ABSTRACT
When I was in graduate school over twenty years ago, my coursework at The George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science led to a masters degree in systems analysis and management (now known as systems engineering and management). The courses combined a study of advanced deterministic operations research skills (i.e., applied math) with courses in management science that introduced me to social sciences such as Psychology, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Sociology (i.e., in my mind at the time, “ether”), to examine how executives quantify their decision-making efforts. Terms that I learned for the first time, such as Organizational Psychology, Decision Theory, and Change Management, permeated the lectures, textbooks, and homework assignments to the point where I almost forgot that I was studying engineering at an advanced level.
