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Table of Contents
Design of a learning community for System Dynamics
Rafael E. Bourguet Diaz, Gloria Pérez Salazar
ITESM Campus Monterrey
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
bourguet@itesmmx , gloria. perez@itesmmxk
Abstract
This paper shows the objectives, model, functional structure and elements in the design of
system dynamics learning community. This proposal of the design is motivated by the
need to work and facilitate the learning in a collaborative way for members of the
conmumity of systems dynamics in Latin America in the fields of investigation, teaching
and consulting. The article concludes with the discussion about possible benefits to apply
knowedge administration in that design.
Keywords: Learning community, design, modeling.
1. Introduction
The motivation of this work is to put in practice the use of the System Dynamics (SD) in the
design of one leaming community. In fact, a leaming commumity for its own study and
application. The article focuses on modeling.
A leaming commumity could intensify the collective capacity to facilitate the individual
reconstruction of the participants. It is promoted then to share individual competitions with the
purpose of producing value in the organization
On design, (Forrester, 1998) it explains, in the analogy of the pilot and designer of airplanes, the
purpose of Dynamics of Systems towards the design of organizations. In this one writing the
difference between the two activities specifies to handle or to control an organization and the one
to design it. This one last one, emphasized in the video "Designing for Corporations Success in
the 21st Century" (Forrester, 1995) in where refers to the design in the sense in that a chemical
engineer would design a chemical plant.
Really, Could we be able to design our organizations in which we participated in an engineering
way? With elements more rigorous than the intuition, beliefs, non-explicit knowledge of our
mental models, particular experiences and good will. The following definitions have been useful
froma point of view practical and operative to work in a context of knowledge and leaming.
Knowledge: capacity of effective answer (Emergence, 1999), (Bourguet and Grove, 2000).
Leaming: process of significance construction (ITESM, 2001). Recreation of ourselves (Senge,
1990.14).
Intelligence: ability of effective use of knowledge (Systems Thinker, 2001)
Knowledge Management (AK): administration of the capacities of organization effective answer
it mainly refers intangible elements of value.
Leaming Commumity (CL): group of people who share their competitions in the reconstruction
of themselves with the objective of producing value.
Creative tension: existing force in the people to reach its goals. It is originated by the difference
between a vision puts and a present situation (Senge, 1990, 142).
The organization of the article is the following one. The modeling of the situation appears in
section 2. The functional architecture and the work are described briefly in section 3. Finally, the
conclusions appear in section 4. Used references are included in section 5.
2, Modeling of the Leaming Community
The modeling of the leaming community that appears follows the steps proposed by (Albin,
1995), that is to say: (1) Conceptualization, (2) Formulation, (3) Tests and (4) Implementation.
2.1. Conceptualization
The problematic situation that is identified is the lack of integration of investigator-consultants in
Systems Dynamics that allows capitalizing its talents and visions in projects of personal growth
and production of value in its community.
The clients of the model are professors, researchers, consultants and every people interested in
the design of the leaming community in System Dynamics.
The option to improve that it considers is the one to construct a leaming community that allows
to way of alliance and society between the participants to help itself to reconstruct itself thus
same to generate value.
The objective of the model is to develop an understanding of how the interactions of individual
knowledge entities in a leaming community produce the change processes of stagnation and
growth through time.
The intentions of the model are: (1) to clarify the knowledge and understanding of a community
of leaming in the short and long term; (2) to create a shared vision within this community, (3) to
discover policies that allow to leverage the leaming community and (4) to construct a
commitment between the participants to construct and to maintain the community.
The time horizon is of 10 years. The first 3 years are considered as short long term and after 5
years term. The dynamic hypotheses consider periods of stagnation in short term, followed of a
growth maintained in subsequent years.
The basic mechanisms are described next using the stock and flows diagram in Figure 1. This
diagram represents the interaction of two organizations of knowledge A and B interacting ina
leaming community. A knowledge organization can be a person or a group. Nine processes of
change due to the perceived interactions are generated: three processes of balance and six of
reinforcement.
ae Ae. Needwoimpeve (ROA daayof
Adninistration of the
‘ community knowledge:
+ || Jeaming of the a
conmunity
Fig 1 Interactions and processes of change in the leaming community
The processes R1 and R3 refer the cycle of reinforcement where greater leaming
generates knowledge, which its time will allow to leam more. This process finds its limit with
the knowledge available in its community. The processes of balance B1 and B2 show that with
the growth of knowledge the challenges are reduced which attenuates the leaming process and
the rate of growth of the knowledge is reduced. Each organization of knowledge contributes
value to the community that is reflected in a leaming of this one. The processes of reinforcement
R3 and R4 include this interaction and show as this increase generates more knowledge of the
community. The challenges are increased to face, which will generate more leaming for the
organizations, with its increase in knowledge and its contribution of retum to the commumity.
These processes of reinforcement interact with a process of denominated balance B3, which will
impose a limit. B3 indicates that to greater leaming, greater knowledge in the community and
consequently greater challenges to the organizations set out. Between greater challenges, greater
creative tension of the community. It is reduced then the present difference between wished and
the referring thing to creative tension, reason why the improvement necessities relax and the
3
effort of administration of the knowledge therefore also diminishes. Consequently, the leaming
of the community promotes less and diminishes the reason of change of the knowledge. A
process of reinforcement related to B3 is the one that appears like R5. This it indicates that to
greater creative tension of the commumity, greater expectations are created, and therefore the
creative tension wished by the commumity is increased. With this increase the perceived
necessities of improvement increase and a greater effort is requested to the knowledge
administration. Finally, the bow of R6 reinforcement refers to that to greater effort in knowledge
administration, the implementation retardation is reduced to make the expectations like part of
the wished creative tension. When being reduced east time they increase the expectations, those
that increase the reason of change of the wished tension and generate a greater necessity of
change.
2.2. Formulation
Next, a comment about the mathematical relations proposed for the interaction between
variables.
The change of the stock variables is the origin of the formulation of the model.
Leaming Community - reason of change of Knowledge of the Community.
Leaming A - reason of change of Individual Knowledge A.
Leaming B - reason of change of Individual Knowledge B.
Expectations - reason of change of Creative Tension Wished by the Community.
For the qualitative variables of Knowledge the operation interval has settled out 0-100. In
where 100 mean the maximum supposedly attainable knowledge in a period of 10 years. Their
units denominate Units of Knowledge (uk). Therefore, the variable Leaming has like units
(uk/year).
The structure of limits to growth has proposed out for the stocks Individual Knowledge A
and Individual Knowledge B. Thus Leaming A and Leaming B are proportional to the
Knowledge and the Challenges. The equations in Vensim are:
Leaming A =2/100*Individual Knowledge A*Challenges for A
Where the value of 2 implies that the maximum "doubling Time" is 0.7/2.0 =0,35 years. The
value of 100 comes from the Maximum scale 0-100. To see (Sterman, 2000, CAP 9) for more
detail in the parameters of the equation.
Leaming B = 1/100*IndividualKnolwedge B*Challenges for B
Where the value of 1 implies that the maximum "doubling Time" is 0.7/1.0 =0.70 years. The
value of 100 comes from the Maximum scale 0-100. To see (Sterman, 2000, CAP 9) for greater
detail in the parameters of the logistic equation.
Leaming of the Community =0.15*(Individual knowledge A+ Individual Knowledge B)/100*
Administration of the Knowledge of the Community
Where value 0,15 assumes a change of annual 15% considering the influences of the individual
knowledge. The value (1/100) standardizes the values of knowledge whose intervals of operation
are of 0-100. The part of Administration of the Knowledge of the Community comes given
investment a necessity from improvement to reach a wished creative tension. Therefore, the
individual knowledge of standardized A and B are the modifiers of the 0,15 like rate of the
change reason.
Expectations = Creative DELAY 11(0.1* Tension of the Comnumity, Delay of Implementation,
a)
Wher the delay of first order has like constant of time to the value of Delay of Implementation.
This one indicates the time average that takes an expectation in becoming part of the creative
tension of the commumity. Initially, the reason of change of the wished creative tension is
assumed equal to 1. The delay of Implementation has a value of 2 years in case of not having
efforts in the knowledge administration. The value of 0,1 represents proportionality in the impact
of the creative tension in the expectations.
2.3. Tests
The basic mechanisms of shown reinforcement and balance in fig 1 if they allowed
implementing the dynamic hypotheses propose on the stagnation and growth of knowledge in a
community. The stagnation is associated to an administration of knowledge (AK) poor and the
growth to an excellent AC, fig 2 and fig 3 shows these behaviors respectively.
Knowedge Knowledge
100
Individual Knowledge B : ingl
Knowledge of the community : ingl
o t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 Time (years)
‘Time (years)
| Individual Knowledge A : ingles knowledge units
Individual Knowledge A : ingles- nowledge units Individual Knowledge B : ingles. |mowledge units
Fig.2 Knowledge with a poor AK Fig. 3. Knowledge with a relevant AK
individual A to and individual B. The heavy line distinguishes to the knowledge of the
community. It is observed as the individual curves of leaming practically reach to the knowledge
of the community in three years. The situation appears where the individual to have a greater
initial knowledge and a higher rate of leaming with respect to the individual B. The scale goes 0-
5
knowledge units Knowledge of the community : ingles nowledge units
100, where 0 is not to have idea of Systems Dynamics and 100 represent to reach Maximum the
supposedly attainable capacity of knowledge in a period of 10 years.
During this phase of tests, proposed parameters adjusted initially. The excellent
adjustments took place in: Administration of Knowledge of the Community and Retardation of
Implerentation.
Administration of the Knowledge of the Community = DELAY 3(1*Needs to improve,
4)*0.3
Where a proportional relation with Necessity of Improvement sets out directly. A delay effect is
introduced to emphasize that the change is not instantaneous. When AC is poor, case of fig 2,
considers a time average of retardation of 4 years and an impact of 30% (value of 0,3 outside the
is). When AC is excellent, it considers a time average of retardation of 2 years and an
impact of 100% (value of 1 outside the parenthesis).
Delay of Implementation =2-(Administration of the Knowledge of the Comunidad/50)
A delay of two years is considered when there is no AC (AC=0%) and a delay of a year when
AC is 50% of their Maximum capacity.
2.4. Implementation
The first step in the implementation was to decide what political would be the attention
center to create the leaming community. In this case it was the incorporation of a knowledge
administration.
The test made in the policy consisted of numerical changes of the variable Administration
of the Knowledge of the Commumity. The description of the used values is in Subsection 2,3,
previous. Its results of what it would happen if there is an excellent use of AC? With respect to
knowledge they are in Figs. 3 and 4.
Next the behaviors observed in the rest of the variables are explained. In the Figs. 4 and
5,
. leaming
Leaming 10. knowledge units‘year
10 Ino nisyer 8 Imowledge units/year
; knowledge feral 4 knowledge units*year|
5 nowledge units/year
5 Inoue untsyeer 4 knowledge uniter
05. knowledge units*year 2 knowledge units*year
0 knowledge unity'year 0 knowledge unity’year
0 knowledge unityyear 0 knowledge units/year
0 knowledge units" year 0 knowledge units* year
o 123 4 5 67 8 9 0 0 4 2. 3 4 ee 6 7 8
Time (yeas) Time (years)
eS ee Fre Leaming A ing Inouye unitvyear
Learing of the community : ingles Imowledge units*yea Leaning B:: ingl F knowlenge units'year
Leaming of the community : ingl knowdedge units*year
Fig 4. Leaming with a poor AK Fig 5. Leaming with a relevant AK
It is observed as throughout the time the leaming diminishes. This is due to that the limit of
knowledge of the commumity is reached. Every time it is less necessary to leam. The community
decay in 10 years with poor AC. In fact, the leaming can get to be almost null. In the other case,
with excellent AC, the capitalization of the individual knowledge allows to grow to the
community and to maintain a growth in the participants and itself
0 knowledge
1 yeas
0 knowledge units/yeary
o 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
‘Time (years)
‘Neadto improve: ines mr
Adnirisnticnof tromny aodeke: ines | —<—$<$<$<$<$——— isan
lay of timplementcion:irges.§
Lesmingof th commit : ines Tanuledpuniteas
Fig 6. Leaming with a poor AK
Administration of the Knowledge
‘Necd to improve : Comunidad de Aprendizaje
Time (years)
covement units
$$ im
‘Administration of the community knowledge : Comunidad de Aprencizaje—= ‘bowel ts
prendizaje
Delay ofthe implementation : Comunidad de
eating of the community: Comunidad de Aprendizje-—= nowleigo unites
Fig 7. Leaming with a relevant AK
Through comparing the Figs. 6 and 7, in the same way, are observed the benefits to apply
excellent AC. The time of implementation is reduced; the improvement necessities are taken care
of almost in 100%. The important variable Leaming of the Community is observed with a
Creative Tension.
o 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Tine (yeas)
restive tension desiered by the community : ingle knowiedge units
Creetive tension of the community : ing knowledge units
Expectations : ingles Imowiedge units'year
Fig. 8. Creative tension with a poor AK
Creative Tension.
24 knowledge units
Creative tension desiered by the community : ing
Creative tension of the community : ing
Expectations: ingles
12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
‘Time (years)
Fig. 9. Creative Tension with a relevant AK
Finally, the variables related to creative tension are observed in the Figs. 8 and 9. Notice
that the difference between a case and the other so is not marked as in the other variables of the
model. An explanation could be that the individuals To and B, looking for to reach the
knowledge of the community, in average get to reduce the number of challenges to such degree
)
that the distance between the vision puts of the individuals and the present one is reduced
significantly, which would pronounce themselves like an attenuation in the creative tension of
the community. This in the long term raises a challenge How to maintain the creative tension of
the community in a degree or wished value? An option would be to increase the tension in
certain periods of time and later to let to the system look for its own goal. This would allow to
challenge strongly to the community in planned periods of time and later to give times him of
recovery.
3. - Functional architecture
The objective of the leaming community is to intensify the collective capacity to facilitate
the individual reconstruction of the participants. It is promoted then to share individual
competitions with the purpose of producing value in the organization.
The functional architecture propose in the design considers the functions and elements
shown in fig 10. According to (Shaker and Gembicki, 1999), the intelligent organization must
count on three basic functions: (1) to acquire, (2) to process and (3) to scatter information,
knowledge and experiences. The acquisition will count on the harvesting of information and its
functions of basic preprocess, such as, classification, codification and priority, mainly. The use
of Infonmation systems will be required then. The processing consists of the added value, which
they generate specialized groups of interest, which analyze, they synthesize and they filter given
intemal information in reports. The dissemination is the function that makes sure to make get the
information and the knowledge to that requires it. For it, it requires to support itself greatly of the
information technologies. Also, the article publication contributions will have to be an activity to
reinforce in the area of Dynamics of Systems.
Community
i Systems — Dynamics
Acquisition Processing Dissemination
Recollection, Administration Interest Group Web Site Artides Discussion _ List|
Information System Classification of
Materids
Fig. 10 Functional Architecture of the propose leaming community
4, Results
The process of modeling of the improvement effect appeared that would produce the
incorporation of a knowledge management during the design of Dynamics of Systems leaming
community. The model will be used in meetings of work with professors, investigators,
interested and consultants.
During the design of the leaming comnumity, the model presented will allow: (1) to
Clarify the knowledge and understanding of a leaming community in the short and long term; (2)
to create a shared vision with the members of this community, (3) to discover policies that allow
to obtain the behavior wished in the time of the leaming commumity and (4) to construct a
commitment between the participants in order to develop the community.
At the moment one is working in the technological platform that will allow to the
community to interchange information relative to dynamics of systems, as well as in the
organization of the 2d. Latin-American conference of System Dynamics in November 2004 in
Santiago, Chile (http://dinamice-sistemas.mty.itesmmx). These activities go directed to support
each one of the elements of the functional architecture propose in fig 10.
With respect to the application of knowledge administration, one concludes, based in the
modeling and presented simulation, that the incorporation of knowledge management will allow
to reach the objective of design of the leaming community: to intensify the collective capacity to
facilitate the individual reconstruction through sharing its competitions with the purpose of
producing value in the organization.
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