Managing Emergent Phenomena: Nonlinear Dynamics in Work Organizations

by Guastello; Stephen J.

• ISBN13: 9780805831634
• ISBN10: 0805831630
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

Chaos, catastrophe, self-organization, and complexity theories (nonlinear dynamics) now have practical and measurable roles in the functioning of work organizations. Managing Emergent Phenomena begins by describing how the concept of an organization has changed from a bureaucracy, to a humanistic and organic system, to a complex adaptive system. The dynamics concepts are then explained along with the most recent research methods for analyzing real data. Applications include: work motivation, personnel selection and turnover, creative thinking by individuals and groups, the development of social networks, coordination in work groups, the emergence of leaders, work performance in organizational hierarchies, economic problems that are relevant to organizations, techniques for predicting the future, and emergency management. Each application begins with a tight summary of standard thinking on a subject, followed by the new insights that are afforded by nonlinear dynamics and the empirical data supporting those ideas. Unusual concepts are also encountered, such as the organizational unconscious, collective intelligence, and the revolt of the slaved variables. The net results are a new perspective on what is really important in organizational life, original insights on familiar experiences, and some clear signposts for the next generation of nonlinear social scientists.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Scenes From the Nonlinear House of Panic	1	(14)
The Rise and Fall of Bureaucracy	1	(2)
Enter the House of Panic	3	(4)
Principles of Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos, and Complexity	7	(5)
Preview of Coming Attractions	12	(3)
Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Theory	15	(40)
Attractors and Stability	16	(5)
Instabilities and Bifurcation	21	(6)
Chaos and Chaotic Attractors	27	(5)
Fractals	32	(6)
Self-organization and Coupled Dynamics	38	(8)
Catastrophe Theory	46	(9)
Structural Equations	55	(20)
Data Requirements	56	(1)
Probability Density, Location, and Scale	57	(3)
Structure of Behavioral Measurements	60	(1)
Power Polynomial Regression Method	61	(2)
Exponential Series with Nonlinear Regression	63	(3)
Catastrophe PDFs with Nonlinear Regression	66	(3)
Systems with More Than One Order Parameter	69	(1)
The Role of Embedding Dimension and Attractor Reconstruction	70	(3)
Summary	73	(2)
Organizational Change and Development	75	(39)
Organizational Structure, Climate, and Culture	76	(5)
The Dynamics of Organizational Change	81	(21)
Consciousness in Organizations	102	(10)
Summary	112	(2)
Nonlinear Motivation Theory	114	(40)
Some Basic Concepts	115	(3)
Butterfly Catastrophe Model of Motivation	118	(4)
Game Theory	122	(8)
Utility of Selection to the Employer	130	(2)
Turnover Among Air Force Recruits	132	(16)
Motivational Flow	148	(4)
Summary	152	(2)
Dynamical Theory of Creativity	154	(37)
Creativity Basics	155	(10)
Chaotic Flows and Individual Creativity	165	(15)
Group Problem-solving Dynamics	180	(8)
Summary	188	(3)
Social Networks	191	(18)
The Nature of Social Networks	192	(2)
Nonlinear Dynamics for Networks	194	(4)
Organizational Networks	198	(9)
Summary	207	(2)
Work Group Coordination	209	(19)
The Social Process	210	(2)
Game Theory and Implicit Learning	212	(1)
Intersection	213	(3)
Nonlinear Dynamics and Coordination	216	(3)
Origins of Coordination Experiment	219	(3)
Verbalization and Replacement of Personnel	222	(3)
Social Institutions and Virtual Communities	225	(1)
Summary	226	(2)
The Emergence of Leadership	228	(24)
Conventional Theories of Leadership	230	(9)
Dynamics of Leadership Emergence	239	(11)
Summary	250	(2)
Work Flows in Hierarchies	252	(22)
Conventional Approach to Hierarchies	253	(5)
Nonlinear Dynamics, Productivity, and Hierarchies	258	(2)
Chaos Exercise Experiments	260	(13)
Summary	273	(1)
Nonlinear Economics	274	(24)
Classical Concepts	275	(4)
Rationality in the Stock Exchange	279	(4)
Unemployment and Inflation	283	(5)
Information Economics	288	(4)
Potential Collapse of Oceanic Fish Harvests	292	(4)
Summary	296	(2)
Dynamical Systems	298	(29)
Predictions of the Future	299	(8)
Psychology of Prediction	307	(1)
Control of Chaos	308	(7)
Control of Catastrophic Processes	315	(3)
Cognitive Strategies for Complexity	318	(2)
Dynamics of Emergency Management	320	(4)
Summary	324	(3)
Epilogue Whatever Happened to Everything?	327	(12)
The Utility	327	(1)
The Phenomena	328	(6)
The Dynamics	334	(5)
Appendix A Data Analysis with Structural Equations	339	(8)
Appendix B The Island Commission Game	347	(6)
References	353	(24)
Author Index	377	(10)
Subject Index	387