1. The primary system described in the story is systems thinking.

On page 58 of The Tip of the Iceberg it says "How can you know what you don't see if you can't see it?" The parts of the system were the penguins, the walruses, and the clams. The penguins knew they had an untapped resource in the clams, and the walruses had the technology to procure those resources. 2. The primary system in The Tip of the Iceberg was very simple. It was based on supply and demand. This is the most fundamental concept of economics and the market economy. The correlation between price and service supplied is known as supply relationship (Newstron, pg . 37) The partnership was developed between the penguins and the walruses, however, the price in the long run was the iceberg itself. 3. The penguins tried to seek stability, but they could only see the tip of the iceberg. They tried to address issues that arose however, because they did not have all the facts, their efforts were not effective. The penguins knew that there were more than enough clams for everyone. They thought the iceberg was big enough to house both the penguin population and the increasing walrus population. The quantity supplied refers to the amount of certain goods producers are willing to supply when receiving a certain gain. Goods supplied to the market are known as the supply relationship. (Newstron pg 188) Everyone had what they wanted. The penguins had the all the clams they could eat and their lives, or so they thought. The walruses had a place to live and all they could eat as well. 4. It was hard for the penguins to recognize and diagnose the feedback in their system because they could not see the entire iceberg. The clams came directly from the environment and its source seems to have a great amount of clams. It did not seem to be depleted, (Cascio pg 362.) They only acted on what they could see, and were not able to address the things they could not see. It was only when one person realized what was happening that the proper changes, and decisions could be put in place. The iceberg was sinking, this resulted in less surface area, this resulted in flattened penguins, this resulted in poor relations between walruses and penguins, this resulted in an overall negative, non-productive, non-conducive environment. 5. Team B reviewed and discussed the most common processes, structures and beliefs which make it difficult to recognize and respond to appropriate feedback. Some organizations have a definite lack of communication. This can cause a hostile environment if not kept in check. When there is no consideration for others opinions, the result is often negative. Team B also discussed the fact that when there are several departments or pieces to a puzzle, it is hard to come up with something beneficial for everyone. In conclusion, Team B reviewed and analyzed the systems thinking approach. It is an approach that is very useful, especially in team decision making. This approach

allows for diagramming problems, testing theories, and modeling solutions. (Goodman, 1997)

References

Cascio, Wayne F. Managing Human Resources: Productivity, quality of Work Life, Profits 8th ed. Colorado: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010. Goodman, M. Designing a Systems Thinking Intervention (1997). Pegasus communications, IMS Innovations in Management Series.

Newstron, John W. Organizational Behavior: Human Behavior at Work 12th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill2 007