Systems Thinking and Modelling: Understanding Change and Complexity - Softcover

Maani, Mr Kambiz E.; Cavana, Mr Robert Y.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1877258008 ISBN 13: 9781877258008

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2001

Synopsis

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.
Suitable 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 organisational learning, especially in the educational, social, medical and scientific fields.
The book comes with a CD-ROM which includes the models presented in the
book as well as the run-time version of the ithink software which allows
users to created their own models.

About this title

From the Back Cover

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, political, scientific, and social systems.
Using systems thinking and modelling 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;


find long-term solutions and avoid ‘fire-fighting’ behaviour.

The book comes with a CD-ROM which includes the models presented in the book as well as the run-time version of the ithink software which allows users to create their own models.
The authors draw from their combined professional, consulting, and teaching experience of more than 40 years (and in four continents) in a variety of technical and managerial disciplines.

Kambiz E. Maani (PhD, Illinois) has an academic and consulting career that spans over 23 years in America, Asia and Australasia. He has held academic and research positions at a number of universities including MIT, Boston University, and Rand Corporation in California. He has published widely in scholarly journals and is on the editorial boards of several international journals. He is a founder of the New Zealand Organisational Learning Foundation. Kambiz is currently a senior lecturer in the Management Science and Information Systems Department at the University of Auckland, New Zealand where he was the HOD for a number of years.

Robert Y. Cavana (PhD, Bradford) is a senior lecturer in decision sciences with the School of Business and Public Management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Bob is currently on the editorial board of the System Dynamics Review and has published in a wide range of international and New Zealand journals. From 1988 to 1990 he was the president of the Operational Research Society of New Zealand. He has acted as a consultant to a number of public and private sector organisations where he has been involved in economic, strategic, systems and business research projects spanning most sectors of the economy. Bob is a founder and director of the New Zealand Organisational Learning Centre, which provides systems thinking and modelling training and consultancy services.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1877258008
• ISBN 13: 9781877258008
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 262