Exploring international relations through organizational theories in a global systems simulation: A training template

Although most global modeling in recent years has been performed with all-computer simulations (Alker 1985; Guetzkow 1981b), researchers should not be distracted from the potential outputs of person-machine formulations such as the Global Systems Simulation (GSS). An important heuristic characteristic of person-machine formats is that they capture reflective processes of human decision-makers and consequently may be more isomorphic to reference systems than their all-machine counterparts (Alker et al. 1973) Yet, this advantage of person-machine simulations also suggests their logistical costs, namely, sufficient numbers of participants have to be identified, prepared, and coordinated. Such an effort is labor intensive, and may require longer preparation than do all-computer simulations. However, these costs may be negligible since GSS-like models allow direct inputs of human creativity and comprehension (Guetzkow 1981c: 340).