The pioneering work of Fredmund Malik

The key theme in his scientific work is the question he asks: "What is right and good management?" Using his cybernetics of complex systems, he subjects existing theories of management and theories about social systems and the psychology of the human being to practical and scientific analyses to determine their effectiveness in practice. In so doing, he combines the work of, amongst others, Stafford Beer, Peter Drucker, Friedrich von Hayek and Viktor Frankl.

Stafford Beer devoted himself principally to determining the common pattern of effective organizations. However, a cybernetic understanding of organizations truly calls for thinking - counter-intuitive thinking - which conflicts with what would normally be assumed to be the correct behaviour of managers. Fredmund Malik therefore builds on the work of Beer and, in his research work, includes the manager in the organization in every way.

A "curriculum"
As a pupil of Hans Ulrich, Fredmund Malik is continuing the latter's pioneering work. A distinguishing feature of this work is the demand that the knowledge that is needed about management and about the unanswered questions there still are in the field should be accepted as an academic discipline in its own right. Malik concentrates on the conception and further development of a scientifically sound theory of management based on the St. Gallen Management Model.

He combines knowledge that is of practical relevance, that has shown its value in practice and that is widely needed about organizations and management into a holistic system: the "Malik MZSG Concept". The still not complete works of Fredmund Malik could be regarded as a "curriculum of general management" that can be used to advise and train managers of all types in all fields. In other words, it could be described as the integration of insights about management that can already be regarded as classic and ones that, in the course of evolution, have the potential to become such.

His position in society
Fredmund Malik is known to many from his work as a lecturer at the universities of St. Gallen, Innsbruck and Vienna and in training seminars, as a consultant and/or as an author. Since it first appeared early in 2000, his book "Führen, Leisten, Leben" (now available in English as "Managing, Performing, Living"), based on his cybernetic thinking, has been on the best-seller lists. It proves that, to apply cybernetics and achieve a very advanced understanding of it, it is possible to manage without its abstract terminology. His columns appear regularly in business magazines and on the internet. As well as this, he is also a member of the following societies and associations:

	ASOS (Swiss Management Association)
	Austrian Society for General Systems Research and Cybernetics
	Europäische Akademie der Wissenschaften
	Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Statistik und Volkswirtschaft
	Vereinigung Schweizerischer Betriebswirtschafter
	Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialkybernetik
	Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft e.V.

More about Fredmund Malik
You will find a detailed account of his career, in which he has combined his practical work as a manager and entrepreneur with science and with his activities as a teacher and consultant, under Malik - the cyberneticist. If you click on the following Video short, you will be able to see and hear Fredmund Malik in person. The links Malik - the musician and Malik - the alpinist will take you to pages about some of the worlds Fredmund Malik experiences when he is not working.