'The world grows more and more interconnected every day, and yet our institutions of commerce, education, health care, and government, by and large, remain firmly wedded to the reductionistic worldview of the Industrial Age. While more and more leaders in institutions of all sorts realise the importance of systems thinking, few have progressed far in practical application, often daunted by what seems like a steep technical learning curve. This is unfortunate, because it leads to either complete neglect or relegating the tools to technical experts, and fails the urgent need for re-thinking critical issues that must engage us all.

If you believe as I do that enhanced systems intelligence is the mandate for living together in our shrinking world, you will be delighted by Kambiz Maani’s and Bob Cavana’s new book, which takes a big step toward clarifying the underlying philosophy and demystifying the system dynamics method that has long been the core of our work. '

Peter M. Senge, Society for Organizational Learning, MIT -Boston

Kambiz E. Maani (PhD, Illinois) is an acknowledged international expert on systemic approaches to organisations and leadership. He is an author and inspirational speaker on Systems Thinking, Complexity Management, and Organisational Learning and Leadership. Dr Maani's academic and consulting career spans over 25 years in the USA, South America, Asia, and Australasia. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of management and systems sciences at the University of Auckland Business School where he had held several leadership roles. He has lectured internationally and has held teaching and research positions at a number of universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston University and Helsinki School of Economics and the Rand Corporation. Kambiz's executive courses on Systems Thinking, Complexity and Leadership have been offered internationally to large audiences for the past decade.

Robert Y. Cavana (PhD, Bradford) is a Reader in Systems & Logistics with the Victoria Management School at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has nearly 30 years of professional experience working with public and private sector organisations, where he has been involved in systems thinking and system dynamics projects spanning many sectors of the New Zealand economy. He was previously a President of the Operational Research Society of New Zealand and a Vice President of the International System Dynamics Society; and he is currently a Managing Editor of System Dynamics Review. He has a wide range of international publications, and he is also a co-author of Applied Business Research: Qualitative & Quantitative Methods (Wiley, Brisbane, 2001; Chinese edition 2004).

Foreword to first edition Preface to second edition Part I Chapter 1 Introducing systems thinking Chapter 2 Systems methodology Chapter 3 Causal loop modelling Chapter 4 Dynamic modelling Chapter 5 Scenario planning and modelling Chapter 6 Microworlds and learning laboratory Chapter 7 Systems thinking and the organisation Part II Case 1 Sustainability of the New Zealand fishing industry Case 2 Dynamics of the bird flu pandemic Case 3 Drivers of quality in health services Case 4 Supply chain modelling of a beer distribution system Case 5 Strategy development for a telecommunications business unit Index