Dynamics of Organizations : Computational Modeling and Organizational Theories

by Alessandro Lomi and Erik R. Larsen (Eds.)

• ISBN13: 9780262621526
• ISBN10: 0262621525
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Aaai Pr

Summary

An organization is more than the sum of its parts, and the individual components that function as a complex social system can be understood only by analyzing their collective behavior. This book shows how state-of-the-art simulation methods, including genetic algorithms, neural networks, and cellular automata, can be brought to bear on central problems of organizational theory related to the emergence, permanence, and dissolution of hierarchical macrostructures. The emphasis is on the application of a new generation of equation- and agent-based computational models that can help students of organizations to reformulate their basic research questions starting from assumptions about how to link--rather than separate--different levels of organizational analysis.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
James March
Acknowledgements	xi
Alessandro Lomi
Erik R. Larsen
Introduction	3	(34)
Alessandro Lomi
Erik R. Larsen
Part One: Rediscovering Problems
Modeling Culture in Organizations: Formulation and Extension to Ecological Issues	37	(26)
Richard Harrison
Glenn Carroll
Structural Change and Learning Within Organizations	63	(30)
Kathleen Carley
Vanessa Hill
Dedicated Followers of Success: A Computational Model of Fashionable Innovation	93	(26)
Michael Macy
David Strang
Multi-Dimensional Status Competition and Group Performance	119	(22)
Christoph H. Loch
Bernardo A. Huberman
Sezer Ulku
Advice, Trust and Gossip Among Artificial Agents	141	(41)
Michael Prietula
Part Two: Framing Arguments
Market Orientation and Monopoly Power	182	(27)
Matthew Bothner
Harrison C. White
Simulating the Dynamics of Organizational Populations: A Comparison of Three Models of Organizational Entry, Exit and Growth	209	(34)
David Barron
Viscosity Models and the Diffusion of Controversial Innovations	243	(26)
David M. Krackhardt
Failure as a Structural Concept: A Computational Perspective on Age Dependence in Organizational Mortality Rates	269	(38)
Alessandro Lomi
Erik R. Larsen
Part Three: Taking Views
Evolving Information Processing Organizations	307	(22)
John Miller
Modeling Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes	329	(20)
Daniel Levinthal
Product Diversification in a ``History-friendly'' Model of the Evolution of the Computer Industry	349	(28)
Franco Malerba
Richard Nelson
Sidney Winter
Luigi Orsenigo
Understanding Dynamic Complexity in Organizational Evolution: A System Dynamics Approach	377	(28)
Anjali Sastry
Nonmonotonicity in Theory Building with Applications to Organizational Mortality	405	(34)
Laszlo Polos
Michael T. Hannan
Afterword	439	(6)
Richard Burton
Bibliography	445	(36)
Contributors	481	(6)
Index	487