PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Vol. I, No. 2, Summer 1998 Printed in U.S.A. IMPROVING POM LEARNING: SYSTEMS THINKING AND TRANSPARENT-BOX BUSINESS SIMULATORS * JO& A. D. MACHUCA GIDEAO Research Group, Departamento de Economia Financiera y Direccidn de Operaciones, University of Sevilla, Avenida Ram& y Cajal 1, 41018 Sevilla, Spain It is well known by systems thinkers that the behavior of complex systems (for example, the company as a whole or the operations subsystem) depends upon their structure (the set of system variables and their interrelationships). In our opinion, the methods and tools presently used for production and operations management (POM) teaching are insufficient to cope with an ever more complex reality. Over the last few years, the research group GIDEAO, following an original idea (Machuca 1992a, 1992b) has been developing transparent-box business simulators (TBBSS) based on systems thinking and system dynamics models; the aim was to maintain the advantages of the existing didactic tools while mitigating their drawbacks. The most distinctive feature of TBBSS (as opposed to the traditional black-box business games) is that the structure of the system to be simulated is always accessible to the users, who can thus reflect on the causes underlying the results obtained and thereby improve decision-making and the learning process. We will show how to work with TBBSS, and we will comment on the results obtained in an empirical experiment which aims to measure the influence of TBBSS on the learning process. (TEACHING POM; SYSTEM DYNAMICS; BUSINESS GAMES; CROSS-FUNCTIONAL INTERACTION) 1. The Complexity of the Operations Subsystem As is well known, businesses represent complex, open systems.They are characterized by the following set of factors [that from the very beginning have been stressed by system dynamics (see Forrester 1961) and become public domain] : l Organization’s elements are interconnected by means of causal/influence relation- ships, often strong and nonlinear (see Forrester 1987), many of them closing and forming feedback loops, that is, closed chains of interactions between variables. l There are delays and inertia in the flow of materials and information. l Organizational or functional objectives are multiple and frequently in conflict. l The behavior of the firm stems from the internal structure (formed by feedback loops) and from interaction with the environment. l There is constant interaction with a changing environment, which calls for constant adaptation. Besides, “change is accelerating, and as the complexity of the systems * Received May 1996; revision received April 1997; accepted May 1997. 210 1059-1478/98/0702/210$1.25 Copyright 0 1998, Production and Operations Management Society