Mental Models

Senge: Chapter 10
THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

1
What are Mental Models?
The mental constructs that dictate
the decisions that we take
the actions that we engage in
The Second of Five Disciplines
Who remembers the other four?

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 Whats the Problem?
Many of the best ideas never get put into
practice
Why???
Because they conflict with deeply held internal
images of how the world works
These images limit us to familiar ways of
thinking and acting
We keep making the same mistakes over
and over again--were not learning
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The discipline of Mental Models
(MMs) Involves
Surfacing these models
Testing these models
Improving our internal pictures of how the
world works
PROMISES TO BE A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH
FOR BUILDING LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS

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Why are MMs so powerful in
affecting what we do?
They affect what we see
They become the cognitive lense through which we
view the world
Two people with different MMs can see the same
situation and describe it differently
Big three auto-makers believed Americans bought
cars on the basis of styling
Today outdated MMs dominate the service industries,
which still provide mediocre quality in the name of
controlling costs
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So the Problem arises when our
mental model is wrongRIGHT?
WRONG!!!
The problem with mental models is that
they are tacit--below the level of
awareness
We dont realize that our behavior is being
dictated by a certain mental model that we
have bought into deeply

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A Digression and Break
Arm Wrestling
Good Exercise
Good way to break up a boring session on
mental models
Find an opponent
The contestant who can defeat his
opponent the most times in one
minute wins.
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An Industrial Goods
Manufacturer
Was losing market share
Production managers held inventories as
low as possible
Result was long lead times, long delivery
times even though production capacity
was adequate
A team of MIT system dynamicists were
brought in
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What did the models show?
Low inventories meant long lead times
Why not carry some inventory
They did this for a while and it worked
The firms market share picked up
But the new policies were not taken to heart
Four years later when another recession
occurred, the firm went back to their original
low inventories and began losing market
share again
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Why did they do this?
The inertia of deeply entrenched mental
models can overwhelm even the best
systemic insights

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Shell--one of the first firms to
investigate MMs
Is broken up into over a hundred
companies
Must continually challenge the leaders of
these firms to scrutinize their MMs

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Overcoming the basic diseases
of the hierarchy
For hierarchical organizations the dogma is
manage, organize, control
For learning organizations, the dogma is
vision, values, and MMs
Healthy firms are ones that bring people
together to develop the best possible MMs
for facing any situation at hand

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The Experience at HANOVER
Hanover--an insurance carrier (a property
and casualty insurance firm)
Hanover hired consultant Chris Argyris. He
brought in his ACTION SCIENCE
Argyris: Because we insulate our mental
models from examination, we develop
SKILLED INCOMPETENCE..
Recall a conflict with a client--what did you
say--what did you think, what did you not say
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 Left-Hand Column Analysis
The left-hand column details what you were
thinking
The right-hand column details what was actually
said
Sample case: Jim is an R&D project manager.
Jim assumes his supervisor Todd feels harshly
about him. Jim just had a conversation with
Todd. Jim writes out the conversation with Todd
in the right-hand column and his thoughts at
the time in the left.
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 TODD: Jim, Id like to come down
Were two months late and I there next week. Were a few
dont think he knew. I was weeks behind, and I think we
hoping we could catch up might all benefit from a
I need to make it clear that Im meeting at your office.
willing to take responsibility ME: Ive been very concerned
for this, but I dont want to about these deadlines. As you
volunteer for more work know, weve had some tough
He never offers this help in the luck here, and were working
planning stages, when I could around the clock. But of
really use it. Its too late now to course, well squeeze in a
bring that up. meeting at your convenience.
The changes he keeps making TODD: Well, its occurred to me
are the real reason were late. that we could use better
He must have another one. coordination. There are some
Its a shame I cant tell him that ways I could help.
hes the cause of the delays. If I ME: Well, Im happy to talk
can hold him off two more through any changes you have
weeks, I think well be ready. in mind.
TODD: I dont have anything
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specific in mind
What can you do with this?
You can learn a lot about how your responses
could have been better, more to the point.
You can also ask yourself what has really led me
to think and feel this way?
What was my intention? What was I trying to
accomplish?
Did I achieve the results I intended?
Did my comments contribute to the difficulties

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When we examine our mental
models
Each of us has contributed to a conflict
through our own thinking
We made sweeping generalizations about
others that determined what we said and
how we behaved
We are led to see subtle patterns of
reasoning which determines our behavior
and how these continually got us into
trouble
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 Hanover & Argyriss Colleague
Lee Bolman
Bolman further exposed Hanovers managers to
the ideas and practices of action science
Be a good inquirer
Balance inquiry with advocacy
Understand that all we ever have are
assumptions, never truths, that we always see
the world through our mental models and that the
mental models are always incomplete and in
Western culture, non-systemic
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Hanover Bottom Line Results
Over a 15 year period, Hanover got better
and better at its margins and market share
Its average return was 21.8% where the
industry average was 15.9 percent
Today, Hanover continues to build a
foundation of basic skills in reflection,
surfacing and public examination of
mental models
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Hanovers Strategy
Recognize leaps of abstraction
Jumps from observation to generalization
Exposing the left-hand column
Balance inquiry and advocacy
Facing up to distinctions between
espoused theories (what we say) and
theories in use (what we do as determined
by our MMs)
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The Discipline of Mental Models
Bring key assumptions about important
business issues to the surface
Who remembers the Goldratt mechanism for
doing just this?
Without surfacing these assumptions, an
organizations range of actions are limited
to what is familiar and comfortable
Develop face-to-face learning skills
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The Discipline of MMs, Continued
Both sides of the discipline--business
skills and interpersonal issues--are crucial
Without interpersonal skills, learning is
still fundamentally adaptive, not generative
Generative learning requires managers
with reflection and inquiry skills, not just
consultants and planners

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Planning as Learning and Internal
Boards: Managing Mental models
Throughout an Organization
Firms need to put in place mechanisms that
make the practices of reflection and
surfacing mental models unavoidable
How? By recasting traditional planning as
learning and establishing internal boards
of directors to bring senior management
and local management together
How? By using SCENARIOS in the case of
Shell
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More ways to surface mental
models
Use tools for mapping mental models--
Shell. These include systems thinking
tools like the archetypes, as well as the
computer simulation capabilities of a tool
like VENSIM
Microworlds and numerous other soft
systems tools are also used

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What is the common
denominator of these tools?
They work to expose assumptions about
important business issues
The basic idea is to institutionalize
managing mental models through the
planning process

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Hanover also uses internal
boards
Composed of two to four senior managers
and local general managers
Senior managers are not allowed to impose
their mental models on local managers
Hanover developed a Credo on Mental
Models

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 Hanovers Credo
The effectiveness of a leader is related to the
continual improvement of the leaders mental models
Dont impose a favored mental model on people
Self-concluding decisions result in deeper
convictions and more effective implementation
Better mental models enable owners to adjust to
change in environment or circumstance
Internal board members rarely need to make direct
decisions

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Hanovers Credo, Continued
Multiple mental models bring multiple
perspectives
Groups add dynamics and knowledge beyond
what one person can do alone
The goal is not congruency among the group
When the process works it leads to congruency
The leaders worth is measured by their
contribution to others MMs

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Reflection and Inquiry Skills:
Managing Mental Models at
Personal and Interpersonal Levels
Reflection skills concern becoming more
aware of how we form our mental models
and the ways they influence our actions
Inquiry skills concern how we operate in
face-to-face interactions with others

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Reflection Skills
Recognize leaps of abstraction
Millers 7 plus/minus 2 rule
Untested models of customer behavior are
often leaps of abstraction
To surface leaps of abstraction, ask What
do I believe about how the world works?
Then ask, Is this generalization inaccurate
or misleading?
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Reflection Skills
Where possible test the generalizations
directly

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Inquiry skills
Use left-hand, right-hand column analysis
In conflicts, avoid the systems archetype of
escalation

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Mental Models and The Fifth
Discipline: Systems Thinking
The two disciplines go hand-in-hand
ST without MM is like an airplane without
wing flaps

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Copyright C 2000 by James R.
Burns
All rights reserved world-wide. CLEAR
Project Steering Committee members have
a right to use these slides in their
presentations. However, they do not have
the right to remove this copyright or to
remove the prepared by. footnote that
appears at the bottom of each slide.

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