In this informed and discerning study, Crowther-Heyck explores Simon's contributions to science and their influences on modern life and thought. For historians of science, social science, technology, and twentieth-century American intellectual and cultural history, this account of Herbert Simon's life and work provides a rich and valuable perspective. Rarely does the world see as versatile a figure as Herbert Simon. He was a Nobel laureate in economics; an accomplished political scientist; winner of a lifetime achievement award from the American Psychological Association; and founder of the department of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. In all his work in all these fields, he pursued a single goal - to create a science that could map the bounds of human reason and so enlarge its role in human affairs. Hunter Crowther-Heyck uses the career of this unique individual to examine the evolution of the social sciences after World War II, particularly Simon's creation of a new field, systems science, which joined together two distinct, powerful approaches to human behavior, the sciences of choice and control. Simon sought to develop methods by which human behavior: specifically human problem-solving, could be modeled and simulated. Regarding mind and machine as synonymous, Simon applied his models of human behavior to many other areas, from public administration and business management to artificial intelligence and the design of complex social and technical systems. In this informed and discerning study, Crowther-Heyck explores Simon's contributions to science and their influences on modern life and thought.

The special session on Decision Economics (DECON) is a scientific forum held annually and intended to share ideas, projects, research results, models and experiences associated with the complexity of behavioural decision processes and socio‐economic phenomena. DECON 2017 was held at the Polytechnic of Porto, ISEP, Portugal, as part of the 14th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence. For the second consecutive year, the Editors of this book have drawn inspiration from Herbert A. Simon’s immense body of work and argue that Simon precipitated something akin to a revolution in microeconomics focused on the concept of decision‐making. Further, it is worth noting that the recognition of relevant decision‐making takes place in a range of critical subject areas and research fields, including economics, finance, information systems, small and international business management, operations, and production. Therefore, decision‐making issues are of fundamental importance in all branches of economics addressed both deductively and inductively. Not surprisingly, the study of decision‐making has seen growing empirical research efforts in the economic literature over the last sixty years and, more recently, a variety of insightful cutting‐edge experimental, behavioural and computational approaches. Additionally, the awareness regarding generalizations and reductions to express economic concepts has led, on the one hand, to an increasing risk of spreading the language of mathematics as a rhetorical tool and, on the other hand, to an oversimplification and overlooking of some crucial details, especially when it comes to human decisions and, hence, economic behaviour. That awareness, however, has helped to produce an extraordinary volume of empirical research aimed at discovering how economic agents cope with complex decisions. In this sense, the international scientific community acknowledges Herbert A. Simon’s research endeavours to understand the processes involved in economic decision‐making and their implications for the advancement of economic professions. Within the field of decision‐making, indeed, Simon’s rejection of the standard decision‐making models used in neoclassical economics inspired social scientists worldwide to develop research programmes in order to study decision‐making empirically. The main achievements concern decision‐making for individuals, firms, markets, governments, institutions, and, last but not least, science and research.

The special session Decision Economics (DECON) 2016 is a scientific forum by which to share ideas, projects, researches results, models and experiences associated with the complexity of behavioral decision processes aiming at explaining socio-economic phenomena. DECON 2016 held in the University of Seville, Spain, as part of the 13th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence (DCAI) 2016. In the tradition of Herbert A. Simon’s interdisciplinary legacy, this book dedicates itself to the interdisciplinary study of decision-making in the recognition that relevant decision-making takes place in a range of critical subject areas and research fields, including economics, finance, information systems, small and international business, management, operations, and production. Decision-making issues are of crucial importance in economics. Not surprisingly, the study of decision-making has received a growing empirical research efforts in the applied economic literature over the last sixty years. The recognition of the oversimplification and limitations of subjective expected utility theory has produced an extraordinary volume of empirical research aimed at discovering how economic agents cope with complexity. In the centenary of his birth, the international scientific community acknowledges Herbert A. Simon’s research endeavors aimed to understand the processes involved in economic decision-making and their implications for the advancement of economic studies. Within the field of decision-making, Simon’s rejection of standard decision-making models of neoclassical economics inspired social scientists worldwide to develop research programs in order to study decision-making empirically. The main achievements regarded decision-making for individual, firms, markets, governments and institution. There are many scholars in the world that claim that Herbert A. Simon has precipitated something like a revolution in microeconomics focused on the concept of decision-making. Among these scholars are the Editors of this book who believe that very few scientists produce seminal work in more than one field: Herbert A. Simon was one of them, that caliber of genius.

Honoring the life and work of Herbert Simon, this illuminating Companion provides an in-depth survey of one of the most prolific social scientists of our age. Mirroring the breadth of Simon’s studies, chapters analyze his contributions to artificial intelligence, economics, entrepreneurship, management, psychology and other fields.

Some rather remarkable changes took place in North American business schools between 1945 and 1970, altering the character of these institutions, the possibilities for their future, and the terms of discourse about them. This period represents a minor revolution, during which business school are reported to have become more academic, more analytic, and more quantitative. The Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of Change considers these changes and explores their roots. It traces the origins of this quiet revolution and shows how it shaped discussions about management education, leading to a shift in that weakened the place of business cases and experiential knowledge and strengthened support for a concept of professionalism that applied to management. The text considers how the rhetoric of change was organized around three core questions: Should business schools concern themselves primarily with experiential knowledge or with academic knowledge? What vision of managers and management should be reflected by business schools? How should managerial education connect its teaching to some version of reality?