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The Department of Business Management at Monash University in Melbourne,
Australia offers a single introductory unit in SD in its Graduate
Diploma in Business Management and some more substantive work in its
coursework masters degree in "Organisational Systems".

(Monash University is Australias largest with about 40,000 students.
The Department of Business Management is also quite large with about 70
academic staff and teaches and researches across a whole spread of
management areas. Our systems thinking /organisational learning group is
more modest, however, with about 5 key staff).

The subject in the Grad Dipl is a compulsory semester unit of 39 hours
class time and is taken essentially by part-time students who are in
full employment. Consequently some very useful industry work develops as
an outcome of the course. The course includes 9 hours of introductory
material on the philosophy and need for system thinking and its
application in management. This is followed by an introduction to SD
using the Beer Game as a launching pad and work on stock flow diagrams,
simulation modelling (i-think), and causal diagramming/archetypes etc.
The course concludes with a review of SD methodology and its relevance
to the management of change, and of a case study in strategy (eg Peoples
Express).

The course was introduced in its current form last year and is presented
twice a year to semester intakes of about 60, ie a total of 120 per
year.

The combination of SD with some work on organisational learning taught
in other subjects has produced a Grad Dipl with a very distinctive
systems/learning flavour and has largely contributed to a doubling in
the number of applicants for the course this year despite a more crowded
market for graduate programs in management.

The masters degree is a more serious attempt to teach and apply systems
thinking and SD in particular. Introduced in 1995 with an initial
enrolment of 13, the program is composed of 8 semester units as follows:
- Systems thinking and theory
- Organisational learning and leadership
- Quality systems management (including reengineering)
- Dynamic systems modelling
- Advanced topics in systems thinking (mainly complex adaptive systems
and their relevance to strategy)
- Elective
- Two units of action research.

While other systems approaches are introduced, SD predominates.
Consequently students receive a strong appraissal of the field and its
applications in management as well as strong skills in SD.

A further 15 students are commencing the course this year.

Any systems thinkers contemplating coming to Australia, will be made
most welcome by our group.

For further information contact:

John Barton, Department of Business Management,
Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia, 3145
Tel: IDD: +61 3 9903 2672
Facs: IDD: +61 3 9903 2718
Email: John.Barton@BusEco.monash.edu.au

Details of the new course at the London School of Economics are shown
below:



System Dynamics Modelling (Half unit course)
Teacher Responsible: Dr. D. C. Lane
Availability and Restrictions: The course is intended for
students on the M.Sc. courses in Operational Research and
Decision Science. Students from other degrees are most welcome
but will only be admitted by agreement. Pre-requisites are a
sound understanding of algebraic and functional relationships
as well as comfort with the use of differential equations and
the practical use of computer packages.
Core Syllabus: This course introduces the theory and
application of the system dynamics modelling approach as it is
used to support strategic decision making in complex social
systems. It involves the qualitative and quantitative mapping
of the relevant system structure (including physical
processes, information links and human decision making) and
the simulation of the dynamic consequences of that structure.
The aim is both to examine the general modes of behaviour that
result so as to gain qualitative insights and also to
experiment with alternative policies in order to formulate
ones which improve behaviour. It has three distinctive themes:
the concept of information feedback, the use of computer
simulation models to explore complex behaviour and the need to
work with the mental models of relevant system actors (with a
view both to drawing on the relevant knowledge and
interpretations of the system and to implementing the insights
gained from the modelling process). The course deals with all
stages of the modelling approach as well is introducing some
research topics in the field. Students will use state of the
art simulation software with a graphical interface (currently
STELLA/iThink) and will be expected to work extensively with
quantitative computer models. The practical application of
system dynamics will be emphasised throughout, using various
cases studies from business, public-policy making and
elsewhere.
Course Content: The course is structured primarily around
three themes, each with its own topics:
Feedback: Modelling feedback with causal loop diagrams (the
concept of feedback, CLDs, conceptualisation exercises, the
limits of CLDs).
Simulation Modelling: Simple structures (positive loop,
negative loop, coupled loops, loop polarity and shifts in loop
dominance), model formulation (rate equations, auxiliary
equations, table functions, levels, delays, representation of
decision processes, principles of formulation), model testing
(understanding model behaviour, sensitivity analysis), policy
analysis (general approach, application to inventory
management).
Working with Mental Models: Insights and archetypes (necessity
and benefits of system dynamics, use and abuse of archetypes,
general system insights), system dynamics in organisations (as
group decision support tool, as organisational learning tool).
In addition students will be introduced to: critiques of
system dynamics, further applications, current research
problems
Teaching Arrangements: Three sessions per week (primarily
lectures but including some problems classes) for the 10 weeks
of Lent Term.
Reading List: J.W.Forrester, Industrial Dynamics,
G.P.Richardson & A.L.Pugh, Introduction to Systems Dynamics
Modelling with DYNAMO, J.W.Forrester, Principles of Systems,
J.Randers, Elements of the System Dynamics Method,
J.D.W.Morecroft & J.Sterman, Modelling for Learning
Organizations, G.P.Richardson, Feedback Thought in Social
Science and System Theory, P.M.Senge, The Fifth Discipline,
D.H.Meadows, The Global Citizen, various research papers from
the BLPES offprints collection..
Methods of Assessment: The course is examined by four pieces
of individual course work. These involve the following general
areas and mark weightings: problem conceptualisation using
causal loop diagrams (20%), loop polarity (10%), computer
model formulation (30%) and analysis of a pre-built simulation
model and production of a management report on resulting
policy insights (40%). These pieces of work are made available
throughout the course and have staged hand-in dates, the last
being on the first day of Summer Term.

David Lane
D.C.Lane@lse.ac.uk

D.C.,

Nice course description. I wish I could be there. Might be most interesting.

I tweeked a couple of the Archetypes and added a new one that might be of
interest.

http://www.radix.net/~crbnblu/ithink.html

be well,
Gene....
CrbnBlu@aol.com