using microworlds in management education

["Kim Warren"]

Thanks to all those who kindly shared their experiences about use of
microworlds in education. Although it was not intended as a formal survey,
some intriguing insights have come out.

First, I was reminded very strongly about the rich variety of uses being
made of microworlds on many topics in the K-12 community. Although the focus
of our enquiry was about business mwlds, this feedback is extremely
encouraging that students at all levels should be able to learn quickly from
these devices, whatever the subject.

Secondly, the K-12 feedback also exhibited a strong purpose to use mwlds for
learning about the subject of study itself, rather than purely as a vehicle
to teach system dynamics.

Thirdly, in some contrast to this point, the use of business mwlds (with a
few exceptions) seemed to be largely focused on teaching SD/systems
thinking, rather than teaching people about the dynamics of business in
general, or the industry or type of firm in particular. This was evident in
the dominant use of mwlds in courses about SD or systems thinking, rather
than in general management courses.

Maybe we missed responses from many people who *are* using them for this
purpose (I know for example of airlines who include People Express in their
management training). Or maybe our community is missing an opportunity
here - would we be most successful at enticing people to the potential
benefits of using system dynamics in their professional lives if we start
from a concern with the challenges they face, expressed in their language?
If this is not happening, or not much, do we have a possible explanation for
the slow rate of adoption of SD amongst the management community?

Any thoughts anyone? Or have I missed lots of people who are using mwlds in
conventional management courses?

Kim
From: "Kim Warren" <kim@strategydynamics.com>

["Yarbrough, Richard"]

Im not sure if I am agreeing or disagree with Kim Warren on his
third point. As someone with a background in physics and computer science I
would have to say that the most confusing part about understanding SD has
been that all the terminology such as stocks and flows and the examples such
as supply chains seem based on a model created by a business major with a
strong interest in the commodities or stock market. As a matter of fact
when I first started working at my present job I spent a great deal of time
hunting (unsuccessfully) for that book which would rephrase the terminology
into something that would seem less alien to me. I ended up experimenting
with all the models I could find that simulated a physical system trying to
relate the structure of the modeling language to my world outlook.
 
Richard Yarbrough                          Richard.Yarbrough@dsint.com 
<mailto:Richard.Yarbrough@dsint.com>
System Dynamics Modeler

[GBHirsch@aol.com]

Hi Kim-

I think you are entirely correct that Microworlds focused on the problems of
a firm or industry that teach SD as a byproduct are an excellent way of
getting peoples attention and enticing them into learning more about SD.
Most people are not initially interested in learning a new field such as SD.
They want help, as you suggest, in understanding and dealing with the
pressing problems they are facing. Well-designed Microworlds are not only
helpful, but actually get people excited about learning and exploring. This
makes them very receptive to "looking under the hood" and learning more about
the methods used to create such compelling learning environments.

A health care Microworld that I referred to in another post a few days ago
(re: SD and Markov processes) was developed with these ideas in mind. It was
designed to help health care professionals deal with the complex set of
changes going in in their field in the mid-1990s in the US and adopt new
ways of thinking required to survive in that environment. The Microworld was
quite effective in engaging people and helping them make this transition in
their thinking. We also developed a set of teaching materials that drew out
the embedded systems archetypes in the simulators and taught people to use
them in their own organizations. (See Hirsch and Immediato, "Microworlds and
Generic Structures as Resources for Integrating Care and Improving Health",
SD Review, Fall, 1999, P. 315-330) This kind of material and links to SD web
sites and other resources should help promote interest in SD and make it
accessible to a much larger potential audience. This route to SD is
complementary to and can work in conjunction with excellent resources already
available for learning SD such as the Roadmaps series.

Gary Hirsch
GBHirsch@aol.com