Myrna (and others)
Thanks for sharing your ideas on teaching systems thinking. For a
leadership class I teach, I emphasize not just the theories, but also
systems thinking. As one of the activities I have the student play
Sim-City (a simulated city game by Maxis--they also have Sim-world,
sim-farm, sim- life, and are coming out with sim-island). After a few
hours of "homework" I have them break into small groups and attempt to
draw a "mind-map" or algorithm of the relations among the game components.
For example, as industry increases so does crime, wear and tear on roads,
population density, and citizen concerns about these issues. Each group
presents their model and discusses the challenges faced by a mayor trying
to plan for such a complex situation. The next step is for the groups to
take a current work situation and attempt to model the components and
relationships for that setting. Similarly, we discuss their models and the
implications of this kind of thinking for leaders.
regards,
Dave
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--
David X. Swenson Ph.D. (dswenson@css1.css.edu)
Associate Professor of Management
College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
(218)723-6476