Gary Metcalf

Gary S. Metcalf (1957) is an American organizational theorist, management consultant, and faculty member in the Organizational Systems concentration at Saybrook Graduate School.

Biography

Gary Metcalf received a B.A. in Education in 1981 from the North Texas State University, an M.S.S.W. in Social Work in 1985 from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a Ph.D. in Human Science in 2000 at the Saybrook Graduate School. This study under the mentorship of Bela H. Banathy focused on Social Systems Design and Organizational Development.

Metcalf began his professional career as a systems-oriented family therapist, working with teenagers and their families in short-term residential facilities. He next spent twelve years in large, US corporations, involved in employee assistance, health promotion, human resources and organizational development. In 1998 he founded InterConnections, LLC [ [http://www.interconnectionsllc.com InterConnections] , LLC. Retrieved 3 June 2008.] , an organizational consulting firm based in Ashland, KY, USA. He is also a part-time faculty member in the Organizational Systems concentration at Saybrook Graduate School, with the Federal Executive Institute, Office of Personnel Management, US Federal Government, and since 2005 with the Bhavan Marshall MBA Program in Bangalore, India. [ [http://www.bhavan-marshall.org/ Bhavan Marshall MBA Program] . Retrieved 3 June 2008.] [ [http://www.isss.org/projects/tokyo_2007_featured_speakers ISSS Tokyo 2007 Featured Speakers] . Retrieved 3 June 2008.]

Gary Metcalf is a past president for the International Society for the Systems Sciences (2007-2008.) Currently, in 2008, he also serves as a Vice President on the Executive Committee for the International Federation for Systems Research.

Work

Gary Metcalf is a theorist and author in the fields of development and evolution of people, organizations, and social systems.

A Systems View of Intellectual Capital

In the article "A Systems View of Intellectual Capital" (2002) Metcalf focuses on the intellectual capital movement as it currently exists. This movement generally seeks to harness human ideas the way that industry of the past harnessed physical energy. Given the nature of the economic system, this should not be unexpected. This is based, though, on a very mechanistic view of reality.

What seems to lie outside the awareness of this movement is any conscious understanding of the fundamental nature of the economy as part of broader social systems, and the way in which knowledge and ideas, and their communication, are likely to reshape the economic system and its organizations, rather than become a tool of them. [ Gary Metcalf (2002). "A Systems View of Intellectual Capital". In: A. M. Castell, A. J. Gregory, M. E. James, & R. Gillian (Eds.), "Synergy Matters: Working with Systems in the 21st centruy". Springer US.]

Foundations of the Systems Sciences

Some of the foundations according to Metcalf (2005) could support Systems Sciences as integrating force between the various methodological, sociological and technological trends of the future, not the least being information systems. A number of basic principles and theories are frequently used or cited in systems research, but most come from work in the natural sciences. Alternative approaches have included soft systems methodologies, second order cybernetics, autopoiesis theory, Luhmann's theories of systems and communications, and cybersemiotics. All of these emphasized social and humanistic aspects of knowledge. [ [http://www.sea.uni-linz.ac.at/ifsr05/symp7.htm Foundations of the Systems Sciences] . Symposium by Gary Metcalf. The First International Congress of the International Federation of Systems Research. Kobe, Japan 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2008.]

Publications

Gary Metcalf is author and coauthor of several books and articles. A selection: [A more comprehensive list is give in [http://www.icsci.net/profile%20of%20Gary%20S%20Metcalf.htm Dr. Gary S. Metcalf. PROFESSIONAL PROFILE] . Retrieved 3 June 2008.]
* 2001. "The management of people in mergers and acquisitions". With Teresa A. Daniel. Westport, Conn. : Quorum Books.

;Articles and papers
* 1999. "A Critique of Social Systems Theory". In M. L. W. Hall & J. Wilby (Eds.), "Humanity, Science, Technology: The Systemic Foundations of the Information Age". From the 43rd Annual Conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, Presented at the ISSS conference in Asilomar, CA, June 1999
* 2003. "Learning to Design Systems". In: "World Futures", 59(1), 21-36
* 2005. [http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/011AE433-01D8-42C9-AFA3-30C99D633D7B/0/TheScienceofMotivation.pdf. "The Science of Motivation"] . With Dr. Teresa A. Daniel.
* 2005. [http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whitepapers_published/Employee%20Relations%20TOC.asp#P1_50 "The Fundamentals of Employee Recognition"] , With T.A. Daniel. Society for Human Resource Management white paper )

References

External links

* [http://www.garymetcalf.com/blog/ Gary Metcalf] homepage and blog.
* [http://www.isss.org/world/en/20070810-isss-1100-metcalf "Rigor and Relevance in Systems Work"] ISSS presentation Tokyo 2007 by Gary Metcalf.