Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:31:13.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Technology and Decision Making: Some Aspects of the Development of OGAS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Extract

During the past decade, the most important large-scale effort to expand the decision-making and control capabilities of the Soviet economic management system has been the scientific-technical program for creating an integrated nationwide management information system. Formally designated as the Obshchegosudarstvennaia sistema sbora i obrabotki informatsii (dannykh) dlia ncheta, planirovaniia i upravleniia narodnym khosiaistvom (All-State System for the Collection and Processing of Information for Reporting, Planning, and Management of the National Economy), the system is more happily described by its acronym OGAS.1 It is an outgrowth of the rapid expansion of the systems approach (particularly its cybernetic expression) to the rationalization of management, and has developed into the technological variant of reform and an evident alternative and successor to the ill-fated economic reforms of 1965. As a system, OGAS has been projected as a solution to many of the fundamental economic, social, and organizational problems resulting from Soviet socioeconomic development.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. The most comprehensive statement on OGAS of which I am aware is Zhimerin, D. G., Obshchegosudarstvennaia avtomatizirovannaia sistema upravleniia (Moscow, 1975)Google Scholar.

2. Paul Cocks, “Science Policy and Soviet Development Strategy,” in Alexander, Dallin, ed., Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU: Assessment and Context (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1977, p. 45 Google Scholar; Donald R. Kelley, “Group and Specialist Influence in Soviet Politics: In Search of a Theory,” in Remnek, Richard B., ed., Social Scientists and Policy Making in the USSR (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1977), pp. 119 ffGoogle Scholar.

3. The place of OGAS in the basic strategy of management is discussed in William J. Conyngham, The Modernisation of Soviet Industrial Management: Socio-economic Development and the Search for Viability (forthcoming, 1981).

4. V. Maksimenko and I. Sokolov, “Nauchno-tekhnicheskii progress i problemy obshchegosudarstvennoi integratsii avtomatizirovannykh sistem upravleniia,” Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 1, p. 122; see also Afanas'ev, V. G., Sotsial'naia informatsiia i upravlenie obshchestvom (Moscow, 1975), pp. 296–97 Google Scholar.

5. Zhimerin, , Obshchegosudarstvennaia avtomatizirovannaia sistema, pp. 41–42Google Scholar.

6. Ibid., p. 43.

7. Iu. Lapshin, “Vybor osnovnykh napravlenii ispol'zovaniia vychislitel'noi tekhniki v protsessakh upravleniia,” Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 11, pp. 130-33.

8. Volchkov, B. A., Avtomatizirovannaia sistema planovykh raschetov (Moscow, 1970), pp. 6-7, 1415 Google Scholar.

9. N. Lebedinskii, “ASPR—vazhnyi instrument planirovaniia,” Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1977, no. 5, p. 10; “Pervaia ochered’ ASPR” (editorial), Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1977, no. 5, pp. 1 and 4; Bezrukov, V, “O vnedrenii pervoi ocheredi ASPR,” Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1976, no. 5, pp. 57, ffGoogle Scholar.

10. D. G., Zhimerin and A. P., Vladislavlev, Avtomatisirovminye sistemy upravleniia (Moscow, 1976), p. 8 Google Scholar.

11. Richard W. Judy, “Information, Control and Soviet Economic Development,” in P., John Hardt et al., eds., Mathematics and Computers in Soviet Planning (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965, pp. 17–23 Google Scholar.

12. Milner, B. Z., ed., Organizatsionnye struktury upravleniia proizvodstvom (Moscow, 1975), pp. 149 ffGoogle Scholar.

13. Pavliuchenko, V. I., Ekonomicheskie problemy upravleniia nauchno-tekhnicheskim progressom (Moscow, 1973), p. 96 Google Scholar.

14. Maiminas, E. Z., Protsessy planirovaniia v ekonomike: Informatsionnye aspekty, 2nd ed. (Moscow, 1971), pp. 228–29 Google Scholar.

15. Petrov, Iu, “Informatsiia i upravlenie,” Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1974, no. 1, p. 104 Google Scholar.

16. Aganbegian, A, “V raschete na perspektivu,” Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1972, no. 21, p. 8 Google Scholar.

17. Abdurakhmanov, S. A. et al., Avtomatizirovannye sistemy upravleniia v narodnom khoziaistve SSSR (Moscow, 1972), p. 11 Google Scholar.

18. Afanas'ev, , Sotsial'naia informatsiia, p. 188 Google Scholar.

19. Prigozhin, A. I., Sotsial'nye aspckty upravleniia (Moscow, 1974), pp. 48–49 Google Scholar.

20. Glushkov, V. in Izvestiia, May 13, 1975, p. 3 Google Scholar.

21. Solomatin, V. V., in Dzhavadov, G. A., ed., Organizatsiia upravleniia (Moscow, 1972), p. 78 Google Scholar.

22. For an excellent general description of the general problems of the development of OGAS, see Afanas'ev, V. G. and Tarasov, V. A., in Afanas'ev, V. G., ed., Nauchnoe upravlenie obshchestvom, vol. 9 (Moscow, 1975), pp. 178–79 Google Scholar.

23. N. Chesnenko, “'Obshchii iazyk’ elektronnykh mashin: Problemy kodirovaniia dannykh,” in Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1973, no. 47, p. 10.

24. V. V., Boitsev, “Standartnye sistemy dokumentatsii,” in Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1972, no. 11, p. 8 Google Scholar.

25. Klimenko, V. P., Lutsenko, A. I., and Savchenko, L. A., Avtomatizirovannaia sistema gosudarstvennoi statistiki (Moscow, 1976), pp. 19–20 Google Scholar.

26. Turn, R. and Nimitz, A. E., Computers and Strategic Advantage, part 1: Computer Technology and the Soviet Union, Report R-1642-R (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corporation, 1975), p. vGoogle Scholar.

27. Ibid., p. 10.

28. Kenneth Tasky, “Soviet Technology Gap and Dependence on the West: The Case of Computers,” in U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Soviet Economy in a Time of Change, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979), p. 514.

29. Iu. Lapshin and V. Korovkin, “Ekonomicheskaia effektivnost’ ispol'zovaniia vychislitel'noi tekhniki,” Planovoe khosiaistvo, 1976, no. 4, p. 104.

30. Tasky, “Soviet Technology Gap,” pp. 510-11.

31. Ibid., p. 511.

32. Pravda, April 14, 1974, p. 2: Khairetdinov, R, “Vnedrenie ASU na predpriiatiiakh,” Voprosy ekonomiki, 1975, no. 1, pp. 51 ffGoogle Scholar.

33. Rakovskii, M. in Pravda, March 2, 1977, p. 2Google Scholar (translated and abstracted in Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 29, no. 9 [March 30, 1977]: 8 and 27 [hereafter cited as CDSP]).

34. Barry, Boehm, “Extensive Tour Yields Report on Current Soviet Computing,” Soviet Cybernetics Review, 1, no. 1 (February 1971): 4 Google Scholar.

35. S. E. Goodman, “Computing and the Development of the Soviet Economy,” in U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Soviet Economy in a Time of Change, p. 530.

36. Zhimerin, D. G. in Pravda, June 9, 1974, p. 3Google Scholar.

37. D. G., Zhimerin, “Kachestvenno-novyi etap,” in Ekonomichcskaia gazcta, 1978, no. 22, p. 7 Google Scholar.

38. Omarev, A. M., ed., Voprosy upravlcniia ekonomikoi (Moscow, 1974), pp. 247–48 Google Scholar.

39. Khairetdinov, “Vnedrenie ASU,” pp. 46-51.

40. Glushkov, V. in Pravda, February 10, 1973, p. 3Google Scholar; V. Novopavlovskii, “Opyt sozdaniia ASUP v otrasli,” in Sotsialistichcskii trud, 1973, no. 1, p. 67.

41. Zaleski, E. et al., Science Policy in the USSR (Paris, 1969), pp. 564–65 Google Scholar.

42. Zaleski, Eugéne, Planning Reforms in the Soviet Union, 1962-1966 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967), pp. 55 ffGoogle Scholar.

43. See also Marchuk, G, “Problemy ‘elektronnoi tsivilizatsii, 'Literaturnaia gaseta, March 24, 1971, p. 10Google Scholar; and S. Bobylev in Izvcstiia, February 20, 1970, p. 1Google Scholar.

44. Their positions have been modified over the years, but see their joint article, N. P. Fedorenko and V. Glushkov, “Problemy shirokogo vnedreniia vychislitel'noi tekhniki v narodnoe khoziaistvo,” Voprosy ekonomiki, 1964, no. 7, pp. 87–92Google Scholar.

45. Clear differences emerge in Fedorenko, N. P., ed., Optimal'noe planirovanie i sovershenstvovanie upravleniia narodnym khoziaistvom (Moscow, 1969), p. 19 Google Scholar; and V. Glushkov in Pravda, June 10, 1972, p. 3Google Scholar.

46. The relationship between OGAS and ASPR is indicated by Fedorenko in Fedorenko, N. P., ed., Kompleksnoe narodno-khosiaistvennoe planirovanie (Moscow, 1974), chapter 11Google Scholar.

47. For a clear statement of Glushkov's position, see V., Glushkov, MakroekonomicheSkie modcli i printsipy postroeniia OGAS (Moscow, 1975), pp. 146–59 Google Scholar.

48. Glushkov, V, “ASU: Pervye uroki,” in Literaturnaia gazeta, January 29, 1975, p. 10Google Scholar.

49. V. G. Afanas'ev, Sotsial'naia informatsiia, pp. 300-302Google Scholar.

50. V. Glushkov, N. Fedorenko, and A. Forodnitsyn in Izvestiia, September 6, 1964, p. 4Google Scholar.

51. Glushkov and Fedorenko, “Problemy shirokogo vnedreniia,” p. 88.

52. Evenko, I, “Problemy vnedreniia ekonomicheskoi kibernetiki v upravlenie promyshlennost'iu SSSR,” Voprosy ekonomiki, 1965, no. 8, pp. 129 ffGoogle Scholar.

53. The decree is published in abridged form in Resheniia partii i pravitel'stva po khoziaistvennym voprosam, vol. 6 (Moscow, 1968), pp. 21-27.

54. Kathryn M., Bartol, “Soviet Computer Centres: Network or Tangle?,” Soviet Studies, 23, no. 4 (April 1972): 60919 Google Scholar.

55. See, for example, S. Bobylev in Izvestiia, February 20, 1970, p. 1Google Scholar (translated and abstracted in CDSP, 22, no. 8 [March 24, 1970]: 15-16) ; S. Efimov in Izvestiia, March 8, 1970, p. 3 (translated and abstracted in CDSP, 22, no. 10 [April 7, 1970]: 10 and 31).

56. Brezhnev, L. I., Ob osnovnykh voprosakh ckonomicheskoi politiki KPSS na sovremcnnom ctape, vol. 1 (Moscow, 1975), p. 438 Google Scholar.

57. Cited by Wade B., Holland, “A Tsar for Soviet Computing,” Soviet Cybernetics Review, 2, no. 6 (November 1972): 710 Google Scholar.

58. Ibid.

59. D. G., Zhimerin, “Problemy avtomatizatsii upravleniia narodnym khoziaistvom,” in Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1971, no. 50, p. 5 Google Scholar.

60. Holland, “A Tsar for Soviet Computing,” p. 10.

61. V. M., Glushkov, “ASU dolzhny byt’ rentabel'nymi,” in Trud, October 15, 1976, p. 2Google Scholar.

62. Glushkov in Izvestiia, March 8, 1974, p. 2Google Scholar.

63. Ibid.

64. Semborskii, G. and Simchera, V., “Put’ povysheniia effektivnosti vychislitel'noi tekhniki,” Voprosy ekonomiki, 1974, no. 7, pp. 87-88Google Scholar.

65. Lapshin and Korovkin, “Ekonomicheskaia effektivnost',” p. 103.

66. Sazonov, S, “Uluchshat’ ispol'zovanie EVM,” in Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1976, no. 3, p. 17Google Scholar.

67. Semborskii and Simchera, “Put’ povysheniia effektivnosti,” p. 82.

68. L. V. Kantorovich, N. I. Cheshenko, Iu. M. Zorin, and G. I. Shelepov, “Ob ispol'- zovanii optimizatsionnykh raschetov v ASU otrasliami narodnogo khoziaistva,” Ekonomika i matematicheskie metody, 14, no. 5 (September-October 1978): 825 Google Scholar.

69. “Pervaia ochered’ ASPR,” p. 4.

70. Lapshin, Iu., Rasvitie avtomatisirovannykh sistem upravleniia v promyshlennosti (Moscow, 1977), p. 219 Google Scholar.

71. A. Modin, I. la. Petrakov, Iu. I. Cherniak, and E. G. Iakobenko, “O nekotorykh tendentsiiakh razvitiia ASU,” Ekonomika i matematicheskie metody, 11, no. 4 (July-August 1975): 62327 Google Scholar.

72. Ibid.

73. L. R. Frock, Jr., “Seven Deadly Dangers in EDP,” in Anthony, Robert N., John Dearden, and Richard F. Vancil, eds., Management Control Systems: Cases and Readings (Homewood, 111.: R. D. Irwin, 1965), pp. 54041 Google Scholar.

74. M. E., Rakovskii, “Usloviia vysokoi effektivnosti,” in Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1971, no. 51, p. 5 Google Scholar.

75. V. M. Glushkov in Izvestiia, May 13, 1975, p. 3Google Scholar.

76. Khairetdinov, “Vnedrenie ASU,” p. 49.

77. A. I. Pokrovskii, “Glavnoe—ne poteriat’ perspektivu,” Ekonomika i organisatsiia promyshlennogo proizvodstva, 1976, no. 2, pp. 122-36 (abstracted in CDSP, 28, no. 31 [September 1, 1976]: 6-7).

78. M. Dorokhov and A. Vasil'ev, “Avtomatizirovannaia sistema planovykh raschetov i kadry,” Planovoe khosiaistvo, 1975, no. 12, pp. 127 ffGoogle Scholar.

79. L. Kantorovich, “Dostizheniia ekonomicheskoi nauki—v praktiku,” Ekonomicheskaia gascta, 1974, no. 26, p. 14.

80. Kolomnikov, V. and Frezinskii, I., “Sovershenstvovanie operativnogo upravleniia proizvodstvom,” Voprosy ekonomiki, 1975, no. 8, p. 69 Google Scholar.

81. Pokrovskii, “Glavnoe,” pp. 6-7.

82. Khairetdinov, “Vnedrenie ASU,” p. 50.

83. V. M., Shepel, “Sotsial'no-psikhologicheskie aspekty upravleniia,” in Omarev, Voprosy upravleniia ekonomikoi, pp. 97-98Google Scholar.

84. M. Basin in Pravda, June 29, 1969, p. 2Google Scholar.

85. Erik P. Hoffmann, “Technology, Values and Political Power in the Soviet Union: Do Computers Matter?,” in Fleron, Frederick J. Jr., ed., Technology and Communist Culture: The Socio-Cultural Impact of Technology under Socialism (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1977, p. 402 Google Scholar.