Dynamics of organizations : computational modeling and organization theories / edited by Alessandro Lomi and Erik R. Larsen.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lomi, Alessandro, 1961-

Larsen, Erik R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organizational behavior--Mathematical models.

Organizational behavior.

Physical Description:

xx, 502 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Menlo Park, Calif. : AAAI Press/MIT Press, 2001.

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.

Contents:

Part 1 Rediscovering Problems

Chapter 1 Modeling Culture in Organizations: Formulation and Extension to Ecological Issues / Richard Harrison, Glenn Carroll 37

Chapter 2 Structural Change and Learning Within Organizations / Kathleen Carley, Vanessa Hill 63

Chapter 3 Dedicated Followers of Success: A Computational Model of Fashionable Innovation / Michael Macy, David Strang 93

Chapter 4 Multi-Dimensional Status Competition and Group Performance / Christoph H. Loch, Bernardo A. Huberman, Sezer Ulku 119

Chapter 5 Advice, Trust and Gossip Among Artificial Agents / Michael Prietula 141

Part 2 Framing Arguments

Chapter 6 Market Orientation and Monopoly Power / Matthew Bothner, Harrison C. White 182

Chapter 7 Simulating the Dynamics of Organizational Populations: A Comparison of Three Models of Organizational Entry, Exit and Growth / David Barron 209

Chapter 8 Viscosity Models and the Diffusion of Controversial Innovations / David M. Krackhardt 243

Chapter 9 Failure as a Structural Concept: A Computational Perspective on Age Dependence in Organizational Mortality Rates / Alessandro Lomi, Erik R. Larsen 269

Part 3 Taking Views

Chapter 10 Evolving Information Processing Organizations / John Miller 307

Chapter 11 Modeling Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes / Daniel Levinthal 329

Chapter 12 Product Diversification in a "History-friendly" Model of the Evolution of the Computer Industry / Franco Malerba, Richard Nelson, Sidney Winter, Luigi Orsenigo 349

Chapter 13 Understanding Dynamic Complexity in Organizational Evolution: A System Dynamics Approach / Anjali Sastry 377

Chapter 14 Nonmonotonicity in Theory Building with Applications to Organizational Mortality / Laszlo Polos, Michael T. Hannan 405.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [445]-479) and index.

Local Notes:

Purchased with the Charles R. Anderson Fund, in honor of the Class of 1935; 2001/2002

ISBN:

0262621525

OCLC:

46633869