TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter demonstrates modelling situations as Product/process (P/p) systems. The examples are case studies arising from our own experience as consultants and educators, but in the third and fourth example the name of individuals and organizations is fictitious.
Our first example is taken from Charles Perrow [1], with the publishers' permission. The example was presented to a group of undergraduates with the aim of assisting them to acquire skills in P/p modelling. Students were asked to model the given situations, representing them in P/p graphs and attribute tables. The task was:
to display what should have happened the prescriptive representation of events in black box and structural form,
to convey what did happen the descriptive representation of events in black box and structural form,
to compare the planned and actual events, stating all assumptions, drawing conclusions and suggesting general hints to potential modellers,
to show how some simple quality procedures might have influenced the outcome.
Students were expected to display their modelling skills:
checking the presentation of the problem for clarity,
nominating the referent,
selecting and defining key attributes,
controlling the complexity of P/p graphs while providing adequately detailed representations.
The results of individual efforts of students were evaluated, graded and discussed in class, collectively arriving at the conclusions shown here.
What should have happened is that, woken by the alarm at the appointed time on the morning of an important...
