Keep up to date

Systems-Thinkers ::  Resources :: Modelling for Learning Organisations

Book : Modelling for Learning Organisations (2000)

Summary

Test policies, discover flaws, and find hidden leverage points. System simulation allows you to predict the outcome of current and future situations on the whole system by testing different scenarios.

Conventional wisdom says that we can learn from our errors, but errors in the business world can be prohibitively costly. To truly understand how complex business organizations function requires different tools than most managers have been given. Yet managers need methods to understand how their organization works in order to test policies, discover flaws in thinking, and find the hidden leverage points within the complex systems they manage. Through a system simulation, the dynamics of the whole system, not just the individual parts, becomes apparent. The outcome of current and future situations becomes possible to predict and with this information, managers can focus on the changes that need to be made.

The distinguished contributors to Modeling for Learning Organizations include Jay W. Forrester, Peter Senge, and Arie De Geus. You will learn about leading applications such as:<

• Shell’s work on modeling the oil producers.
• The Management Flight Simulator, a computer-based case learning environment pioneered by John Sterman and others at MIT
• The landmark Claims Learning Laboratory at Hanover Insurance companies.

For managers, professionals, academicians, and everyone who recognizes the profound implications of modeling, this book is an excellent resource. It offers a broad understanding of the modeling process, discusses a multitude of case studies, and provides a review of the most recent simulation software.

Content / Structure

Part 1 - Perspectives on the Modelling Process

• Executive Knowledge, Models & Learning - J.D.W. Morecroft
• Model Building for Group Decision Support: Issues and Alternatives in Knowledge Elicitation - J.A.M. Vennix, D.F. Andersen, G.P. Richardson, J. Rohrbaugh
• Policies, Decisions and Information Sources for Modelling - J.W. Forrester
• Modelling as Learning: A Consultancy Methodology for Enhancing Learning in Management Teams - D.C. Lane

Part 2 - Feedback Modelling in Action

• Knowledge Elicitation in Conceptual Model Building: A Case Study in Modeling a Regional Dutch Health Care System - J.A.M. Vennix and J.W. Gubbels
• Modeling the Oil Producers: Capturing Oil Industry Knowledge in a Behavoural Simulation Model - J.D.W. Morecroft and K.A.J.M. van der Helijden
• A Systematic Approach to Model Creation - E.F. Wolstenholme
• Systems Thinking and Organizational Learning: Acting Locally and Thinking Globally in the Organization of the Future - P.M. Senge and J.D. Sterman

Part 3 - Learning from Modelling and Simulation

• Model-Supported Case Studies for Management Education - A.K. Graham, J.D.W. Morecroft, P.M. Senge and J.D. Sterman
• Experimentation in Learning Organizations: A Management Flight Simulator Approach - B. Bakken, J. Gould and D. Kim
• Overcoming Limits to Learning in Computer-Based Learning Environments - W. Isaacs abd P.M. Senge

Part 4 - New Ideas in Representation and Software

• Software for Model Building and Simulation: An Illustration of Design Pholosophy - S. Peterson
• The System Dynamics Approach to Computer-Based Management Learning Environments - P.I. Davidsen
• The System Dynamics Modelling Process and DYSMAP2 - B. Dangerfield
• Managerial Microworlds as Learning Support Tools - E.W. Diehl
• Understanding Models and Vensim - R.L. Eberlein and D.W. Peterson
• Professional DYNAMO: Simulation Software to Facilitate Management Learning and Decision Making - J.M. Lyneis, K. Sklar Reichelt and T. Sjoblom
• Hexagons for Systems Thinking - A.M. Hodgson

Annotated Bibliography - J.D.W. Morecroft and J.D. Sterman About the Editors Index

Copyright 1994 by Productivity Press, A Division of Productivity, Inc

Reviews

Be the first to review this book - Modelling for Learning Organisations

«  Previous  Managerial Applications of System Dynamics     Practical Systems Thinking  Next »