Category: Articles
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Shifting the Burden Revisited: Turtles All the Way Down
There is an old story about a student who asked his master, “Teacher, what holds up the world?” The teacher paused for a moment…
The “Living” Company: Extending the Corporate Lifeline
In the 1970s, diversification was the rage. But by the early 1980s, serious doubts had surfaced in the Shell Group about the wisdom of…
Clarifying Variables: Actual, Perceived, and Desired
One of the primary benefits of modeling with systems tools—whether causal loops or computer simulations—is the intense discussion it can generate around important variables…
ABC: Initiating Large-Scale Change at Chrysler
When Chrysler adopted activity-based costing (ABC) in 1991, the decision rep; resented more than a simple accounting change. The shift to ABC challenged many…
Confronting the Tension Between Learning and Performance
Few readers would disagree with the suggestion that those who develop and exercise a greater capacity to learn are likely to outperform those less…
The Potential of Talking and the Challenge of Listening
In December 2002, the entire world was arguing about what to do about Iraq. There were two sides to the argument. On one side,…
The Mouse and the Earthquake: An Introduction to Systems Theory
If you can study a part of a process, event, or thing . . . human behavior the mind ecology the birth of a…
”Leaning” into Organizational Learning
As a senior management team, we have always worked hard to create a true learning organization in our firm, Danfoss Socla, a specialized valve…
Teaching Systemic Thinking: Educating the Next Generation of Business Leaders
Are we failing to adequately prepare our business leaders? Since an article in the Harvard Business Review on the topic more than 30 years…
Thinking in Circles About Obesity
TEAM TIP Although this article focuses specifically on the issue of weight management, some of the lessons are relevant for organizational issues; for…