In his popular management book, the Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge presents a list of “Systems Archetypes”. These archetypes represent the way “systematic forces” apply to different situations. They can be drawed with simple dynamic diagrams depicting feedback loops. Each loop can have a reinforcing effect, or a stabilizing effect.
This is a derived from the field of System dynamics.
Note: in my drawings here, the letter B inside a circle denotes a Balancing effect (a brake), whereas the letter R denotes a Reinforcing (amplifying) effect (like a cascading effect).
Balancing process with delay
This archetype is simple: “Actual conditions” entail “Corrective Actions”. However, there is a delay on the effect of the actions. As a consequence, corrective actions are oversized, and the targeted conditions are not met, or worse.
Example: In the automotive industry, a car company invests heavily in new machines to increase its profits. However, the time to get the machines up and running, the market has slowed down, and the investments are at a loss.
Limits to growth
In this archetype, a special condition entails a positive growing action, and is reinforced. This is a virtuous reinforcing circle. However, at the same time, the condition causes a slowing action because of an external limiting condition. This creates a balancing loop, blocking the growth.
Example: a telecom company has a succesful competitive offer. The more it gets new customers, the more it can develop its market base. However, the infrastructure is not sized for the number of customers, and the quality of service degrades, causing disatisfied customers to quit.
Shifting the burden
A short-term solution is applied to a problem, because the fundamental solution seems to take too long to reach. However, as a side effect, the long-term fundamental solution is more and more difficult to reach.
Example: a company hires consultants to solve issues in its own business. As a consequence, the company is more and more dependent on external resources, and do not build (or even looses) key skills and experience in its own business.
Eroding goals
This archetype is similar to the previous one. In this case, the “symptomatic solution” consists in lowering the bar, instead of holding to one’s objective and vision. As a consequence, the capacity to make efforts to reach the objective is lost.
Escalation
Escalation is a Lose-Lose feedback loop. Two persons, or organisation, react negatively to each other actions, such that none of them are getting any results, or worse, the blocking situation escalates to conflict.
Example: One nation intends to protect itself raising the budget of its army. This is perceived as a threat signal given to a neighbour nation, that it should do the same to negate the additional fire power purchased by the first nation. This is the beginning of an arm race, the kind of negative loop that leads to war (think of Europ before 1914).
Success to the successful
In this archetype, two persons or organisations, starting at the same level, with a similar level of skills, compete for resources. The first one that is successful, gets rewards and credits, gets then more success, and gains all resources, whereas the other one is neglected and starved.
Example: Two inventors working on the same type of machine, the first one to put a patent on the technology is recognized as the unique inventor, the other inventor fall into oblivion.
Tragedy of the commons
In this archetype, two (or more) individuals profit from activities that depletes a common resource. Because in the short term, they gain more and more, they do not see the balancing feedback loop caused by the depletion of the limited resource.
Understanding this archetype is understanding the reason for ecology, and the need to preserve the environment. There are many cases applicable: deforrestation, global warming, pollution of the air or the seas: depletion of argicultural land, fish, and any life on earth…
Fixes that fail
Fixes applied for the short terms create later more of the problems they should have solved.
Example: such situation is well known in the software world, where a quick fix applied to a bug can cause regression and create more serious problems for the long terme maintenance of the code base.
Growth and underinvestment
In this archetype, growth is limited by performance, and performance is determined by capacity. As the company grows, and because investment in capacity would take time, it is tempting to avoid investments, lowering thus the key goals or performance standard to be achieved. The lack of investment will act as a negative loop finally halting (or reverting) growth.
Many disappeared companies fell into this trap, wasting the opportunity of growth as they avoided innovation and investments at key moment of their history.
I like these archetypes because although abstract, they are patterns that applies to a great deal of situations in life.
Will you be able to recognize these patterns around you ?
To read more: The Fifth Discipline, by Peter M. Senge.