Dynamics of Resilient Socio-Economic Systems

label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Ioana Dinescu
Financial crises, natural disasters, man-made conflicts, logistical problems and fraudulent behaviour pose great risks to companies and not-for-profit organisations. How can organisations survive in such turbulent environments? How can organisations fulfil their tasks if its members are bounded rational? How can an organisation compensate for setbacks? And how is it that some organisations even seem to benefit from problems? This course attempts to answer these questions. You will design and run simplified versions of these organisations and analyse what they need to endure environmental setbacks. In addition to providing some theoretical input, this course will also emphasise a hands-on approach and creating what has been called "resilient" organisational structures with the help of computer modelling and simulation. We will approach this topic from a dynamic perspective, in which resilience means that dynamic equilibria exist (e.g. a company's ability to balance its newly hired and its leaving employees) and that oscillations are within the system's span of control of the system (e.g. the tasks a person can effectively handle and on which they always rely). We will use modelling and simulation as our primary forms of investigation. On the one hand, we will learn how to create the archetypal structures of resilient systems. On the other hand, we will use pre-developed simulators to study the effects of dynamic adaptive systems in action. With the help of these models and simulators we will investigate the effects of organisational policies on pre-defined performance indicators. We will introduce system dynamics as a modelling and simulation method and apply this method to a hot topic in the organisational and political debate: How can we build resilient systems that can cope with complexity, uncertainty and change? This practical course with a theoretical foundation will give you the opportunity to practice hands-on model building and simulation. You will also evaluate structures and policies to improve the level of organisational resilience.

Period
04-08-2014 - 08-08-2014 (1 weeks)

Target group
1. Bachelors students entering their final year who need to make a choice regarding their further (Masters) studies2. Masters students in all fields of the Social and Management Sciences, with an interest in issues of Dynamics and Sustainability

Course aim
Learning outcomesAfter this course you will be able to:1. Understand the basics of a dynamic perspective on organisational resilience2. Design simple system dynamics models3. Design more resilient simple dynamic systems4. Systematically investigate the consequences of policies in complex dynamic systems



Credits
2.0 ECTS credits

Course fee
EUR 600[Convert to USD]The course fee includes the registration fee, course materials, access to library and IT facilities, coffee/tea, lunch, and a number of social activities. The fee does not include accommodation, travel costs, dinner, insurance and other costs. Discounts 10% discount for early bird applicants. The early bird deadline is 1 April 2014.15% discount for students and PhD candidates from Radboud University and partner universities

Course leader
Dr. A. (Andreas) Grler, Associate Professor Dr. E.A.J.A. (Etinne) Rouwette, Associate Professor, Methodology Department, Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University

Radboud University
Address: P.O Box 9102 Nijmegen
Postal code: 6500 HC
City: Nijmegen
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/
E-mail: radboudsummerschool@ru.nl
Phone: +31 (0)24 8187706