Tag: volume 5

Showing 10 of 38 results (by popularity)

Check-in Check-out

Your daughter was sick last night and you didn’t get much sleep. Tony’s car was rear-ended on the way to the office. Vivian has…

Stamped Out: Are Postage Costs Getting out of Control?

When Marvin T. Runyon took over the US Postal Service in 1992… He announced plans to slash layers of management and an early retirement…

The Process of Dialogue: Creating Effective Communication

Consider any complex, potentially volatile issue — Arab-Israeli relations; the problems between the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians; the U.S. deficit, healthcare costs, or labor/management…

Ishmael: Cultural Dialogue

“TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” Thus begins Ishmael, a compelling exploration of our shared assumptions…

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,…