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Systems Thinking, Mapping, and Group Model Building

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Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation

Abstract

The use of systems modeling and simulation contributes an endogenous dynamic perspective to group negotiations and decision-making. In the field of system dynamics, group (participatory) model building has a rich history and growing literature. This chapter provides an introduction. It discusses the roles required to handle the intricacies of facilitation and group modeling and identifies the tension inherent in models as “microworlds” or “boundary objects” (see “Group Decision Support Systems: a case study”). It overviews the group model building process and focuses most extensively on an accumulating body of scripts for group modeling, including scripts for introducing model concepts, initiating systems mapping, eliciting system feedback structure, formulating formal models with client groups, and using them to help build a negotiated consensual view of their shared mental models (see “Group Decision Support Systems: a case study”). The keys to the success of group modeling building efforts appear to be engaging stakeholders, sharing mental models formally, assembling and managing complexity, using simulation to test scenarios and support or refute hypotheses, working toward alignment, and empowering people to have confidence in the strategies that emerge.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Important texts in the field include Ford (1999), Forrester (1961), Maani and Cavana (2000), Richardson and Pugh (1981), Senge (1990), Sterman (2000), and Wolstenholme (1990).

  2. 2.

    Another source of the originating ideas stems from the Group Decision Support Systems literature, including in particular Decision Conferencing (Milter and Rohrbaugh 1985; Quinn et al. 1985; Schuman and Rohrbaugh 1991; Rohrbaugh 2000). Other supporting literatures include strategic management (e.g., Eden and Ackermann 1998) and the European traditions that fall under the heading of soft operations research (see Lane 1994).

  3. 3.

    See, e.g., Vennix (1996), Vennix et al. (1997), and the special issue of the System Dynamics Review on Group Model Building that that article introduces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

    George P. Richardson & David F. Andersen

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  1. George P. Richardson
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  2. David F. Andersen
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Correspondence to George P. Richardson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wilfrid Laurier University Dept. Mathematics, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    D. Marc Kilgour

  2. University of Strathclyde Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow, UK

    Colin Eden

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Richardson, G.P., Andersen, D.F. (2019). Systems Thinking, Mapping, and Group Model Building. In: Kilgour, D., Eden, C. (eds) Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12051-1_19-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12051-1_19-1

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