THE DYNAMICS OF RESOURCE SHARING - A METAPHORICAL MODEL

Most system dynamicists have used the example of a simple shower to ex plain feedback and to introduce the cyclical dynamic behaviour charact eristic of a balancing loop. The damped system's temperature is relati vely easy to manage. But with two showers sharing the same limited sup ply of hot water it is much harder to control the water temperature, b ecause a person ''managing'' one shower is unaware of the other, yet m ust react to the aggregate temperature outcome resulting from ''joint management'' effort. A system dynamics model of a two shower system is presented and is simulated to illustrate the causes and consequences of interdependence in resource allocation, and to explore changes that can improve the coordination of decision-makers. Insights from the tw o shower model are then applied to understanding coordination in multi national subsidiaries with overlapping geographical markets. The artic le ends with some reflections on the value and limits of a metaphorica l model.