Online Content
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- This paper wants to report about an approach to make German pupils familiar with the problem of system dynamics, to promote the comprehension of complex system, to teach them something like "thinking in networks". To reach this aim we employed a tool for modeling and simulating, comparable with well-known systems as Ithink or POWERSIM, but able to run on simple PCs under MS-DOS. Using this tool we have developed the following four units (the subject in parentheses): -Ecosystem forest (ecological balance, biology) -Flows of carbon dioxide (chemistry) -Growth (mathematics) -"Tycoon" (economy) Two of these units, "forest" and "economy" are the basis of our research. In 11 groups with 238 pupils we made pre-tests, video recording and final tests, The results in the field "model thinking" were remarkably better then in a polite study, initiated two years ago, the semantic and the syntactic correctness of the models have increased as well. This will be evaluation of several items, regarding the aspects -prediction of behavior -forms of presentation, and -level of net structure.
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- This paper reports the finding of an internal McKinsey research and development project designed to test the value of applying System Dynamics thinking to the life insurance industry. The aim was to understand better how management decisions and actions can affect the success or failure of a typical direct sales life company. The study compared the evaluation over 20 yeas of two companies, Equitable Life and London Life. Starting out in 1975 from virtually identical competitive positions, Equitable has become the U.K.'s most successful life company, while London Life was rescued by the AMP Society from near insolvency in 1989. We found System Dynamics a powerful means of identifying which managerial actions had accounted for the extraordinary divergence of the two companies. The lessons learned include many counter-intuitive insights that have relevance for any life company manager. Through simulation we were able to isolate which management actions made the difference to long term performance. In particular, we show how attempts exceed the maximum sustainable growth rate specific to any individual company can lock it into a slow but relentless spiral of decline, from which there is little hope of escape. This growth ceiling can be quantified and we also identify a number of a long range early warnings signs. Consequently, we believe that our conclusions are likely to change the way life companies are managed in the future.
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- This paper shows that viewing dyadic communication from the perspective of servomechanisms and system dynamics rather than the cybernetics perspective (see Richardson, 1991, 128) allows deeper insights into the complex process of human conversations. Instead of viewing feedback from the cybernetic perspectives as the influence of input back on the output (Richardson, 128) we view dyadic communication as a closed system, with positive and negative feedback loops. This point of view helps us to better understand how to use feedback to achieve one's communications goals. A case study based on the short story The Revolt of Mother by Mary Wilkins Freeman, illustrates the reciprocal (not linear) nature of dyadic communication, and the role of breakdowns in revealing its structures. This analysis has implications for managers who engage in conversations in which they create, take care of, and initiate new commitments within an organization (Winograd and Flores, 1991, 151).
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- Management practitioners have always felt the need to understand organizational contexts and processes. Consequently many different theoretical bases have been used to facilitate the evaluation. However the focus on existing approaches has primarily been on the ‘formal’ aspects of the organization. This has often resulted in inadequate and poor analysis of various complex managerial situations. In viewing organizations as communications systems, this paper introduces the responsibility analysis approach which helps in presenting a comprehensive picture of an organization environment. At a very generic level, organizations are viewed in terms of three sub-systems; technical, formal and informal. When conducting a responsibility analysis, the endeavor is to identify the responsible agents and capture the norms associated with each action. In doing so, we seek to understand the underlying repertories of behavior. This produces a high level specification of the organization and its attendant responsibilities, thus allowing a comparison to be made with the implicit and explicit structures of responsibility. The paper demonstrates these concepts with examples drawn from a National Health Service case study.
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- This paper presents a critique of the atomistic ontology and empiricist epistemology which inform most current definitions of the concepts information, systems and, hence, information systems in the Information System (IS) literature. The notion of information as an objectively given quantifiable 'force' emanating from the real world and endowed with the essential property of dissolving uncertainty; or as possessing the same essential property but as consisting of structured or processed data, i.e. atomistic ‘facts’, about the real world are argued to be unsustainable, on both philosophical and practical grounds. It is argued, furthermore, that the notion of systems as an ontology in respect of goal seeking cybernetic machines unproblematically specifiable in terms of their boundaries, of their input and output, and of their objectives is not inappropriate to the socially-based systems in terms of which an IS must be defined, but also fails to consider the ontological, and consequently epistemological, depth implied by this concept. In view of these arguments, an alternative conceptual practice is explored by suggesting that the concept system be taken as an epistemological tool to be deployed in respect of complex coherent 'whole-entities' characterized by their emergent properties and, in the case of socially-based systems, by the essential autopoietic nature of their modes of regulation and self-representation including, above all, language. It is also suggested that information should be considered as a set of fundamentally, arbitrary signs whose 'emergent' properties i.e. syntactic, semantic and pragmatic, are intersubjectively negotiated between international organizational agents and, as such, inseparable from the forms of social life which they sustain and in which they are generated. This alternative conceptualization, proceeds from an ontology which acknowledges the essential 'depth' of its key thought objects, by virtue of the emergent properties attributions to these objects, in contrast to the flat atomistic ontology currently dominant in the IS field. Such an alternative conceptual practice, we argue, provides an initial theoretical framework in which to ground the currently ill-defined, “emergent perspective”, on the relationship between ICT and organizational change, identifiable in the IS literature. While as regarded IS practice, this re-conceptualization is found to be congruent with the object oriented approach to IS development which is currently attracting increasing practical attention and which appears to provide the basis for a common and intuitively meaningful language with which to bridge the gap between IS end-users and developers.
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- This paper describes the results to date of an investigation into the role of a system dynamics “microworld” model in helping a not-for-profit organization (charity) become more “business-like” in its strategic management, and more able to evaluate impacts and opportunities in its ever more competitive environment. The organization- the local division of a relationship advisory service in the U.K. - in common with most other charities is facing a more turbulent environment with major uncertainties in government grants, greater competition for voluntary donations, and changes in its perceived role. This requires the organization to put much greater emphasis on effective management, but this may be regarded as diverting, and even in conflict with deeply held beliefs, by Board members, paid managers, and counselors and volunteers. This experience to date suggests that the development and utilization of a microworld model of the organization and its environment help its member to envision the full implications of possible strategic developments. These developments include the impact and timing of direct advertising and the offering of contract advisory services to firms concerned that redundancies and other situations may put their employees under the sort of stress that could seriously effect their domestic relationships. This approach clarifies and aids the reconciliation of "business" performance measures like client contributions, cash flow management and training investment with such core concerns as counselor moral and the service provided to it's "clients".
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- This paper demonstrates the use of system dynamics in the examination, evaluation and reformulation of business policy. It describes the consultancy and modeling process used to examine the recruitment and promotion system of a large company. The management felt that the short-term decisions they were making, particularly about how many graduates to recruit, were endangering their ability to manage the system in the longer term. They were finding the there were too many staff at middle management grades, whilst they were doubtful that they were developing the senior management of the future. They further believed that the system, as currently operated, gave them little ability to control the long-term availability of staff. It was decided to initiate a study, using system dynamics, to understand the dynamics of the manpower system and study the policy options available for controlling the system. The model enabled management to increase their understanding of the system and evaluate their current method of decision making. The model demonstrated that the problems were indeed caused by the system, and that managers had adapted their decision making process close to the optimal, given the constraints in which they were operating. A new system of recruitment and promotions was defined, tested and implemented, which overcomes many of the problems identified in this study,
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- In October 1993, a group of 7 academic institutions submitted to the ERASMUS Office of the European Union (EU) in Brussels an application to establish an Inter-University Corporation Program (ICP), i.e. a student exchange program, in system dynamics. This initiative is coordinated by the Department of Information Science, University of Bergen, Norway. A first response is expected by the end May 1994 and the final decision will be known in July. The program will be implemented during the academic year 1994-95.
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- A new management institute, Der Rutli Fuhrungskrafteseminar, was established in Germany this year. Its leadership is committed to the teaching of management based on the principles of System Dynamics. As an element in the promotion of these ideas, a new System Dynamics management simulator has been developed. There are several ways in which this simulator constitutes a new concept in management training. In particular, we have addressed the issue of teaching policy design, supplemented by design making. The properties of the simulator originate from the characteristics of the underlying software. Consequently they can be applied generally to any system dynamics based management simulator. In particular, the simulator; (1) the simulator is a multi-group simulator utilizing any personal computer network that supports MS windows; (2) The simulator allows the user not only to submit decisions to the server that calculates and returns a new state, but also to formulate and try out, on their local computer, their own strategies over any strategic horizon; (3) the simulator gives the user access to; -the underlying simulation model (to an extent determined by the administrator); -The tool by which the simulation model was built, allowing the users to formulate and test their own dynamic hypotheses. In this paper, we describe these characteristics of a new generation of simulators for management training, illustrated by Der Rutli Management Simulator, and we discuss the potential implications of taking advantage of these characteristic.
-
- Type:
- Document
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Collection:
- System Dynamic Society Records
- Collecting Area:
- University Archives
- Collection ID:
- ua435
- Parent Record(s):
- 23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8, c060552994c1527f70693734935660f1, and fe35db792b573af835d96e6eba4759cd
- Description:
- In system dynamics we seek to understand the relationship between the structure and the behavior of dynamic systems. In problem solving, for instance, we must identify the structure underlying problem behavior and find how the structure can be modified to create a more desirable systems behaviour. To enhance such an understanding, we utilize the graphical techniques. Whether in print or in software, however, there has been a significant gap between our representation of structure and behaviour. In this paper, we first present a series of ways to link structure and behaviour such that behaviour can be more easily understood on the basis of the underlying structure. These techniques are computerized using PowerSimTM. Within the framework of an EEC research project on distance education for professionals, JITOL (Just In Time Open Learning), we have investigated how to facilitate System Dynamics distance education on electronic networks. One of the main challenges consists of finding an effective way to present the results of a simulation. Such an interpretation of simulation results is normally partitioned in accordance with the various phases of the system development, portrayed by the simulation, and requires that references be made to the assumptions embodied in the underlying simulation model. Consequently, the author or any other user of a model must be allowed to comment on the various phases of a specific dynamics development. Moreover, these comments must be made available to any reader of the model, ie anyone who runs the model under the conditions specified by the author or user. And these readers must be allowed to respond by adding their own comments to the same fragments of the model development. This paper outlines a technique developed to, at runtime (ie as the model is running), link such annotations to graphs that represent simulation results, and to make such annotations available to readers at runtime when they inspect that specific simulations.