Action research is a management intervention or set of activities in which three key aspects are emphasised. Firstly, a group of people work together toward achievement of an agreed goal or set of goals. Secondly, they are...
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A
Adaptive toolbox is the term used to describe the collection of specialised cognitive mechanisms that evolution has built into the human mind for specific domains of inference and reasoning, including decision-making heuristics...
The term autonomic designates a kind of feedback control that is built-in and rigid in a sense that it does the same thing every time (Kline, 1995: 315). Also see cybernetic, feedback.
B
C
This is both an aid to minimising ambiguity and to guide the process of manage and control which is meant to flow through pairs of linked concepts. A call for action at the tail (source) of a causal link is intended to...
Customer – the beneficiary or victim of the system’s activity. Actor – a person who carries out one or more of the activities in the human activity system. Transformation Process – the core transformation process of a...
A causal link in a causal loop diagram, cognitive map, concept map, or influence diagram is a link shown as an arrow depicts causality.
A causal loop diagram is a convenient way of representing the principal feedback loops and related causal relationships relevant to a particular problem situation, without distinguishing between the nature of the interconnected...
In a causal loop diagram, the influence of one variable on another is causality (Richardson, 1986; Sterman, 2000: 137-190).
Causality or causal relationships are represented by arrows in cognitive or concept maps, where each arrow means ‘leads to…’, such as is expressed in the statement ‘smoking leads to heart disease. This does not mean all smokers...
Chaos is recurrent motion in simple systems or low-dimensional behaviour that has some random aspect as well as a certain order (Thompson and Stewart, 2002: 192).
Chaotic behaviour is observed in systems or systemic problems being simulated where small changes in initial conditions can produce markedly different behaviour over time.
A choke point is a leverage point that can work against those remedial strategies we might choose to implement. By identifying choke points we buy ourselves time to take preventative action before an emergency arises, or...
Cognition is the faculty of knowing, perceiving and conceiving (conceptualising). Cognition is taken to mean a capacity that emerges along with consciousness as the awareness of managerial choice. This consciousness occurs at...
Cognitive content is a term used to describe the extent to which a cause map, that is, cognitive map, concept map, causal loop diagram or influence diagram represents phenomenological beliefs (that ‘A, B, etc. exist’) and causal...
Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) identifies a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions, that is their beliefs and opinions. When there is an inconsistency, or dissonance, between attitudes...
A cognitive map is a personal mind map or a mapping of the thoughts an individual has about a particular situation or problem of interest. The form of cognitive mapping used in this book follows that of Eden et al., (1988)...
Also see complexity.
Complexity describes that which comprises myriad parts, or which is complicated in nature. Complexity can be considered a comprising two forms, detail and dynamic. Detail complexity describes too many factors to be considered at...
C is defined in terms of: V = The number of independent Variables needed to describe the state of the system. P = The number of independent Parameters needed to distinguish the system from other systems in the same...
Complexity theory begins by acknowledging the interrelated nature of things as well as emergence, where the whole is experienced as greater than the sum of the parts. It recognises a special form of emergence called spontaneous...
In general usage, a concept is a general notion. In concept mapping, a concept is also an idea or general notion. Concepts range from hard, physical ideas, or notions, to fuzzy ideas which involve or describe entities without...
A concept map is a mind map, which contains the perspectives and inputs of several individuals. Strictly speaking, a concept map is not a cognitive map because cognition belongs to individuals, not to groups of individuals, or...
Conflict relationships are a special case of the connotative relationship, but where the concepts at the ends of the link cannot co-exist without conflict or a state of stress being created. In this book, the convention used to...
Connotative links are links where causality may act in either direction at different times or under varying circumstances. This type of link suggests causality is ill- defined, open to interpretation, or requiring further...
Consequence (C) is the outcome of an event or situation expressed qualitatively or quantitatively, being a loss, injury, disadvantage or gain (AS/NZS: 4360). Risk Consequences are the impacts on desired outcomes from the risk...
Control is the process by means by which a whole entity retains its identity and/or performance under changing circumstances. In the formal system model the decision- making process ensures that control action is taken in the...
Correlation is a statistical device used to indicate the extent to which one variable can be shown to accord with another. Correlation should not be confused with causality. Also see causality and variable.
A culture of denial is seen to exist in an organisation when a series of mechanisms operate with the effect that when problems arise, or risks develop, they are ignored, dismissed, or the available evidence, suggesting there is...
Cybernetic describes the nature of dynamic behaviour produced when autonomic feedback control operates in systems. (Kline, 1995: 315; Wiener, 1948). Also see autonomic, feedback.
D
Without external excitation, oscillations are progressively suppressed or damped by resistances to the motion. All real-world systems contain inherent damping. In physical systems damping is produced by friction or internal...
A decision is made, or a decision event occurs, when the decision maker (generally a single individual) surveys a known and fixed set of alternatives, weighs the likely consequences of choosing each, and makes a choice. [In an...
The decision event model of decision making emphasises concurrent evaluation of multiple options; relies on analytical methods for integrating values and probabilities associated with each option; and seeks an optimal solution...
There seems to be a universal tendency to design one’s actions consistently according to four basic values: (a) to remain in unilateral control; (b) to maximise “winning” and minimise “losing”; (c) to suppress negative feelings...
Defensive routines are routines individuals enact to remain in control when embarrassment and threat occur (Argyris, 1994). Also see organisational defensive routines and defensive reasoning.
One of the most powerful ways people deal with potential embarrassment is to create organisational defensive routines. Argyris (1994: 102-103) defines these as any action or policy that prevents human beings from experiencing...
A situation in which an influence from a variable A to another variable B does not take effect immediately. In risky situations, lack of observed consequences can mean that causes have not yet manifested themselves as...
For example, a model building workshop might produce the following deliverable products: Concept maps of key stakeholders or of the group. Causal maps or influence diagrams of systemic feedback structure. An operating system...
These are the areas within which managers or decision makers can act or exercise control. Domains of action do not always exactly correspond to areas of responsibility an organisation associates with individual managers. We need...
Double loop learning occurs when mismatches or errors, expressed as a difference δ between actual and desired states, are corrected by first examining the governing variables. Double loop learning has occurred when we have...
System dynamics models are based on integration over time. dt is the small, finite time interval used in such numerical integration.
Dynamic hypotheses are sets of statements and representations of the causes and how these produce changes over time. Dynamic hypotheses* are evaluated through iterative processes that involve building and testing systems...
E
Ecological validity describes the situation where recognition-primed decision making, based on relevant mental shortcuts or heuristics, is highly effective in a specific environment.
Emergent properties are exhibited by a complete (hooked-up) system that cannot be exhibited by the parts of the system in isolation (Kline 1995: 316). They depend on interactions between components, including the environment in...
In system dynamics modelling the internal structure of a problem, notably the internal feedback mechanisms, create behaviour over time quite independently of, or without the need for, external forces. Dynamic behaviour created...
A principle that not only holds for all known examples in a class of systems but also occurs with the same details in every case. (Kline, 1995: 316).
A theory concerning means by which we may have and express knowledge of the world (Checkland, 1993: 314).
Espoused theories are those that an individual claims to follow (Argyris 1994: 216-217). Also see Theories-in-use.
In system dynamics modelling, external forces are identified and are frequently treated quite separately until the forces and mechanisms internal to the problem have been analysed. Dynamic behaviour of complex systems can be...
F
In a group modelling workshop, functioning as group facilitator and knowledge elicitor, this person pays constant attention to group process, the roles of individuals in the group, and the business of drawing out knowledge and...
Feedback occurs when part or all of the output of a system re-enters as the input. Feedback is also used to describe the return of information to influence the next stage in the system. For detailed treatment of feedback and its...
See rate.
Franklin’s Rule, named after US President Benjamin Franklin, is a choice and decision-making technique which involves identifying all relevant factors then applying weightings to each on the basis of their considered importance...
See Cognitive Map and Concept Map.
It was introduced in 1965 by Dr Lotfi Zahdek, then Chair of UC Berkley’s Electrical Engineering Department, as a way of modelling the uncertainties of natural language. See Kosko (1993). In psychological terms, Pinker (1997:...
G
They often control access to parts of an organisation or people within it, and are found in all functions and at all levels. Getting them on board is a principle, not a technique (Weisbord, 1987: 88-91). See 2.2. Note that in...
This role is filled by a person within, or related to, the client group who carries internal responsibility for the project, usually initiates it, helps frame the problem, identifies appropriate participants, works with the...
A strong concurrence-seeking tendency that interferes with effective group decision making (Forsyth, 1990: 490).
H
A heuristic is a higher-order psychological adaptation, a useful mental shortcut, an approximation, or a rule-of-thumb, specialised for certain classes of problem, for guiding search and enabling adaptive decision making. Simple...
In hierarchy, emergent properties denote the levels (Checkland, 1993: 314).
A human activity system is a notional purposive system which expresses some purposeful human activity, activity which could in principle be found in the real world. Such systems are notional in the sense that they are not...
A hard variable is one which is used to describe attributes or relationships in a problem to which physical laws apply or where governing business rules are readily formulated using algebraic operators linking variables which...
I
An influence diagram is a list of factors in a problem, together with arrows and signs showing the relationship between them (Coyle, 1996: 31). An influence diagram is taken to be a form of causality-directed graph that has much...
Intercoder reliability is a measure of the extent to which the cognitive content of a written record, or the cognition of an individual, can be captured by cognitive or concept mapping. The mapping process is less than perfect...
K
L
Learning occurs when an actor in a problem situation invents, then produces a solution. Learning has not occurred until a match, or mismatch, between actual and desired states is produced (Argyris, 1994: 8-9).
See stock.
Leverage is built on the notion that small, well-focused actions can sometimes produce significant, enduring improvements, if they are applied in the right place. Tackling a difficult problem is often a matter of seeing where...
A leverage point is where a small difference can make a large difference. Leverage points provide kernel ideas and procedures for formulating solutions. Identifying leverage points helps us: create new courses of action; develop...
Likelihood (L) is the chance, expressed as a probability, of an event occurring. Also see risk and consequence.
M
Manage and control are activities repeatedly and continuously enacted in our cognitive processing. The link between one concept and another is established such that the first has manage and control inputs to the second. Also see...
In cognition, the term mental model refers to both the semi-permanent tacit ‘maps’ of the world which people hold in their long-term memory, and the short-term perceptions which people build up as part of their everyday...
This is seeing inside our own thought processes: the process of metacognition means thinking about thinking. Four elements of metacognition are most important: being aware of memory and cognitive capacity limitations, having the...
In an inventory management problem, Kleinmuntz (1993: 226) observed that as both delays and complexity increased, performance of those making decisions intended to manage the inventory deteriorated. There are many examples of...
The modeller / reflector serves both the facilitator and the group. He thinks and sketches independently, reflects information back to the group, restructures formulations, exposes unstated assumptions that need to be explicit...
Our methods and tools for modelling, optimisation, and control depend heavily on exploiting the structure of the problem. Understanding the relationship and constraints underlying the problem structure enables predicting system...
N
Naturalistic decision making was formulated by Klein, et al., (1993) to explain how decision makers formulate decisions. Klein’s naturalistic decision making model is based on extensive field work and differs from a decision...
While positive loops generate runaway growth, negative loops tend to regulate growth, to hold a system within some acceptable range, or to return it to a stable state in which the system stocks have more or less constant values...
O
Operative knowledge encompasses what an individual manager understands about the way things work in his or her domain of action. This includes attributing reasons to observed occurrences: operative knowledge is built up through...
State variables are a collection of variables that we choose to monitor to inform us about the status of a system (Sage and Rouse, 1999: 939). In system dynamics modelling stocks (levels or accumulators) are *state...
See learning, single loop learning, and double loop learning. In an organisational context, learning may not be said to occur if someone (acting for the organisation) discovers or invents a solution to a problem. Learning occurs...
P
The value to which parameters are set restrict what results are possible to achieve within an alternative (Sage and Rouse, 1999: 938). Parameter, as used in this book, means a determining characteristic, feature, or prominent...
Kurt Lewin had an important core principle: we are likely to modify our own behaviour when we participate in problem analysis and solution and likely to carry out decisions we have helped make (Weisbord, 1987: 89). Opportunities...
In a causal loop diagram, or influence diagram, signs adjacent to an arrowhead indicates polarity. A plus (+) sign implies that a change in the variable at the tail of the arrow will cause a change in the variable at the head of...
A policy is established as guiding rule(s) applied to a point in a system. This rule, or set of rules, is applied continually as time passes and even as circumstances change. It is critical to understand that policy has two...
A positive feedback loop is a chain of cause-and-effect relationships that closes on itself to create a self-reinforcing change. It operates so that a change to any element anywhere in the loop will have consequences that...
Pressure points carry an implication of an investment, or choice, which is made only once, after which the system will run under the influence of that choice. Naturally, one seeks to find the pressure points which will make...
In a group modelling workshop, this person focuses not at all on content but rather on the dynamics of individuals and sub-groups within the group. The process coach tends to serve the facilitator; his efforts being largely...
Q
A queue is a waiting line of customers entering, or waiting for service by, a service facility.
A queuing system is specified by six main characteristics: a. An arrival, or inter-arrival, distribution. b. A service, or departure, distribution. c. A number of service channels. d. A defined service protocol, such as ‘first...
R
A rate or flow in a system dynamics model causes the value of a stock or level to change.
The idea of a reasonable person is drawn from British Law. It suggests a test that can be applied on the basis of an intelligent non-expert person, that is, a reasonable person, being put in a position able to consider the...
In a group modelling workshop, writing down or sketching the important parts of the group proceedings is the task of the recorder. Together with the notes of the modeller/reflector and the transparencies or the notes of the...
The graphs representing changes over time of each of the important variables are the reference behaviour modes for the subsequent development of system dynamics models. They are the patterns over time that will be referred to...
It contains a summary of specific responsibilities, normally as rows, and individuals or organisational elements as columns. Symbols are placed in the body of the matrix to represent the involvement of individuals as a means of...
Risk is the chance of something happening that will have an impact upon objectives. It is measured in terms of likelihood and consequences (AS/NZS 4360). Also see likelihood, consequences and risk factor.
Risk factor is a convenient artifice created by the combining of likelihood (L) and consequence (C), both estimated in the range 0–1, according to the arithmetic relationship, RF = L + C – L * C. This produces a measure in the...
A root definition is a concise, tightly construction of a human activity system used in Soft Systems Methodology, it states what the system is; what is does is then elaborated in a conceptual model which is built on the basis of...
S
Satisficing is a method for making a choice from a set of alternatives encountered sequentially when one does not know much about the possibilities ahead of time. In such instances, there may be no optimal solution for when to...
(plural schemata). A schema is a human mental construct or mental model which the human brain understands the world. It may take the form of a string of bits in memory and may be ideas that underlie a field. It may be a large...
In a system described by two or more feedback loops, where at least one has negative polarity and at least one has positive polarity, over a period of time changes in its growth or decay tendencies can occur. This is described...
Single loop learning is a term borrowed from electrical engineering or cybernetics where, for example, a thermostat is defined as a single-loop learner. The thermostat is programmed to detect states of ‘too cold’ or ‘too hot’...
In a group modelling project, the project management team must identify the stakeholders, determine there requirements, and then manage and influence those requirements to ensure a successful modelling project outcome. Managing...
In stakeholder management, stakeholders are managed only as a means to pursuing strategic ends, such as achieving successful implementation of a particular risk mitigation strategy. Stakeholders are not treated as having rights...
The specific values chosen depend on why we want the information. In system dynamics modelling, state variables are the stocks (levels or accumulators) in our models. Unlike rate variables whose values return to zero when...
A stock (level or accumulator) is a state variable.
In this book, strategy is taken in a corporate sense to mean managing the disposition of resources, application of effort and creating conditions for the preferred way of doing business.
A sysrep or a precise representation of a system is a truth assertion we hold individually as part of our own personal knowledge. We recall these truth assertions each time we want to discuss, analyse, think or write about, for...
A model of a whole entity; when applied to human activity, the model is characterised fundamentally in terms of hierarchical structure, emergent properties, and control. An observer may choose to relate this model to real-world...
System dynamics is a tool intended to enable our thinking about how feedback, delay, shifting feedback loop dominance, and non-linearity contribute to systemic behaviour. System dynamics is a methodology embedded in the...
Systemic structure describes the web of interrelationships between factors, expressed as concepts, or variables that have shaped or continue to shape the dynamic behaviour of a problem situation. The structure fundamentally...
Systemicity is a term used by Checkland (1999) to describe the complex, dynamic behaviour exhibited by systems, or systems-of-systems. Checkland does not suggest we attempt to contemplate whole systems, but that we acknowledge...
Systems of knowledge-power exist when people in positions of power determine what is considered to be valid knowledge and consequently valid action. Systems of knowledge-power, in which executive decision makers are central...
Meaning arises from people’s cognitive processes and the way that, for each person, their cognisance defines their relationship with other people and the world. Cognitive processes might be conceived of in terms of values...
Systems thinking is an epistemology which, when applied to human activity is based upon four basic ideas: emergence, hierarchy, communication and control as characteristics of systems. When applied to natural or designed systems...
These relate to attributes of human behaviour or effects that variations in such behaviour produce. Motivation would be considered to be a soft variable. When building models we would be very interested in the effects that...
T
V
W
The German word weltanschauung, mainly used by Checkland, stresses the importance of accommodating varying perspectives about a problem. Depending on the context, weltanschauung literally means a world, or worldly, view; or what...
Wicked’ is used in this book to describe complex, dynamic and systemic problem situations. Various authors have described wicked problems as insidious or growing like a cancer. When we become aware of them, we may find they are...