System Dynamics is one of the famous and the most popular courses in MIT Sloan.
John Sterman is a farther of System Dynamics, andJay Wright Forrester is a grand father of System Dynamics.
Beer game
We started our game from Beer game. It was simple, but difficult game to hack because it relies on communication and structure of game flow.
Flight Simulators for Management Education
Two takeaways from this game.
- There is a significant delay/time gap between observation/decision-making and consequences of decisions
- Fear or conservative mindset accelerate the impact of panic response from RETAILER to FACTORY. FACTORY actually gets significant impact in the end.
Models
The most fundamental model of decision diagram in system dynamics is as follows.
Based on goals, we determine our directions, and then it affects state of systems(=situation).
Actually, we have more complex system as follows.
Two points here as well.
- There are other players' decisions affecting state of the system.
- There are feedback system in your decision and others' decisions.
Also, don't forget, there is a time gap.
Actual business case: Workload control
This model describes the basic of sytem dynamics.
If there is a massive ramaining work, it will increase schedule pressure.
If we reschedule, then project deadline wil be extended, we have longer time remaining, and then finally we have less schedule pressure.
This feedback loop is "balancing
If we ask employees overworking in order to reduce remaining work, we have a counter effect. Less productivity. This feedback loop worsen(increase remaining work) the situation, so it would be reinforcing loop.
