The Presenation of System Dynamics

["C. Thomas Higgins"]

Interesting conversation!

I suspect that many senior managers do give SD the attention it =
deserves. For SD to be useful it must be understandable. =
Understandable in a common language not laden with complicated =
mathematics. That is why the picture diagrams and symple(y for (1) =
representations are critical to the ground where SD and the real world =
meet.

There is an infinite set of possibilities in all human interactive =
settings. Senior managers have a tacit set of rules to deal with these =
settings as they relate to organizations and their rolls therein. Do =
the SD professionals respond to managements questions regarding SD =
models with explanations of the complex formula? If they do it is not =
surprising then that they are met with resistance. Managers at the =
senior level know intuitively that a formula cannot represent the =
complete world in which they operate.

What many managers dont know is that there are some elegantly symple =
representations of that world developed by SDists. Representations in =
the form of diagrams and analogies to physical systems.

Is the task as easy as educating senior managers in the basics of SD =
flow diagrams and there implications? If it were we would be faced with =
a simple problem instead of a symple one. We havent found a formula =
for ( that elegantly describes managements tacit assumptions about, how =
their organizations work, and how these assumptions play out in an SD =
model.

If the SD model attacks (or is perceived to attack) the validity of =
managements tacit assumptions about the organization the consultant =
will normally face insurmountable resistance. This is as a result of =
O-1 learning behavior, because the manager would most likely see the =
model as threatening, and skillfully dismiss it as insufficient or =
irrelevant. A consultant without the skill to see the O-1 behavior and =
an intervention technique to help the manager to a O-11 learning =
behavior would probably fail in selling his story. For descriptions of =
O-1 and O-11 learning behavior see Argyris / Schon - Organizational =
Learning II (1996).

Chow,

Tom...
C. Thomas Higgins
loscann@pacific.telebyte.com