairfield, Iowa.
Full disclosure: David Hawk has served as a guide for David Ing to the systems sciences community since first meeting at an Ackoff conference in 1999, and through ISSS meetings. He also served as thesis advisor on Open Innovation Learning, for Aalto University.
The web conference will be moderated by Dan Eng, one of the cofounders of the Systems Changes Learning Circle, and a former instructor at Humber College.
Participants are welcomed to continue the dialogue online at the Open Learning Commons.
Venue:
The link for a Zoom conference will be sent upon preregistration at https://tavi-s3.eventbrite.com .
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, OCADU, sLab (Strategic Innovation Lab), 205 Richmond Street West, Room 410 is not available!
Thanks to Zaid Khan for hosting us on Zoom!
Suggested pre-reading:
Some recent blog posts on the legacy of the Tavistock Institute (in socio-psychological, socio-technical and socio-ecological systems perspectives) through to the Action Learning Group at York University have be written:
"Causal texture, contextualism, contextural" at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/causal-texture-contextural-contextualism/ .
"Causal Texture of the Environment" at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/causal-texture-of-the-environment/ .
"Trist in Canada, Organizational Change, Action Learning" at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/trist-in-canada-organizational-change-action-learning/
"Socio-Technical Systems, Service Systems Science" at http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/socio-technical-systems-service-systems-science/ .