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Product 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.
From the Publisher
Incorporates a modeling approach: Modeling and models help students learn to visualize a business organization through structures and policies that create dynamics and regulate performance. Students gain a better understanding of how an organization's performance is related to its internal structure and operating policies'as well as to the operating policies of its customers, competitors, and suppliers.
Offers role-playing experiential exercises: The book offers diverse modes of learning, including role-playing exercises. This 'active learning' approach engages students, vitalizes the subject matter, and helps develop students' abilities to 'think on their feet.'
Utilizes case studies depicting real companies throughout: Case studies of successful design and implementation strategies are used to illustrate systems dynamics principles. This approach offers both realism and proof of the effectiveness of system dynamics principles when applied, in a practical fashion, to real business problems and situations.
Emphasizes the use and construction of simulation models and flight simulation exercises: Simulation models and flight simulators are used to develop principles of policy design. This permits both the exploration and the understanding of such complex issues as fluctuating sales, production and earnings, market growth and stagnation, the diffusion of new technologies, the use and reliability of forecasts, and the rationality of business decision-making.
Offers role-playing experiential exercises: The book offers diverse modes of learning, including role-playing exercises. This 'active learning' approach engages students, vitalizes the subject matter, and helps develop students' abilities to 'think on their feet.'
Utilizes case studies depicting real companies throughout: Case studies of successful design and implementation strategies are used to illustrate systems dynamics principles. This approach offers both realism and proof of the effectiveness of system dynamics principles when applied, in a practical fashion, to real business problems and situations.
Emphasizes the use and construction of simulation models and flight simulation exercises: Simulation models and flight simulators are used to develop principles of policy design. This permits both the exploration and the understanding of such complex issues as fluctuating sales, production and earnings, market growth and stagnation, the diffusion of new technologies, the use and reliability of forecasts, and the rationality of business decision-making.
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First Sentence
The greatest constant of modern times is change. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The greatest constant of modern times is change. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I purchased this book while following a corporate course on Systems Dynamics. This is really one of the greatest textbooks I have ever had the chance to read. The wide possibilities of this modelisation technique are presented in a very progressive manner and with a lot of examples. The cases described in the book are worth the investment by themselves.
The first chapter should in itself be a must-read for any decent manager as it presents some fundamental concepts on the learning cycles and people's mental models (and why they block most change initiatives). These concepts are widely present in change management litterature but this is one of the most accurate and simple description of the process I have ever read.
Others sections of the book are also of tremendous value for anybody interested in process engineering, business change or strategy. The systems principles and some models described give an edge in understanding the key underlying causes to many business issues and how to deal with them in an adequate manner. (That is in most occasions not the most intuitive!)
In summary, this book is really a must and I hope it will become (as Kotler's Marketing Management in its own area) the 'Bible' of Systems Dynamics.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I would like to congratulate John for an outstanding achievement. I think he has captured everything that is interesting, relevant as well as the necessary theory to apply System Dynamics in a wide range of areas. I think the CD attachment is a great idea and the challenges are very challenging! The book is equally useful to students, consultants and academics and captures the essence of all the previous SD literature that I have read so far. I will take great pleasure in reading the book in detail and recommending it to others.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Sterman has produced a very comprehensive introduction to System Dynamics (SD) modelling for primarily business executives (or students in non-quantitative education programs). It is well written, will keep the reader engaged with both the style and examples and is relatively easy to digest. Little to no background in advanced maths is necessary to follow it or construct the examples mentioned and explained in the book (and provided on the accompanying CD).
The book follows most basic building blocks that should be included in an introductory SD course and I found it quite useful in that context. The only real gap in such a use is that the space and attention devoted to validation of SD models are somewhat lacking, at least when compared to the other parts of the book.
If, however you have a more quantitative background (maths, physics, engineering, etc.) many of the concepts will be familiar and then the book becomes more of a 'flick through' guide. The response from such users I have encountered was that it is often considered relatively basic.
On top of that even a complete knowledge of the modelling concepts and approaches contained within will hardly make you anything but a novice when it comes to real SD modelling. Attempting to try and model real business problems with only the knowledge acquired in the book is more likely to lead to disaster than real insight - for that to happen some comprehensive further training / coaching is required - potentially explaining the relatively slow spread of SD in the business world.
Finally none of that should detract from the really important work Sterman has done in the field of SD by writing this comprehensive work and everyone working in the field is well advised to keep a copy at hand.
The book follows most basic building blocks that should be included in an introductory SD course and I found it quite useful in that context. The only real gap in such a use is that the space and attention devoted to validation of SD models are somewhat lacking, at least when compared to the other parts of the book.
If, however you have a more quantitative background (maths, physics, engineering, etc.) many of the concepts will be familiar and then the book becomes more of a 'flick through' guide. The response from such users I have encountered was that it is often considered relatively basic.
On top of that even a complete knowledge of the modelling concepts and approaches contained within will hardly make you anything but a novice when it comes to real SD modelling. Attempting to try and model real business problems with only the knowledge acquired in the book is more likely to lead to disaster than real insight - for that to happen some comprehensive further training / coaching is required - potentially explaining the relatively slow spread of SD in the business world.
Finally none of that should detract from the really important work Sterman has done in the field of SD by writing this comprehensive work and everyone working in the field is well advised to keep a copy at hand.
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