Teamwork in Group Model Building1

Ongoing research in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy is focusing on strategies for efficient and effective model building in groups. The intent is to involve a relatively large client group in the business of model formulation, not just conceptualization. Recent projects have explored strategies for accelerated group model building in the context of three public policy problem areas: the burgeoning cost and caseload of foster care in New York State, recent unexplained increases in Medicaid costs in the state of Vermont, and homelessness policy initiatives in New York City. Five roles appear to be essential to support effective group model building efforts. We term the five roles the facilitator, the modeler/reflector, the process coach, the recorder, and the gatekeeper. This article identifies the five roles, briefly overviews the three problem areas, sketches the design of the group model building efforts, outlines the apparent results, and hypothesizes principles and strategies to guide future group modeling efforts. Introduction Ongoing research in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy is focusing on strategies for efficient and effective model building in groups. The work is related to efforts by Richmond (1987), Vennix (1990), and Morecroft (1991), and grows out of more than fifteen years of research on computer-aided, facilitated meetings.2 Group model building, as we intend the phrase, signals the intent to involve a relatively large client group in the business of model formulation, not just conceptualization. The goals are a wider resource base for insightful model 1 The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of John Rohrbaugh, William Steinhurst, Fred Wulczyn, Steve Andersen, Omer Jirdeh, and Sauwakon Ratanawijitrasin to this work. An earlier version appeared in the Proceedings of the 1992 International System Dynamics Conference (Richardson, Andersen, Rohrbaugh, and Steinhurst 1992). 2 See, e.g., Milter and Rohrbaugh (1985), Phillips (1988), Carper and Bresnick (1989), Rohrbaugh (1992), and Vari and Vecsenyi (1992). See Vennix et al. (1992) for further references. structure, extended group ownership of the formal model and its implications, and acceleration of the process of model building for group decision support. However, the pitfalls generated by group processes and the modeling process are formidable. It appears that no fewer than five roles or functions are essential to support effective group model building efforts. We term the five roles the facilitator, the modeler/reflector, the process coach, the recorder, and the gatekeeper. Many of us have tried to make do with one or two individuals handling these five roles (usually unconsciously), but our experiences with large modeling groups struggling with weighty problems involving diffuse knowledge suggest the roles are often best handled by separate individuals. Ideas for the importance of these roles grew out of the group process literature,3 the system dynamics literature,4 and experiences of the Decision Tectronics Group at the University at Albany,5 including work done in 1987 and ‘88 for the New York State Insurance Department on medical malpractice insurance regulatory policy.6 Recent projects at the Rockefeller College have explored strategies for accelerated group model building involving these five roles. The explorations have been carried out in the context of three public policy problem areas: the burgeoning cost and caseload of foster care in New York State, recent unexplained increases in Medicaid costs in the state of Vermont, and homelessness policy initiatives in New York City. The Five Roles The initial modeling motivation. In work done for the New York State Insurance Department in 1987 and 1988, one of the authors (Richardson) experienced some difficulties working with a fivemember model reference group in preparation for two two-day decision conferences on malpractice insurance regulatory policy. Reflecting on the difficulties, we hypothesized that they stemmed from the multiple roles the modeler was trying to 3 The earliest group process literature contains descriptions of numerous leadership roles that must be assumed in order for groups to be effective (Benne and Sheats 1948). Recent developments in the definition of facilitator roles have helped to clarify how group leadership can be provided by both internals and externals (Schein 1987, Kayser 1990, Friend and Hickling 1987). 4 Hints of multiple roles in modeling with groups appear in Stenberg (1980) and Vennix (1990). Roberts (1977) emphasizes rapid development of an initial model, maximum inhouse participation, and the importance of the role we have termed the gatekeeper. We take the "gatekeeper" term from the R&D literature (Allen 1970). 5 See Milter and Rohrbaugh (1988); Mumpower, Schuman, and Zumbolo (1988); McCartt and Rohrbaugh (1989); and Schuman and Rohrbaugh (1991). 6 See Richardson and Senge (1989) and Reagan-Cirincione et al. (1991).