Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World with CD-ROM PDF Download

Author: John Sterman
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN: 9780072389159
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 982

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Book Description
Today’s leading authority on the subject of this text is the author, MIT Standish Professor of Management and Director of the System Dynamics Group, John D. Sterman. Sterman’s objective is to explain, in a true textbook format, what system dynamics is, and how it can be successfully applied to solve business and organizational problems. System dynamics is both a currently utilized approach to organizational problem solving at the professional level, and a field of study in business, engineering, and social and physical sciences.

Author: Kambiz E. Maani
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877371035
Category : Management
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Systems Thinking, System Dynamics offers readers a comprehensive introduction to the growing field of systems thinking and dynamic modelling and its applications. The book provides a self-contained and unique blend of qualitative and quantitative tools, step-by-step methodology, numerous examples and mini-cases, as well as extensive real-life case studies. The content mix and presentation style make the otherwise technical tools of systems thinking and system dynamics accessible to a wide range of people. This book is intended as a text for students in diverse disciplines including business and management, as well as the social, environmental, health and applied sciences. It also has particular relevance for professionals from all backgrounds interested in understanding the dynamic behaviour of complex systems, change management, complex decision making, group problem solving and organisational learning. Systems thinking and system dynamics provide a scientific paradigm, a set of tools and computer technology which can help explain the forces and dynamics that underlie change and complexity in business, political, social, economic and environmental systems. Using systems thinking and system dynamics makes it possible to: examine and foresee the consequences of policy and strategic decisions implement fundamental solutions to chronic problems avoid mistakenly interpreting symptoms as causes test assumptions, hypotheses and scenarios boost staff morale and improve productivity improve the stability and performance of supply chains find long-term sustainable solutions and avoid ‘fire-fighting’ behaviour.

Author: Kambiz E. Maani
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN: 9781877258008
Category : Computer simulation
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Systems Thinking and Modelling offers readers a comprehensive introduction to the growing field of systems thinking and modelling (based on the system dynamics approach) and its applications. The book provides a self-contained and unique blend of qualitative and quantitative modelling, step-by-step methodology, numerous examples and mini-cases as well as extensive real-life case studies. This presentation style makes the otherwise technical tools of systems thinking and modelling accessible to a wide range of people.The book is intended as a text for students in business, management, management and information systems, social sciences, applied sciences and engineering. It also has particular relevance for professionals interested in group and organisational learning, especially in the educational, social, medical and scientific fields. Systems thinking as a managerial and organisational discipline was popularised in the 1990s. Since then, interest has grown worldwide in 'organisational learning' and related disciplines. Systems thinking and modelling provide a paradigm, a language and a technology for understanding the dynamics that underlie change and complexity in business, polit

Author: Robert Y. Cavana
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030671909
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
This book approaches economic problems from a systems thinking and feedback perspective. By introducing system dynamics methods (including qualitative and quantitative techniques) and computer simulation models, the respective contributions apply feedback analysis and dynamic simulation modeling to important local, national, and global economics issues and concerns. Topics covered include: an introduction to macro modeling using a system dynamics framework; a system dynamics translation of the Phillips machine; a re-examination of classical economic theories from a feedback perspective; analyses of important social, ecological, and resource issues; the development of a biophysical economics module for global modelling; contributions to monetary and financial economics; analyses of macroeconomic growth, income distribution and alternative theories of well-being; and a re-examination of scenario macro modeling. The contributions also examine the philosophical differences between the economics and system dynamics communities in an effort to bridge existing gaps and compare methods. Many models and other supporting information are provided as online supplementary files. Consequently, the book appeals to students and scholars in economics, as well as to practitioners and policy analysts interested in using systems thinking and system dynamics modeling to understand and improve economic systems around the world. "Clearly, there is much space for more collaboration between the advocates of post-Keynesian economics and system dynamics! More generally, I would like to recommend this book to all scholars and practitioners interested in exploring the interface and synergies between economics, system dynamics, and feedback thinking." Comments in the Foreword by Marc Lavoie, Emeritus Professor, University of Ottawa and University of Sorbonne Paris Nord

Author: Cliff Whitcomb
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 303936796X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
This Systems Thinking Special Issue contains 12 papers on the nature of systems thinking as it applies to systems engineering, systems science, system dynamics, and related fields. Systems thinking can be broadly considered the activity of thinking applied in a systems context, forming a basis for fundamental approaches to several systems disciplines, including systems engineering, systems science, and system dynamics. Although these are somewhat distinct fields, they are bound by common approaches in regard to systems. Whereas systems engineering seeks to apply a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to the development of systems, systems science seeks to understand the basics related to systems of all kinds, from natural to man-made, and system dynamics seeks to understand system structures in order to influence its dynamics. Man-made systems have become more ubiquitous and complex. The study of systems, both natural and engineered, presents new challenges and opportunities to understand emergent, dynamic behaviors that inform the process of sense-making based on systems thinking.

Author: Donella Meadows
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603581480
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
The classic book on systems thinking—with more than half a million copies sold worldwide! "This is a fabulous book... This book opened my mind and reshaped the way I think about investing."—Forbes "Thinking in Systems is required reading for anyone hoping to run a successful company, community, or country. Learning how to think in systems is now part of change-agent literacy. And this is the best book of its kind."—Hunter Lovins In the years following her role as the lead author of the international bestseller, Limits to Growth—the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet—Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute’s Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. Some of the biggest problems facing the world—war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation—are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. While readers will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds readers to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner. In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps readers avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions.

Author: Jac Vennix
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
This book is about increasing team performance. It focuses on building system dynamics models when tackling a mix of interrelated strategic problems to enhance team learning, foster consensus, and create commitment. The book is intended to be applied in the organizations of today. As the "command and control" organization evolves into one of decision-making teams, so these teams have become the critical building blocks upon which the performance of the organization depends. The team members face an increased complexity of decision making with the interrelation of several strategic problems. What this means is that people have different views of the situation and will define problems differently. However, research shows that this can in fact be very productive if and when people learn from each other in order to build a shared perspective. Learning in this way might prove to be the only sustainable competitive advantage for organizations in the future. As a result, team leaders want to create "learning teams" and are confronted with issues such as how to: create a situation where people doubt their ideas rather than stubbornly cling to dearly held views create a learning atmosphere rather than trying to "win" the discussion create a shared understanding of a problem in a team foster consensus and create commitment with a strategic decision facilitate Group Model Building Those who will benefit most from Group Model Building: Facilitating Team Learning Using System Dynamics are those who are familiar with systems thinking or organizational learning, or those who are working in groups and are coming up against the common difficulties.

Author: Barry Richmond
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781883823481
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 25

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Author: Bilash Kanti Bala
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811020450
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
This book covers the broad spectrum of system dynamics methodologies for the modelling and simulation of complex systems: systems thinking, causal diagrams, systems structure of stock and flow diagrams, parameter estimation and tests for confidence building in system dynamics models. It includes a comprehensive review of model validation and policy design and provides a practical presentation of system dynamics modelling. It also offers numerous worked-out examples and case studies in diverse fields using STELLA and VENSIM. The system dynamics methodologies presented here can be applied to nearly all areas of research and planning, and the simulations provided make the complicated issues more easily understandable. System Dynamics: Modelling and Simulation is an essential system dynamics and systems engineering textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses. It also offers an excellent reference guide for managers in industry and policy planners who wish to use modelling and simulation to manage complex systems more effectively, as well as researchers in the fields of modelling and simulation-based systems thinking.

Author: Donald W. Boyd
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080518397
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Systems Analysis and Modeling presents a fresh, new approach to systems analysis and modeling with a systems science flavor that stimulates systems thinking. After introducing systems modeling principles, the ensuing wide selection of examples aptly illustrate that anything which changes over time can be modeled as a system. Each example begins with a knowledge base that displays relevant information obtained from systems analysis. The diversity of examples clearly establishes a new protocol for synthesizing systems models. - Macro-to-micro, top-down approach - Multidisciplinary examples - Incorporation of human knowledge to synthesise a systems model - Clear and concise systems delimitation - Complex systems using simple mathematics - "Exact" reproduction of historical data plus model generated secondary data - Systems simulation via systems models