Abstract for:Using Feedback Systems Thinking and Simulation in Core Strategy Teaching

Simulators based on principles of system dynamics are increasingly used in management education. However there is a pedagogical challenge for instructors who wish to connect the insights from such simulators to established concepts and frameworks in core courses. Here we report the deployment of a well-known simulator, Fish Banks, in a core strategy course for students enrolled in EMBA-Global – a dual degree programme offered by London Business School and Columbia Business School. We review the design and content of the strategy course and explain how feedback systems thinking and simulation are used to engage students with important general management topics such as the frames and mindsets that shape top management behaviour, the cognitive biases that obstruct sense making and the challenge of working in groups with conflicting perceptions of a situation.