Abstract for: Standard Cases: Standard Structures: Standard Models

Increasing concern has been expressed about the quality of work done in system dynamics, and the thin stream of high-quality publications. However, since there is no incentive for leading practitioners to present or publish their professional work through those channels, it is entirely possible that a substantial volume of high-quality work is, in fact, being done, but remains unseen. Those practitioners, along with leading academics in the field, tend to focus their effort on specific application domains – natural resources, health-care, business and so on – and scrutiny of the limited published work in those domains suggest that valuable and reliable work is indeed being carried out on a significant scale. Those streams of work feature models with relatively standard structures that are replicated – with appropriate adjustments – from case to case. Consideration of the fundamental principles of the field suggests that there is considerable further scope for developing and codifying more such standard structures. This would both provide a platform for a greater volume of high-quality work for an increasing number of user organisations, and also offer an accessible and reliable source of guidance for young professionals trying to develop their system dynamics skills.