Transparent-Box Business Simulators: An Aid to Manage the Complexity of Organizations

Abstract

The various methods and tools most commonly used for management training at the present time are insufficient to deal with the complexity of organizations. It seems clear that the system dynamics (SD) approach would allow the treatment of complexity in a more realistic way. The possibility of relating the system’s structure to its behavior is one of the main features of SD because it helps to understand the reasons behind this behavior and should favor decision making and an understanding of the phenomena observed. This possibility is offered by transparent-box business simulators that, in this way, help to overcome the deficiencies of other education tools.