Faculty
Hazhir Rahmandad is the Schussel Family Professor of Management Science and a Professor of System Dynamics at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Hazhir's research shows how complex organizational dynamics can lead to heterogeneity in organizational practices and outcomes. He has analyzed how organizations learn in the presence of delays between taking action and observing the results, and has shown through empirical data and simulations the resulting learning challenges. Hazhir's strategy research has explored the shape of organizational performance landscapes, pathways to align firm and worker outcomes in low-cost services, capability development tradeoffs under competition, and erosion of organizational capabilities through adaptation traps. In another stream of work he studies public health and policy problems, including dynaics of cities, COVID-19, and obesity and depression dynamics among others. Hazhir also contributes to expanding the dynamic modeling toolbox through advancing parameter estimation and validation methods for dynamic models.
Hazhir has published in diverse journals including Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Strategy Science, Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Obesity, Lancet Planetary Health, and System Dynamics Review, among others. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and private sector firms.
Hazhir holds a BS in industrial engineering from Sharif University of Technology and a PhD in management with system dynamics concentration from MIT. Before joining MIT Sloan in 2015, Hazhir was an Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.
Featured Publication
"Delays Impair Learning and Can Drive Convergence to Inefficient Strategies."Rahmandad, Hazhir, and Michael Shayne Gary. Organization Science Vol. 34, No. 6 (2023): 2392-2414. Download Paper. Supplemental Materials.
Featured Publication
"Weather, Air Pollution, and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission: A Global Analysis."Xu, Ran, Hazhir Rahmandad, Marichi Gupta, Catherine DiGennaro, Navid Ghaffarzadegan, Heresh Amini, and Mohammad S. Jalali. The Lancet: Planetary Health Vol. 5, No. 10 (2021): E671-E680.
Siebach, Kirsten, Yaminette Diaz-Linhart, Laura Kubzansky, Lisa Berkman, Molin Wang, Lin Ge, Alexander Kowalski, Hazhir Rahmandad, and Erin Kelly. Forthcoming.
Li, Tianyi, Hazhir Rahmandad, and John D. Sterman. System Dynamics Review Vol. 41, No. 2 (2025): e70004.
Zhang, Gaofei, Ann Osi, Navid Ghaffarzadegan, Hazhir Rahmandad, and Ran Xu. BMC Medical Research Methodology Vol. 25, No. 244 (2025).
Rahmandad, Hazhir, Ali Akhavan, and Mohammad S. Jalali. System Dynamics Review Vol. 41, No. 1 (2025): e1798.
In their new research paper Professors Hazhir Rahmandad and John Sterman studied the COVID-19 pandemic across 93 countries and how their responsiveness to COVID risks affects future COVID disease.
This counter-intuitive result emerges because countries actually have little choice in how much they must reduce contact levels to control the epidemic.
A new paper by Prof. Rahmandad and co-authors details the application of relatively simple, nuanced variables to enhance modeling capabilities.
"The tradeoff framing really hurt the response. That framing was wrong from the beginning.”
"...even in low-cost service settings, paying higher wages and treating workers with respect and dignity can be profit-maximizing."
An MIT team suggests that global infections were 12 times higher and deaths 50% higher than officially reported.
This global executive program is a transformative learning experience designed to fit the time and language constraints of experienced executives from a wide variety of industries and countries. Program topics include: general management, leadership, strategy, innovation, negotiation, analytics management, finance, and productivity.
This systems thinking course provides an intensive, hands-on introduction to system dynamics, a unique framework for understanding and managing complex businesses and organizations. Participants are introduced to a variety of problem solving tools, including mapping techniques, simulation models, and MIT’s “management flight simulators” to help them understand the sources of persistent problems and how business decisions may result in complicated cause-and-effect loops.
