Ian Mitroff
Encyclopedia
Ian I. Mitroff is an American organizational theorist, consultant
and Professor Emeritus at the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California
.
where he received a B.S. in Engineering Physics, a M.S. in Structural Mechanics (Structural Engineering), and a PhD in Engineering Science (Industrial Engineering). His minor for the PhD was the Philosophy of Social Systems Science under the direction of C. West Churchman.
Mitroff is Professor Emeritus from the University of Southern California
, where he was the Harold Quinton Distinguished Professor of Business Policy at the Marshall School of Business. He also had a joint appointment in The Annenberg School of Communication at USC.
Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at St. Louis University, and an Adjunct Professor in the College of Environmental Design and a Senior Investigator in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California Berkeley. He is also the President of the consulting firm Mitroff Crisis Management. Mitroff has advised and influenced various academic, corporate, and government leaders in over twenty foreign countries.
Mitroff is a fellow of the American Psychological Association
and the Academy of Management
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science
. In 1992-1993, he was President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences
. In September 2000, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor’s degree from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Stockholm. In September 2006, he was awarded a gold medal by the UK Systems Society for his life-long contributions to systems thinking
.
Mitroff is a member of editorial boards in several management and social science journals. He is also a frequent guest on national radio and TV talk shows including the “Window On Wall Street” (CNN Financial News), the “Dick Cavett Show” (CNBC, New York), “Late Night America” (PBS TV), “Marketplace” (National Public Radio), and “Business Unusual,” (CNN Financial News).
, Corporate culture, Contemporary media, Current events, Foreign affairs
, Nuclear deterrence, Organizational change, Organizational psychology and psychiatry
, Philosophy of science
, Public policy
, Sociology of science, Scientific method
, Spirituality in the workplace and Strategic planning
.
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
and Professor Emeritus at the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
Biography
Ian Mitroff studied at the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
where he received a B.S. in Engineering Physics, a M.S. in Structural Mechanics (Structural Engineering), and a PhD in Engineering Science (Industrial Engineering). His minor for the PhD was the Philosophy of Social Systems Science under the direction of C. West Churchman.
Mitroff is Professor Emeritus from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, where he was the Harold Quinton Distinguished Professor of Business Policy at the Marshall School of Business. He also had a joint appointment in The Annenberg School of Communication at USC.
Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at St. Louis University, and an Adjunct Professor in the College of Environmental Design and a Senior Investigator in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California Berkeley. He is also the President of the consulting firm Mitroff Crisis Management. Mitroff has advised and influenced various academic, corporate, and government leaders in over twenty foreign countries.
Mitroff is a fellow of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
and the Academy of Management
Academy of Management
The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations. The Academy of Management was established in 1936...
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
. In 1992-1993, he was President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences
International Society for the Systems Sciences
The International Society for the Systems Sciences is a world-wide organization for systems sciences.- Overview :The initial purpose of the society was "to encourage the development of theoretical systems which are applicable to more than one of the traditional departments of knowledge."The idea...
. In September 2000, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor’s degree from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Stockholm. In September 2006, he was awarded a gold medal by the UK Systems Society for his life-long contributions to systems thinking
Systems thinking
Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
.
Mitroff is a member of editorial boards in several management and social science journals. He is also a frequent guest on national radio and TV talk shows including the “Window On Wall Street” (CNN Financial News), the “Dick Cavett Show” (CNBC, New York), “Late Night America” (PBS TV), “Marketplace” (National Public Radio), and “Business Unusual,” (CNN Financial News).
Work
Mitroff's teaching and research interests are in the management of organizational crises, spirituality at work, and applied epistemology (complex problem solving). He has published in the fields of business policy, Crisis managementCrisis management
Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public. The study of crisis management originated with the large scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980's.Shrivastava, P....
, Corporate culture, Contemporary media, Current events, Foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, Nuclear deterrence, Organizational change, Organizational psychology and psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, Philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
, Public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
, Sociology of science, Scientific method
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
, Spirituality in the workplace and Strategic planning
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...
.
Publications
He has published over 250 articles and over 25 books. A selection:- 1974. The Subjective Side of Science: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Psychology of the Apollo Moon Scientists. Elsevier, Amsterdam (reissued in 1984 by Intersystems Publishers, Seaside, California).
- 1978. Methodological Approaches to Social Science: Integrating Divergent Concepts and Theories. With Ralph Kilmann. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
- 1981. Challenging Strategic Planning Assumptions, Theory, Cases, and Techniques. With Richard O. Mason. John Wiley, New York.
- 1982. Creating A Dialectical Social Science: Concepts, Methods, and Models. With Richard O. Mason and D. Reidel. John Wiley, New York.
- 1983 The 1980 Census: Policymaking Amid Turbulence. With Richard O. Mason and V.P. Barabba. Lexington Books, Massachusetts.
- 1983. Stakeholders of the Organizational Mind: Toward A New View of Policy Making. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
- 1984. Corporate Tragedies, Product Tampering, Sabotage, and Other Catastrophes. With Ralph Kilmann. Praeger, New York.
- 1987. Business Not As Usual, Rethinking Our Individual, Corporate, and Industrial Strategies for Global Competition. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
- 1988. Break-Away Thinking, How To Challenge Your Business Assumptions. John Wiley, New York.
- 1989. The Unreality Industry, The Deliberate Manufacturing of Falsehood and What It Is Doing to Our Lives. With Bennis, Warren. Birch Lane Press, New York.
- 1990. We're So Big And Powerful Nothing Bad Can Happen To Us: An Investigation of America's Crisis-Prone Corporations. With Thierry Pauchant. Birch Lane Press, New York.
- 1992. The Unbounded Mind: Breaking the Chains of Traditional Business Thinking. With Harold A. LinstoneHarold A. LinstoneHarold Adrian Linstone is a German-American mathematician, consultant, futurist and University Professor Emeritus of Systems Science at Portland State University. He is a well known specialist in applied mathematics.- Biography :...
. Oxford University Press. - 1992. Transforming the Crisis-Prone Organization. With Thierry Pauchant. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
- 1993. Crisis Management: A Diagnostic Guide for Improving Your Organization's Crisis-Preparedness. With Christine M. Pearson. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
- 1994. The Challenge of the 21st Century: Managing Technology and Ourselves in a Shrinking World. With Harold A Linstone. State University of New York Press, Albany, New York.
- 1994. Framebreak: The Radical Redesign of American Business. With Richard O. Mason, and Christine M. Pearson. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
- 1996. The Essential Guide to Managing Corporate Crises.
- 1998. Smart Thinking for Crazy Times: The Art of Solving the Right Problems. With Christine M. Pearson, and Katharine L. Harrington. Oxford University Press, New York. The Management of Crises and Paradoxes: Preventing the Destructive Effects of Organizations (in French). H.E.C., Montreal, Canada.
- 1999. A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Workplace. With Elizabeth A. Denton. Jossey-Bass Publishers Inc., San Francisco.
- 2000. Managing Crises Before They Happen: What Every Executive Needs to Know About Crisis Management. With Gus Anagnos. AMACOM, New York.
- 2003. Crisis Leadership: Planning for the Unthinkable. John Wiley, New York.
- 2005. Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger And Better From a Crisis: Seven Essential Lessons For Surviving Disaster. AMACOM, New York.
- Ian I. Mitroff and Abraham Silvers, Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely, Stanford Business Press (2009), hardcover, 210 pages, ISBN 978-0-8047-5996-0
- 2011. "Swans, Swine, and Swindlers: Coping With The Growing Threat of Mega Crises and Mega Messes". With Can M. Alpaslan. Stanford Business Press.
External links
- Personal Website Ian Mitroff
- Crisis Management Website Comp Crisis Website
- Ian Mitroff Global Business Network