Strategic understanding of a complex customer system A field experiment at UNOSAT

Abstract

Decision making today frequently fail because of an insufficient knowledge about the consequences decisions involves. Instead of experiencing identified effects from actions unexpected side effects occur. UNOSAT is an organization facing many challenges which forces the managers to accomplish several actions. One area where actions will be carried through is in their complex customer system. In order to learn more about this complex system the method System Dynamics has been used at UNOSAT. The purpose of this thesis is to study the effects of SD modeling and simulation on the strategic understanding of a complex customer system at UNOSAT. This research was carried out by identifying advantages and disadvantages of using the method in this environment. The study was completed within the boundaries of a field experiment at UNOSAT. Two interviews with decision makers in UNOSAT were made in this field experiment. The result of the study was an increased strategic understanding of interconnectivity among parameters, long term effects and change over time. Constraints of this increased strategic understanding derived from quantification of parameters and simplifications in the model.