Managers produce plans to control the
factors that prevent them from reaching their
operational targets. No one has the actual systems that they are managing or
thinking about in their head. Instead we carry around simplifications of these
realities. Yet, as simplified as these mental model may be, they still contain far
more detail than is required to work out the main limiting factors and the outcomes
of controlling them. Indeed, most mental models contain too much detail.
Furthermore, what is usually there has not been arranged and filtered with regard to
the specific purpose to which the model is to be applied. The basic challenge of
modelling wetland systems for their effective management is to arrive as an elegant
simplification in which the model includes just enough information to make it
workable, and no more!
Any time a model is built, be it a mental
one or another kind, the modeller engages
in two activities: simplification and symbolisation.
Simplification is the process of reducing
the complexity of reality. It consists of two
activities: selection and aggregation. Selection means choosing, which also
implies 'leaving out'. Aggregation is 'lumping together' ie looking for opportunities
to group rather than to segment.
Symbolisation is the process of deciding
which symbols to use to 'stand for' the
reality you are interested in investigating. These symbols can look a lot like the
reality, or they can be highly symbolic i.e. looking nothing at all like the reality.
