Map
Framework

Iceberg model

The question it answers

When the same problem keeps coming back despite earlier fixes, what should a team leader or business owner ask to find the structures and mental models producing it?

Origin
Goodman, 1997; Cunliff, 2004
Diagram type
Process by phase
Level of analysis
Team
Topics
Entrepreneurship & innovationStrategy & leadershipChange management
Rocket lifting off from a glass light bulb, icon for entrepreneurship and innovation

Diagram

Iceberg model

  1. Top to bottom
  2. EventsWhat happened? The visible part.
  3. PatternsWhat has been happening? Which trends have emerged?
  4. StructureWhat is producing the patterns? In organisations, often policies and procedures.
  5. Mental modelsWhich beliefs, values and assumptions sit behind the structures and shape how we read everything above?

When to use it, and when not to

Use it when

Goodman lists the traits of a problem suited to systems thinking: it is important, chronic rather than a one-off, familiar with a known history, and people have already tried and failed to solve it. Involve people from several departments in describing the problem, since their mental models may differ a lot from yours.

Pitfalls

Pitfall

Starting by looking for someone to blame. Goodman advises avoiding blame and asking 'What is it about this problem that we don't understand?'. Authors draw the iceberg with three to six levels; Goodman's three-level version folds mental models into structure.

Sources

References

Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.

  1. Cunliff, E. (2004) ‘Connecting systems thinking and action’, The Systems Thinker, 15(2), pp. 7–10.No DOIthesystemsthinker.comCited in 1 article
  2. Goodman, M. (1997) ‘Systems thinking: what, why, when, where, and how?’, The Systems Thinker, 8(2), pp. 6–7.No DOIthesystemsthinker.comCited in 1 article