Includes bibliographical references (pages 925-946) and index

Perspective and Process -- Learning in and about Complex Systems -- Learning Is a Feedback Process -- Barriers to Learning -- Requirements for Successful Learning in Complex Systems -- System Dynamics in Action -- Applications of System Dynamics -- Automobile Leasing Strategy: Gone Today, Here Tomorrow -- On Time and Under Budget: The Dynamics of Project Management -- Playing the Maintenance Game -- Summary: Principles for Successful Use of System Dynamics -- The Modeling Process -- The Purpose of Modeling: Managers as Organization Designers -- The Client and the Modeler -- Steps of the Modeling Process -- Modeling Is Iterative -- Overview of the Modeling Process -- Structure and Behavior of Dynamic Systems -- Fundamental Modes of Dynamic Behavior -- Interactions of the Fundamental Modes -- Other Modes of Behavior -- Tools for Systems Thinking -- Causal Loop Diagrams -- Causal Diagram Notation -- Guidelines for Causal Loop Diagrams -- Process Point: Developing Causal Diagrams from Interview Data -- Conceptualization Case Study: Managing Your Workload -- Adam Smith's Invisible Hand and the Feedback Structure of Markets -- Explaining Policy Resistance: Traffic Congestion -- Stocks and Flows -- Stocks, Flows, and Accumulation -- Identifying Stocks and Flows -- Mapping Stocks and Flows -- Dynamics of Stocks and Flows -- Relationship between Stocks and Flows -- System Dynamics in Action: Global Warming -- System Dynamics in Action: The War on Drugs -- Closing the Loop: Dynamics of Simple Structures -- First-Order Systems

CD-ROM contains: Simulation software and Models including ithink,Powersim, and Vensim

System requirements: PC or Macintosh