A Linguistic-Based Systematic Approach to Complex System Dynamics and its Application to E-government
Introduction in Zanzibar.
Abstract
Abstract: System thinking has become an effective strategy when
dealing with complex systems. Such systems are characterized by mutual
interactions, causality and inter-dependency between system components.
A typical example is the cooperation between governmental organizations
and stakeholder interaction. The complexity of developing an e-government
system suggests a more fundamental approach, where the roles of domain
expert and system analyst are clearly separated. The main focus of this
article is (1) to propose a linguistically-based systematic approach to the
construction of models for the dynamics of complex systems, and (2) to
propose extended causal diagrams. Our research methodology is based on
Design Science. We start from a conceptual language developed for the
application domain at hand and use this to define the dynamic factors. Then,
we show how the resulting extended causal diagram is transformed into a
framework for System Dynamics. We have demonstrated this approach by
using a basic form of an e-government as a running example. Our intention
is to use this approach as a basis for a systematic step-wise introduction of
e-government in Zanzibar. Besides, this method is useful for modeling any
complex system, especially for the description and evaluation of intended
policies.
Keywords: Complex systems, conceptual modeling, system dynamics,
extended causal diagram, model transformation, e-government introduction.
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