Online Content

1. Dowling, Anne M. with Roderick H. MacDonald and George P. Richardson, "Simulation of Systems Archetypes"

Type:
Document
Date Created:
1995
Collection:
System Dynamic Society Records
Collecting Area:
University Archives
Collection ID:
ua435
Parent Record(s):
b83f2ce2912343b559f967dd985da515, 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, and 12420ec6bd5f758d2b4dea59aabd75a9
Thumbnail Path Ss:
/downloads/9p290t976?file=thumbnail
System Modified Dtsi:
2020-01-02T18:54:00Z
Description:
In recent years an important component of the research agenda in the field of system dynamics has focused on the definition and use of archetypal structures. Although the primary objective of such research is to develop an intrinsic set of system structures that can be used to categorize insights in dynamic systems, the ultimate goal is to provide an effective mechanism by which information can be transferred from a system dynamics model to a client in an easy to comprehend manner. To date, a number of archetypal structures have been presented by Richmond, Senge, and Wolstenholme. This paper discusses two systems archetypes proposed by Senge: "shifting the burden" and "fixes that fail." By developing sets of precise code and simulating the models, the authors document the written descriptions of these two archetypal structures and explore the extent to which the structures behave as expected. The authors demonstrate that the development of formal models for systems archetypes is not an easy task.