Mental Models
There are issues, mysteries, and questions around us. On the other side there are solutions, resolutions and answers for everything. However managing those and finding appropriate solutions is the critical job. Everyone does this depending upon her/his experience and wisdom earned through the learnings and reflections. If you know how things can work in the real world, possibly you may find solutions fast. This is possible when you have some image in your mind on how to approach any situation. You are able to connect the dots and create the blueprint to reach the solution.
Some examples of mental models are, understanding how demand can impact on the supply, how training can positively impact on productivity, etc. or even addressing some issues, improving something, understanding behaviour of people and understanding some patterns etc etc. Mental models are how we understand the world. They shape what we think and how we understand. They shape the connections and opportunities that we see. By using mental models we simplify complexity, understand the logical sequence. To be accurate, of course we also need to understand the behaviour of others while preparing the model.
Solutions can be products, services or simple answers addressed to something. The main function of mental models is to organize the area specific knowledge in order to lend subjective plausible phenomena and give them meaning. Processes of conceptual changes are postulated based on analogical thinking and strategies of successive model construction and completion. There are already ample mental models available in business, psychology, personality, science and so on. You can use those for handling the problems, however you can also define your mental models.
It is a simple but effective tool to check how things work and implement the logical thought process while working on any initiative.
Process of creating mental models.
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| Process of creating Mental Model |
- Identify the problem and scope,
- Collect the data through surveys, focused group discussions, interviews, or asking the experience of others. You can use your own experiences earned over a period of time.
- Summarize and synthesize the data,
- Make interpretations and assess the results,
- Finally visualize the outcome and design the model based on the outcome.
I recently created the “Industrial Relations Framework” based on the model and study, however I extensively used the research methodology. Please click here to read Industrial Relations Strategy Framework
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