Applying a system concept to R&D management

The author has long been an advocate of the systems approach to forecasting, particularly in the area of resource allocation. In making a number of seminar presentations to middle and senior management, both in the U. K. and the U. S. A., questions from the floor revealed that systems thinking is not as widespread as had been believed. While the media's past attention to the ‘Limits of Growth’ (Meadows, 1972) has communicated the impossibility of infinite expansion, many decision makers remain unaware of the closed-loop characteristics of the systems in which they work. On the contrary. While activities are often seen as the prime raison d'etre, the nature and origin of the driving force is often mis-interpreted and the modifying feed-back controls completely ignored. This paper, therefore, attempts to show that a basic closed-loop system is the only rational precursor to methodology development for decision making. If this action reveals the genuine system parameters then the researcher may well be performing his most helpful service to the decision maker.