Category: Articles
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When to Simulate
Systems thinking offers an array of tools — from systems archetypes to computer models — for improving the quality of decision making. Knowing which…
Entry Points to Modeling: Listening for “Dilemmas”
One of the biggest contributions that systems thinking can make is to help managers build theories about why things happen the way they do.
Measuring a City’s Health
When you fly a plane, you need an instrument panel in front of you, with lights and dials telling you how well the parts…
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…
Putting Best Practices into Practice
Seeking out and spreading best practices throughout an organization — particularly a large organization — provides significant strategic advantages. The idea of identifying and…
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…
Minding the Gap: Social Learning for Turning Ideals into Actions
Humans have been both fascinated and tortured by questions regarding our fate and future for at least as long as we have possessed the…
Accountability Leadership
What comes to mind when you hear the word “accountability”? If it is something along the lines of “who gets the blame,” “being called…