Saeed, Khalid, "System Dynamics Modelling for the Design of Change", 1988
ua435
While the informal modelling procedure of system dynamics qualifies as scientific according to the definitions of the epistemological literature, the application of this procedure may create models of phenomena that provide few clues to the design of change. Policy design exercises based on such models may often end with a moral statement about what should be done by the organization as a whole instead of providing motivational instruments through which its various members realize evolutionary change. Unfortunately, a change prescribed by a moral statement can only be realized by a powerful intervention by an outside agent which is, if at all possible to implement, often dysfunctional. This paper attempts to define heuristics for the construction of models that may lead to viable designs of evolutionary change. A model is viewed as instrument for understanding a problem not as a source of design. Guidelines for partitioning complex problems into multiple models are discussed. Models containing conservative systems capable of generating a large number of time variant patterns, which are in reality separated by time and location, appear to be sound instruments for facilitating the design of change.
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