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Group Model Building

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Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science

Definition of the Subject

Computer (simulation ) models have been used to support policy and decision making in the decades afterWorld War II. Over the years modelers learned that the application of these models to policy problems was not asstraightforward as had been thought initially. As of the beginning of the 1970s studies started to appear thatquestioned the use of large-scale computer models to support policy and decision making (cf. [24,31]). Lee's article bearsthe significant title: ”Requiem for large scale models“, a statement that leaves little room forambiguity. Other authors who have studied the impact records of computer models also seem rather sceptical(e. g. [9,22,25,73]). It is interesting to note that Greenberger et al., after interviewingboth modelers and policy makers (for whom the models were constructed) found that modelers generally pointed tothe fact that they learned a lot from modeling a particular policy issue. Policy makers on the otherhand indicated that...

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Abbreviations

Facilitator:

Person who guides the group process in group model building.

Gatekeeper:

Person who forms the linking pin between modeling team and management team.

Knowledge elicitation:

Process of capturing the knowledge contained in the mental models of team members of the management team.

Modeler:

Person who constructs the quantified model during group model building.

Recorder:

Person who takes notes during group model building sessions and constructs workbooks.

Reference mode:

Graph(s) showing the behavior of the problem over time.

Workbook:

Booklet which contains summary of previous group model building sessions and prepares for subsequent sessions.

Client:

Person (or agency) who buys a model.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Etiënne A. J. A. Rouwette & Jac A. M. Vennix

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  1. Etiënne A. J. A. Rouwette
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  2. Jac A. M. Vennix
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. RAMTECH LIMITED, 122 Escalle Lane, Larkspur, CA, 94939, USA

    Robert A. Meyers Ph. D. (Editor-in-Chief) (Editor-in-Chief)

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Rouwette, E.A.J.A., Vennix, J.A.M. (2009). Group Model Building. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30440-3_264

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