Systems Thinking and ROI LO13618

Edwin Brenegar III (brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu)
Thu, 15 May 1997 18:16:23 -0400 (EDT)

Replying to LO13601 --

Michael, On how to answer the "bottom-line" question, particularly when
the charge is "show me the money,", I think of at least two responses.
First, no one really functions on that level. Everyone performs tasks
which have no demonstrable connection to a financial profit. If that was
all that mattered, then they would act differently, I believe. Second,
everyone defines that bottom-line differently, even when they use numbers.
I'd be surprised if even all supervisors and managers accept projections
for improvement uncritically.

Unfortunately, I can't answer you specific question because organizations
are complex organism, with many factors contributing to the bottom-line
which are difficult to trace. If only life were so simple.

Warm regards,
Ed Brenegar

On Tue, 13 May 1997 mbayers@mmm.com wrote:

> I find myself in a quandary. We have built a Systems Thinking workshop
> and conducted it, say, a dozen or more times.

[...snip by your host...]

> But lately we have begun to get questions along the lines of, 'Well, this
> was certainly enjoyable but my manager will never buy this unless I can
> show some hard dollar returns. I have to show some tangible benefit.
> Have you got any examples where you can demonstrate that engaging in a
> systems thinking effort to examine a complex problem has resulted in clear
> dollar savings?'

-- 

Edwin Brenegar III <brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>