Thomas W. Malone is an American organizational theorist, management consultant, and professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management and the founding director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. At MIT, Malone is also a Professor of Information Technology and a Professor of Work and Organizational Studies.
Previously, Malone was the founder and director of the MIT Center for Coordination Science and one of the two founding co-directors of the MIT Initiative on "Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century." His research focuses on how organizations can be designed to take advantage of information technology possibilities. Malone predicted many major developments in electronic business in a 1987 paper, including electronic buying and selling for various products. His background includes work as a scientist at Xerox PARC, a PhD from Stanford University, an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, and degrees in applied mathematics, engineering, and psychology. Malone is a co-editor of four books.
Malone has authored several books, including the critically acclaimed The Future of Work summarizing two decades of his research, and Superminds on people and computers working together. He has published over 100 articles, papers, and book chapters, and holds 11 patents. Malone has co-founded four software companies and consulted for numerous organizations.
