REPLY Society Strategy Development (SD7106)

[SDMAIL Bob Cavana]

Posted by  "Bob Cavana" <Bob.Cavana at vuw.ac.nz>

Hello Professor Forrester,
 
Thank you for drawing attention to the issues raised in your talk at the 2007  
annual conference of the System Dynamics Society and published in the Summer-
Fall 2007 issue of the System Dynamics Review, regarding the present plight of 
system dynamics and your vision of how we could proceed over the next 50 years. 
I had planned to follow up on one of these issues "education in system dynamics' 
at the 2008 SD conference in Athens (at one of the new 'Development Papers' 
stream.). Unfortunately i had to withdraw from attending that conference because 
of teaching commitments at my university in July. 
 
I had planned to discuss "Developing academic programmes for 'Integrative' System 
Dynamics". It may be appropriate to provide a few extracts from my 'development 
paper' to add to the discussion (which could also be followed up on at the Athens 
conference (or perhaps at the Albequerque conference in 2009)):
 
"The purpose of my paper is also to contribute to the discussion regarding the 
(tertiary) education requirements for academic programmes in system dynamics.
Currently not many fully integrated academic programmes (or academic departments) 
in system dynamics (and systems studies) exist around the world. To some extent 
this is because most universities are organised around disciplinary silos, and 
'systems' people are submerged within them.
..
In the special issue of System Dynamics Review (SDR) commemorating the 50th  
anniversary of system dynamics, Professor John Sterman (2007, p91) also draws 
attention to the complexity and scope of the field of system dynamics now: 
"Success creates other challenges. When I began studying system dynamics it 
was still possible to read the entire literature in the field and to know nearly 
everyone. That has long since ceased to be true. Today one can master only a small 
fraction of the literature and know only a few of those working in the field. 
Although undeniably a sign of progress, growth also creates pressures for 
specialization and fragmentation that, while perhaps inevitable for any successful 
science, are particularly ironic in a field that stresses the importance of a 
holistic perspective, integrative cross-disciplinary theory and broad model 
boundaries." 

This growth in the field makes it even more essential to get some sort of 
acceptance of the appropriate body of knowledge that constitutes the field 
of system dynamics, and to develop academic programmes at universities around 
the world that cover this 'core knowledge'.

In the same special issue of SDR, the originator of the field of system dynamics, 
Professor Jay Forrester (2007, p359-360) expresses his concern about the current 
academic programmes in system dynamics: "Many academic programs have been started 
around system dynamics. Most seem to be focused on applications in management, 
with many other fields getting far less attention. Much less has been done in 
internal medicine, economics, government policies, and international politics. 
Most of the academic programs have stagnated at the level of introductory courses 
taught to students who have no expectation of developing expertise in the powerful 
professional field of nonlinear feedback systems. We are turning out more and more 
people who are led to believe that they have been taught system dynamics but who 
have only a superficial and unworkable preview of the potential of the field."

In the same article Forrester expresses further concern about the state of systems 
programmes at all levels of the education system. He also asks the questions: "When 
might we expect to have universities of social system design? What public background 
must be established to make a system dynamics profession possible? Who might be the 
people to lead creation of a powerful systems education?" (Forrester, 2007, p367)."
 

Forrester, JW (2007). System dynamics - the next fifty years. System Dynamics Review, 
23(2/3): 359-370.

Sterman JD. (2007). Exploring the next great frontier: system dynamics at fifty. 
System Dynamics Review, 23(2/3): 89-93.
 
I would like to suggest that the SDS Policy Council put together a small team of SD 
academics and practitioners to develop a paper on 'academic programmes in System 
Dynamics' that might be be helpful for the development of the field. Naturally there 
are a number of great SD programmes around the world, but there is generally a lot of 
difficulty getting 'System Dynamics' accepted as a legitimate discipline (and not 
just a set of 'tools') outside of these well known institutions.
 
Any comments please.
 
all the best,
Bob
 
A/Prof Bob Cavana
Reader in Systems Management
Victoria Management School
Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand
Posted by  "Bob Cavana" <Bob.Cavana at vuw.ac.nz>
posting date  Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:13:12 +1200