Sector: Business

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From Causal Loop Diagrams to Computer Models–Part I

Imagine you are the human resources director for a company in a rapidly growing industry. Your latest strategy meeting focused on developing a human…

R&D Funding: Managing the Pipeline

For 50 years, the U.S. government, universities, and corporate labs have led the world in research breakthroughs and Nobel prizes. Recently, however, global and…

Stewardship: A New Employment Covenant

The latest casualty of the changes sweeping through corporate America is the lifetime employment contract — the implicit agreement that provided employees with economic…

From Causal Loop Diagrams to Computer Models — Part II

Last month we outlined a process for turning a causal loop diagram into an accumulator and flow diagram, using the example of staffing decisions.

Thinking Systemically About Strategy

During the mid-1980s, a large high-technology company launched a project to begin thinking more systemically about strategy. “COPEX” (a fictional name) designed, manufactured, sold,…

Is There More to Corporations than Maximizing Profits?

The sole purpose of a corporation is to maximize return on investment to shareholders.” That is the raison d’etre for most organizations — and…

Building a Core Competence in Community

I recently worked with a group in a high-tech computer company that once had a very alive sense of community. The people felt more…

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…

Vision Deployment Matrix: A Framework for Large-Scale Change

Vision can be a powerful force for action when it is clearly articulated and there is a genuine desire to bring it into reality.

Apple’s Dilemma

One of the most delicate balancing acts a company must perform is to introduce a new product without cannibalizing or adversely affecting its existing…