Thomas W. Malone

Thomas W. Malone (born 1952) is an American organizational theorist, management consultant, and the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Malone received his BA magna cum laude in applied mathematics from Rice University, and at Stanford University his MS in engineering-economic systems, and his Ph.D. in cognitive and social psychology.

After graduation Malone started his career as research scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he was involved in designing educational software and office information systems. In 1983 he joined MIT, where he was appointed Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. At MIT he founded and directes the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, and co-founded the MIT Initiative called "Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century".

Malone has been a cofounder of three software companies and has consulted and served as a board member for a number of other organizations. He speaks frequently for business audiences around the world and has been quoted in numerous publications such as Fortune, The New York Times, and Wired.

Malone's research focuses on how new organizations can be designed to take advantage of the possibilities provided by information technology. At MIT he teaches classes on leadership and information technology.

The past two decades of Professor Malone’s research is summarized in his book The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life.

In 1980 Malone published seminal papers in the nascent field of video game design. His paper “Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction” (Malone 1981) was based on his PhD dissertation. Malone's last paper in this field was published in 1987.

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