Proceedings of the Twenty-Second International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Mon, 06 Oct 2004, pp.83-84.
The system dynamics group at Albany has been developing approaches to decision conferencing using a combination of group facilitation techniques linked to projected computer models in the room for more than 20 years. Over the years, the group has developed a series of pieces of small group processes to build system dynamics models with groups, i.e. scripts. The Group Model Building (GMB) process reported here has several characteristics that make it different from most other experiences in the group. While the common setting involves managers interested in tackling a specific problem, this work involves a research team interested in building theory about the complexity of intergovernmental information integration. Additionally, the reported GMB process took place in small sessions of two to three hours, while the common practice at Albany involves intensive one or two-day meetings. In this way, the paper will include general thoughts about the implications of these differences for the GMB process.