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CT: Thoughtful leaders increasingly recognize that we are not only failing to solve the persistent problems we face, but are in fact causing them. From road building programs that actually increase traffic congestion to pathogens that evolve resistance to antibiotics to failed process improvement initiatives, our best efforts to solve problems often make them worse. System dynamics is designed to avoid such policy resistance and identify high leverage policies for sustained improvement. We develop formal mathematical models, grounded in empirical evidence, to build theoretical understanding of complex systems and seek to use those models to design and implement policies that yield lasting benefits for businesses and society.
S: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/group/system-dynamics/ (last access: 27 December 2014)
N: 1. system (n): 1610s, “the whole creation, the universe,” from Late Latin systema “an arrangement, system,” from Greek systema “organized whole, a whole compounded of parts,” from stem of synistanai “to place together, organize, form in order,” from syn- “together” (see syn-) + root of histanai “cause to stand” from PIE root sta- “to stand”.
dynamics (n): as a branch of physics, 1789, from dynamic (1817 as a term in philosophy; 1827 in the sense “pertaining to force producing motion” (the opposite of static), from French dynamique introduced by German mathematician Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716) in 1691 from Greek dynamikos “powerful,” from dynamis “power,” from dynasthai “to be able, to have power, be strong enough,” of unknown origin. The figurative sense of “active, potent, energetic” is from 1856 (in Emerson). Related: Dynamically); also see -ics (in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.) it represents a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with -ikos (see -ic) to mean “matters relevant to” and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their names in English before c.1500, however, tend to remain in singular (such as arithmetic, logic)).
2. System dynamics was developed here at MIT Sloan by Prof. Emeritus Jay W. Forrester, beginning in the 1950s. Today system dynamics is taught around the world and used by corporations, nonprofits, schools, and governments in applications from organizational change to climate change, from physiology to fiscal policy. Today the MIT System Dynamics Group is engaged in research and applications of system dynamics ranging from process improvement and organizational transformation, to sustainability, climate change policy, and global public health.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=system&searchmode=none; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=dynamics&searchmode=none (last access: 27 December 2014). 2. http://mitsloan.mit.edu/group/system-dynamics/about-us.php (last access: 27 December 2014).
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CR: computer science, cybernetics.
