MODEL CONCEPTUALIZATION IN GROUP MODEL BUILDING: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE EXPLORING THE TENSION BETWEEN REPRESENTING REALITY AND NEGOTIATING A SOCIAL ORDER

摘要

There is a growing practice of building system dynamics models directly with groups. This papertraces a genealogy of group model building (GMB) along two stream of thought. It focuses uponexploring the tension between modeling as a representation of reality, and modeling as a tool fornegotiating a social order. The literature is organized into five clusters that roughly representthe members of a genealogy tree. A description of GMB is developed to fit an ideal typeconceptual dichotomy. Findings are summarized in tables, mostly quoting directly from surveyedauthors. The paper offers supporting evidence to the thesis that there are two intertwined threadsin the group approach to system dynamics modeling. GMB interventions strive both to create ashared understanding of an interpersonal or inter-organizational problem, in the form of a“boundary-object” model, and to build a “micro-world” type model that is useful in terms oforganizational redesign.