Category: Articles
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Why Simulate? Using Models for Strategic Planning
Your customers are demanding more services for the same price. How can you meet their expectations with your existing staff? As your company begins…
TQM and Systems Thinking as Theory-Building Tools
Our brains are pattern-making systems — they organize our perceptions of the world into patterns that enable us to function effectively. For example, when…
Balancing Loop Basics
Reinforcing processes, which we covered in last month’s issue, are only one of the building blocks of complex systems. While the snowballing effect of…
Organizational Learning and Leadership Development at EDS
Evaluating a program on “learning how to learn” is difficult using traditional quantitative criteria. Fritjof Capra, author of The Turning Point, offers these guidelines…
Lessons in Systems Thinking: A Tale from the Land of Middle Health
Microtown, a small community deep within the Land of Middle Health, isn’t much different from other towns. Its citizens are young and old, rich…
Decision-Making: The Empowerment Challenge
Imagine that you work for a company that has created a powerful and compelling shared vision. Furthermore, you and your colleagues have established a…
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…
Cultivating Tomorrow’s Leaders: Should You Teach, Coach, or Mentor?
You need good people in your department to make your organization shine. Capable deputies allow you to stretch to new goals, and a thriving…
Systems Archetypes as Dynamic Theories
Most people are familiar with the Sufi tale of the four blind men, each of whom is attempting (unsuccessfully) to describe what an elephant…
Selecting Variable Names for Causal Loop Diagrams
When first beginning to draw a causal loop diagram, don’t spend a lot of time up front trying to select the “perfect” variable name.