| Anthony Stafford Beer |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT ANTHONY STAFFORD BEER | |
| 1926 births | |
| 2002 deaths | |
| alumni of university college london | |
| cyberneticists | |
| old whitgiftians | |
| operations researchers | |
| systems scientists | |
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Beer was born in London . He started a degree in philosophy at University College London , but left in 1944 to join the army. He saw service in India and stayed there until 1947 . In 1949 he was demobilized, having reached the rank of captain. Beer had become aware of operational research while in the army and he was quick to identify the advantages it could bring to business. He joined United Steel and persuaded the management to found an operational research group, the Department of Operations Research and Cybernetics, which he headed. In 1959 he published his first book, '' Cybernetics And Management '', building on the ideas of Norbert Wiener , Warren McCulloch and especially William Ross Ashby for a systems approach to the management of organisations. In 1961 he left United Steel to start an operational research consultancy in partnership with Roger Eddison called SIGMA (Science in General Management). Beer left SIGMA in 1966 to work for a SIGMA client, the International Publishing Corporation (IPC). He was appointed development director at IPC and pushed for the adoption of new computer technologies. Also in 1966 he wrote '' Decision And Control ''. Beer left IPC in 1970 to work as an independent consultant, focusing on his growing interest in social systems. His biggest independent project was never completed. In '', '' Designing Freedom '', '' Heart Of Enterprise '' and '' The Brain Of The Firm ''. In the mid 1970s Beer renounced material possessions and moved to mid-''. Team Syntegrity is a formal model, built on the polyhedra idea of systems for non-hierarchical problem solving. Beer was a visiting professor at almost thirty universities and received an honorary doctorate from the University Of Leeds and the University Of Sunderland . He was president of the World Organization Of Systems And Cybernetics and received awards from the Royal Swedish Academy For Engineering Sciences , the United Kingdom Systems Society , the American Society For Cybernetics , and the Operations Research Society Of America . He was married twice, in 1947 to Cynthia Hannaway and in 1968 to Sallie Steadman. Beer had five sons and three daughters. EXTERNAL LINKS
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