Developed by Jac A. M. Vennix (Group Model Building, 1996) and by George P. Richardson and David F. Andersen (Teamwork in Group Model Building, 1995).
Builds a system dynamics model in facilitated workshops with the people who must act on it, producing a shared model and shared understanding together.
When to reach for it
Stakeholders disagree about how a complex problem works, and an expert's model would be dismissed by the people who have to carry out its advice.
How it runs
- Scope the question and pick the stakeholders before the first session.
- Draw out the key variables from the group.
- Map the reinforcing and balancing loops together.
- Agree on the behavior over time the model must explain.
- Simulate as a group and test policy options.
- Write up the model for those who implement it.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Group Model Building: Facilitating Team Learning Using System Dynamics, Wiley, 1996
- Teamwork in Group Model Building, System Dynamics Review, 1995