BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

INDUSTRIAL DYNAMICS 2)5)

A computer-based technique of modelization of complex business and industrial firms.

Industrial Dynamics was proposed by J. FORRESTER, of the M.I.T (1961), and later on extended to socio-economic and socio-ecological systems in general (See "Club of Rome", "Systems Dynamics").

The I.D. models are expressed in DYNAMO, a computer simulation language, also developed at M.I.T.

I.D. modelization is generally based on interconnected feedbacks between a number of variables considered to be basic for the adaptation and evolution of the system under study. It produces important insights into the causes and effects of disturbances in processes, their propagation, their more or less cyclical character and their final impact on the stability of the system.

However, the selection of the variables to be considered, the definitions about their relationships and the reliability of the collected data may all be controversial (Ch. FRANÇOIS, 1977).

Also J.van GIGCH observed (quoting I. ANSOFF & D.P. SLEVIN, 1968, p.395): "Industrial Dynamics has been criticized because it is not "a theory" in the sense of providing 1) "predictions about relations of variables which have not been previously observed" and 2) "a verification of validity of the theory through comparison of relations established in theory with observable relations in the real world" (1978, p.330).

FORRESTER himself rightly observes: "Like all simulations, the "behavior" of the system is dependent on the structure of the model's equations. As such "Industrial Dynamics" deals with closed systems. This means that the behavior modes of interest are generated within the boundaries of the desired system" (1961, p.406).

In synthesis, any result obtained is implicit within the model as it has been constructed, which however does not diminish the interest of revealing probably unsuspected behavior modes. I.D. models have a kind of organizational closure.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]


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