Abstract for: Using Systems Thinking Games for Group Model Building

Participants of Group Model Building (GMB) sessions may experience certain emotional states that should be avoided or mitigated. These include as first-time GMB participants being emotionally unprepared for something “completely different” in terms of methodology and thus be not very open to it; with heads/hearts stuck in what happened before the GMB session; getting tired/fed-up with a long unavoidable introduction, being tired after lunch etc. Systems Thinking Games can be applied as scripts in GMB sessions. Some examples of such applications are introduced and if time permits one of them is performed live. Hypotheses of the potential benefits of these games are provided. Practical experience with such games in GMB sessions is promising, so that GMB practitioners could profit from knowing and using these games. That said, rigorous scientific evaluation is still pending for the most part. Should Systems Thinking games be incorporated into scriptapedia? Exchange among practitioners needed on: Other sources of systems thinking games besides the two aforementioned books? Which systems thinking games used for which aims in GMB? Applications of systems thinking games in other types of SD application (e.g. Management Flight Simulators, e.g. World Climate Game)? How to best facilitate such an exchange? For literature search only