Management and Leadership

Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems

Dates: Sep 18-19, 2012| Nov 29-30, 2012

Certificate Track: Management and Leadership

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition: $2,900 (excluding accommodations)

Program Days (for certificate credit): 2

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This program will introduce participants to “systems thinking” as a response to the rapid changes in technology, population, and economic activity that are transforming the world, and as a way to deal with the ever increasing complexity of today's business. Systems thinking was devised to improve people's ability to manage organizations comprehensively in a volatile global environment. It offers managers a framework for understanding complex situations and the dynamics those situations produce. Senior managers can use the system dynamics method to design policies that lead their organizations to high performance. The program is intended to give participants the tools and confidence to manage organizations with full understanding and solid strategy.

Join the MySloanExecEd Community Group for this program to network with past, present, and future participants.

The program will offer a new way of thinking about and resolving complex, persistent problems that emerge from change. Applying organization theory along with intuitive principles of feedback control, participants will learn to:

  • Assess the likely impact of different policies and decisions that relate to their organization's growth, stability, and performance
  • Recognize business system archetypes that can trigger persistent, long-term problems
  • Use state-of-the-art management tools to identify relationships
  • Intervene effectively to make fundamental changes

This program is designed for executives with decision-making responsibility who are looking for fresh ideas to resolve organizational problems. Past participants have included:

  • CEOs
  • Presidents
  • COOs
  • CTOs
  • VPs and EVPs
  • Corporate planners and strategists
  • Senior Project Managers
  • Product Development Managers

Please note that faculty are subject to change and not all faculty teach in each session of the program.

  • Andrew Jones

    Co-Director, Climate Interactive
    Adjunct Faculty, MIT Sloan School of Management

    Drew is Co-Director of Climate Interactive. He is a system dynamics modeler, facilitator, trainer, and designer of simulation-based learning environments.

    Trained in Environmental Engineering and System Dynamics modeling through a B.A. at Dartmouth College and a M.S. in Technology and Policy at MIT, he worked in the 1990s at Rocky Mountain Institute and in the 2000s with Dana Meadows at Sustainability Institute...

    ... (more)
  • James Lyneis

    Senior Lecturer
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    James Lyneis is a Professor of Practice in the Social Science and Policy Studies Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he teaches system dynamics and economics. He is also a Senior Lecturer at MIT, where he teaches system dynamics and System and Project Management. His research interests include applications of system dynamics to project management, business strategy, and economics... ... (more)
  • J. Bradley Morrison

    Senior Lecturer
    MIT Engineering Systems Division

    Brad Morrison studies dynamically complex problems in organizations, organizational change, and management using the tools of system dynamics. His research centers on why organizations find it difficult to do what they want to do. Morrison focuses on implementation problems, which he has studied in several contexts, such as process improvement settings and firms adopting the practices of lean manufacturing... ... (more)
  • Mark Paich

    Senior Lecturer
    MIT Sloan School of Management

    Mark is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on the dynamic modeling methodology, both as an experienced analyst and a proven instructor. Mark has published extensively on dynamic modeling in Management Science, Interfaces, Sloan Management Review, and several book chapters. In addition, his work has been featured in John Sterman’s Business Dynamics, Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline Field Book, and Vince Barabba’s Surviving Transformation... ... (more)
DAY One SAMPLE
07:45 AM - 08:30 AMRegistration and Continental Breakfast
08:30 AM - 12:30 PMWelcome and Introduction, Introduction to System Dynamics, Lessons from the Beer Game
12:30 PM - 01:30 PMLuncheon
01:30 PM - 05:00 PMTools of the System Dynamics
05:00 PM - 06:00 PMReception
DAY Two SAMPLE
07:30 AM - 08:30 AMContinental Breakfast
08:30 AM - 12:00 PMPolicy Design in Complex Organizations
12:00 PM - 01:00 PMLuncheon
01:00 PM - 04:00 PMThe Implementation of Challenge

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