touch every aspect of our lives. Such devices changed the

way we manage, work, and live. A machine that has done all

this and more now exists in nearly every business in the

United States. This incredible invention is the computer. The

electronic computer has been around for over a half-century,

but its ancestors have been around for 2000 years.

However, only in the last 40 years has the computer

changed American management to it's greatest extent. From

the first wooden abacus to the latest high-speed

microprocessor, the computer has changed nearly every

aspect of management, and our lives for the better.

The very earliest existence of the modern day computer's

ancestor is the abacus. These date back to almost 2000

years ago (Dolotta, 1985). It is simply a wooden rack

holding parallel wires on which beads are strung. When

these beads are moved along the wire according to

programming rules that the user must memorize. All ordinary

arithmetic operations can be performed on the abacus. This

was one of the first management tools used.

The next innovation in computers took place in 1694 when

Blaise Pascal invented the first digital calculating machine. It

Corporation, and the Stretch computer by IBM. The LARC

progress had been made in several aspects of advanced

computer systems are expected to steadily fall. However,

Dolotta, T. (1985). Data Processing: 1940-1985, New

of relatively modest capability for controlling and regulating

the University of Pennsylvania decided to build a high-speed

considerable maintenance, usually attained 70% to 80%

building and organizing practical, fast computers. These

fast machine; now computers began to become more

appropriately called punch cards. This machine was

23-digit numbers and could perform all four arithmetic

many programmers and support personnel.

1985). New weapons systems were produced which

Some common words found in the essay are:
Intel Corporation, MS-DOS IBM, IBM LARC, Von Neumann, Semiconductor Corporation, , Chemical Abstracts, Charles Babbage, Calculator Chposky, United Hazewindus1988, dolotta 1985, jacobs 1975, chposky 1988, beer 1966, computer industry, computer systems, york ny, electronic computer, input output, personal computer, world war ii, electronic digital computer, jacobs 1975 manufacturing,
Approximate Word count = 2341
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)