Donald G. Malcolm

Donald G. Malcolm
Born	(1919-03-26) March 26, 1919 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died	June 18, 2007(2007-06-18) (aged 88) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Organizational theorist, professor, dean, management consultant
Years active	1940s–1981
Known for	Co-creator of the Performance, Evaluation, and Review Technique (PERT)

Donald G. Malcolm (March 26, 1919 – June 18, 2007) was a prominent American expert in organizational theorist, who also held roles as a professor, dean at Cal State L.A.’s College of Business and Economics, and a management consultant. He is widely recognized for his role as co-creator of the Performance, Evaluation, and Review Technique (PERT).

Biography

Born in Indianapolis, Malcolm completed his Bachelor of Science in Public Service Engineering at Purdue University in 1940, followed by a Master of Science degree in industrial engineering. During World War II, he served as a radioman aboard an aircraft carrier stationed in the Pacific theater.

Following the war, Malcolm embarked on an academic path by leading the Operations Research Team at Johns Hopkins University. By 1952, he had secured a position as assistant professor of industrial engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout the 1950s, he also worked as a management consultant with Booz, Allen and Hamilton in Chicago and collaborated closely with the US Navy Special Projects Office—especially with Willard Fazar—on the development of PERT. He held the presidency of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers (currently known as the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers) from 1954 to 1955.

In 1962, Malcolm established his own consulting company named Management Technology Inc. and led the National Safety Standards division within the US Department of Transportation until 1967. Beginning in 1970, he was Senior Vice President at Computer Applications, Inc., and between 1972 and 1981, he served as dean of the College of Business and Economics at California State University, Los Angeles.

Malcolm’s 1963 critique of Cybernetics—in the Service of Communism emphasized apprehensions regarding Soviet cybernetics potentially posing a threat to American economic dominance.

He was honored with Purdue University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1965. After retiring in 1981, Malcolm moved to Maui but eventually returned to the continental United States, where he passed away in Santa Monica in 2007.

Leadership in operations research initiatives

Malcolm made notable impacts as a leader of operations research teams. According to the Los Angeles Times (2007):

"Starting in the mid-1950s, he directed operations research groups at Booz Allen in Chicago; Systems Development Corp., and Operations Research, Inc. based in Santa Monica. While at Booz Allen, he led the team responsible for creating the initial PERT system for the Navy’s first submarine-launched ballistic missile program, Polaris. Additionally, he headed the development team for the first computer-based Business Game commissioned by the American Management Association, which served as a prototype for subsequent computer simulation models."

Selected publications

• Donald G. Malcolm, Ernest Paul DeGarmo, Visual Inspection of Products for Surface Characteristics in Grading Operations, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1953.
• Malcolm, Donald G., and Alan J. Rowe (eds.) Management control systems: the proceedings of a symposium, Wiley, 1960.
• Donald G. Malcolm. Management and the engineer—harnessing technology in pursuit of better management, West Virginia University College of Engineering, 1974.

Articles (selection)

• Bellman, R., Clark, C. E., Malcolm, D. G., Craft, C. J., & Ricciardi, F. M. (1957). "On the construction of a multi-stage, multi-person business game." Operations Research, 5(4), 469-503.
• Malcolm, Donald G. "System simulation—a fundamental tool for industrial engineering." Journal of Industrial Engineering 9.3 (1958).
• Malcolm, Donald G., Roseboom, J. H., Clark, C. E., & Fazar, W. (1959). "Application of a technique for research and development program evaluation." Operations Research, 7(5), 646-669.
• Malcolm, Donald G. "Bibliography on the use of simulation in management analysis." Operations Research 8.2 (1960): 169-177.
• Malcolm, Donald G. "Exploring the Military Analogy—Real-Time Management Control." See Ref 31 (1960): 187-207.
• Malcolm, Donald G. "On the Need for Improvement in Implementation of OR." Management Science 11.4 (1965): B-48.

External links

• Donald G. Malcolm, Purdue University's School of Industrial Engineering
• Tribute to Donald G. Malcolm at California State University, Los Angeles