Fredmund Malik
Encyclopedia
Fredmund Malik is an Austria
n economist with focus on management and the founder and chairman of a management consultancy in St. Gallen.
Malik applies systems theory
and cybernetics
to analyse and design management systems. From 1974 to 2004 he was teaching at the University of St. Gallen
, where he is titular professor for general management, leadership and governance.
and philosophy of science
at the universities of Innsbruck and St. Gallen
He earned his doctoral degree in 1975 at the University of St. Gallen, where he habilitated in 1978 for managerial economics. From 1978 to 1986, he was associate professor for managerial economics at the University of St. Gallen. From 1979 to 1984 he was also member of the board of the School of Management at University of St. Gallen. For many years, he worked closely with Hans Ulrich, the founder of the St. Gallen Management Model. From 1981 to 1982 he was guest professor at the University of Innsbruck. In 1986 he was appointed titular professor at University of St. Gallen. From 1992 to 1997 he was guest professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business
. Since 1977 he is also chairman of the Management Zentrum St. Gallen.
Malik analyses complexity by applying management cybernetics
in an interdisciplinary combination of methods and on the basis of different philosophies of science
. He is influenced by Peter F. Drucker, the avant-garde thinker of management and by philosophers like Karl Popper
and cyberneticians like Norbert Wiener
, Heinz von Foerster
and Stafford Beer.
Malik is author of numerous writings on management theory, general management, strategy and human resource development. He is regarded as a generatlist and besides his theoretical background, he gained practical experience as management consultant, managemnt educator and entrepreneur, and as member and chairman of several supervisory bodies. In particular, he aims at effective management action and applies cybernetics to management practice.
From his wholistic, system-oriented standpoint, he criticizes pure shareholder value
orientation and education programs in business administration that in his opinion mostly teach too limited views on economics and management. He argues that applying the laws, models and methods of management cybernetics
, enables an organization to function more effective- and efficiently. With this knowledge of cybernetics applied in any societal organization including the political sphere, he asserts that a “New World of Functioning” can be achieved that will benefit all society.
. With practical and theoretical expert knowledge, he decides which company is awarded "Innovator of the Year".
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n economist with focus on management and the founder and chairman of a management consultancy in St. Gallen.
Malik applies systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
and cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
to analyse and design management systems. From 1974 to 2004 he was teaching at the University of St. Gallen
University of St. Gallen
The University of St. Gallen is a public research university located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It is specialized in the fields of business administration, economics, law, and international affairs. The University of St. Gallen is also known as HSG, which is an abbreviation of its former German...
, where he is titular professor for general management, leadership and governance.
Biography
Malik studied economics, social sciences, logicLogic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
and 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...
at the universities of Innsbruck and St. Gallen
University of St. Gallen
The University of St. Gallen is a public research university located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It is specialized in the fields of business administration, economics, law, and international affairs. The University of St. Gallen is also known as HSG, which is an abbreviation of its former German...
He earned his doctoral degree in 1975 at the University of St. Gallen, where he habilitated in 1978 for managerial economics. From 1978 to 1986, he was associate professor for managerial economics at the University of St. Gallen. From 1979 to 1984 he was also member of the board of the School of Management at University of St. Gallen. For many years, he worked closely with Hans Ulrich, the founder of the St. Gallen Management Model. From 1981 to 1982 he was guest professor at the University of Innsbruck. In 1986 he was appointed titular professor at University of St. Gallen. From 1992 to 1997 he was guest professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business
Vienna University of Economics and Business
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien or Vienna University of Economics and Business is the largest University focusing on business and economics in Europe and, in terms of student body, one of the largest universities in Austria...
. Since 1977 he is also chairman of the Management Zentrum St. Gallen.
Malik analyses complexity by applying management cybernetics
Management cybernetics
Management cybernetics is the field of cybernetics concerned with management and organizations. The notion of cybernetics and management was first introduced by Stafford Beer in the late 1950s-Cybernetics and Complexity:...
in an interdisciplinary combination of methods and on the basis of different philosophies 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...
. He is influenced by Peter F. Drucker, the avant-garde thinker of management and by philosophers like Karl Popper
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
and cyberneticians like Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
, Heinz von Foerster
Heinz von Foerster
Heinz von Foerster was an Austrian American scientist combining physics and philosophy. Together with Warren McCulloch, Norbert Wiener, John von Neumann, Lawrence J. Fogel, and others, Heinz von Foerster was an architect of cybernetics.-Biography:Von Foerster was born in 1911 in Vienna, Austria,...
and Stafford Beer.
Malik is author of numerous writings on management theory, general management, strategy and human resource development. He is regarded as a generatlist and besides his theoretical background, he gained practical experience as management consultant, managemnt educator and entrepreneur, and as member and chairman of several supervisory bodies. In particular, he aims at effective management action and applies cybernetics to management practice.
From his wholistic, system-oriented standpoint, he criticizes pure shareholder value
Shareholder value
Shareholder value is a business term, sometimes phrased as shareholder value maximization or as the shareholder value model, which implies that the ultimate measure of a company's success is the extent to which it enriches shareholders...
orientation and education programs in business administration that in his opinion mostly teach too limited views on economics and management. He argues that applying the laws, models and methods of management cybernetics
Management cybernetics
Management cybernetics is the field of cybernetics concerned with management and organizations. The notion of cybernetics and management was first introduced by Stafford Beer in the late 1950s-Cybernetics and Complexity:...
, enables an organization to function more effective- and efficiently. With this knowledge of cybernetics applied in any societal organization including the political sphere, he asserts that a “New World of Functioning” can be achieved that will benefit all society.
Honorary positions
Malik is a jury member of the "Top 100" award for the most innovative companies of the German MittelstandMittelstand
Mittelstand refers to small and medium-sized enterprises in German-speaking countries, especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Economic and business historians have been increasingly giving Mittelstand companies more and more credit for Germany's economic growth in the beginning of the 20th...
. With practical and theoretical expert knowledge, he decides which company is awarded "Innovator of the Year".
Selected Works
- Series: Management: Mastering Complexity:
- Volume 1: Management: The essence of the craft, 2010, in English, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/New York ISBN 978-3-593-39129-8
- Volume 2: Corporate Policy and Corporate Governance, 2008, in German: ISBN 978-3-593-38286-9
- Volume 3: Strategy: Navigating in the New World, 2011, in German: ISBN 978-3-593-38287-6
- Uncluttered Management Thinking: 46 Concepts for Masterful Management, 2011, in English, ISBN 978-3-593-39365-0
- Managing Performing Living: Effective Management for a New Era, 2009, in English, 978-3-593-38278-4
- Effective Top Management: Beyond the Failure of Corporate Governance and Shareholder Value, 2006, in English, ISBN 978-3-527-50117-5
- The New Corporate Governance, in German
- Systemic Management, Evolution, Self-organisation, new edition 2009, in German: ISBN 978-3-258-07494-8
- Strategy of the Management of Complex Systems (Habilitation), new edition 2008, in German: 978-3-258-07396-5
- Management-Systems, in German
- Danger of Crisis in the World Economy, in German (with Daniel Stelter)
- Praxis of System-orientiented Management, in German (Editor)
- Systemmethodoligy, in German (Doctoral Dissertation, with Peter Gomez and Karl-Heinz Oeller)
- System-orientiented Management, in German (Editor, with Bénédict Hentsch)