Analysis for Military Decisions; The Rand Lectures on System Analysis

Chicago/Amsterdam: Rand McNally/North-Holland, 1966. Second printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good/Good. vii, [1], 382, [2] pages. Occasional Footnotes. Tables. Figures. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. DJ has some wear and soiling. Edward Schaumberg Quade helped develop the problem-solving method of systems analysis a Rand Corporation spokesman said. Mr. Quade joined RAND when it was founded in 1948 and retired in 1973. He and some colleagues devised and developed systems analysis as a recognized scientific discipline. Systems Analysis was defined as ''a systematic approach to helping a decision-maker choose a course of action by investigating his full problem, searching out objectives and alternatives, and comparing them in the light of their consequences.'' Mr. Quade studied physics and mathematics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and earned his doctorate at Brown University. After serving in the Navy in World War 2, he returned to the University of Florida, where he headed the math department until joining RAND. During 1955, and again in 1959, RAND offered an intensive five-day course entitled "An Appreciation of Analysis for Military Decisions" to military officers and civilians associated with the armed forces. Designed primarily for decisionmakers and not for analysts, this course did not attempt to teach operations research but to point out the weaknesses and possible abuses, as well as the effectiveness, of an analytic approach to long-range military planning. It was based on the premise that a decisionmaker can appreciate analysis and use its results with confidence without knowing how to perform it. Among the contributors were: Charles Hitch, Roland McKean, Malcolm Hoag, Albert Wohlstetter, Thomas Schelling, Paul Armer, Meckling,