Читать книгу Managing in a Complex World - Johannes Rüegg-Stürm - Страница 17

Models are created if interrelations are either not obvious or very complex, and if no robust understanding of a subject can be taken for granted, but instead calls for explicit collaborative reflection and orientation. Models serve to better understand complex interconnections and to simulate future possibilities. They support anticipating or reconstructing possible developments through purposeful abstraction and simplification, and thus help strengthen our imagination. [28]

For instance, terrain models help gauge a new highway’s acoustic and traffic impacts prior to construction. Architectural models serve to assess a building’s aesthetic and functional qualities in advance. The same applies to aircraft models. Formal econometric models help assess the impact of economic policy measures before implementation. Chemical and physical models are used to estimate the functionality and dynamics of novel substances before production and usage.

Thus, models help collaboratively develop a better understanding of complex interrelations. At the same time, they involve simplification and abstraction so as to clarify important relationships and dependencies. The SGMM also needs to be understood in this sense. It represents a frame of reference that includes helpful descriptive categories, a “Leerstellengerüst für Sinnvolles” (Ulrich & Krieg, 1972). The SGMM aims to open up the interplay of management practice and organizational value creation for a dynamic environment to close scrutiny, be it in management practice (by managers) or in teaching (by teachers and students).