Overcoming managers’ myopic decisions in a waste collection company: Lessons from a system dynamics-based research

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how the changing interrelationships between fleet management, human resources and outsourcer capacity areas are likely to counterbalance managerial policies, thereby generating a performance decay. The use of system dynamics modelling in a waste collection company offered an effective contribution to support decision makers to overcoming myopic decisions. Design/methodology/approach: Literature review and a case study analysis (including interviews with company actors and data gathering) offered the basis to build a system dynamics model. The model built was then used to run simulations sessions to assess alternative investments decisions. Findings: Simulation results show that understanding cause-and-effect relationships between company sub-systems can help managers to shift the focus of their decision process from a single department to the whole business system. Further, the paper offers three alternative scenarios (myopic, reactive and proactive) from which to learn how to design effective long-term sustainable policies. Research limitations/implications: The simulation model was developed based on a literature review and a single-case study. Although it offers a useful contribution in the investigated case, to generalise its results, additional application to waste collection companies would be desirable. Practical implications: The findings of the study have implications for public decision makers and those scholars investigating how to discourage the adoption of myopic decisions in complex environments. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, only few studies investigated how the fleet management is likely to impact on the performance of waste collection companies. This study offers a contribution in this direction.