Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Reporting Organization Science publication



Title: Nearly Decomposable Systems and Organizational Structure: The Adaptive Properties of the Multi-Authority Form
(with Daniel A. Levinthal, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)


Abstract:

Organizations, as is true with social systems more generally, tend to be nearly, not fully, decomposable. However, analyses of nearly decomposable systems have tended to be at a single level of analysis and have generally neglected the vertical element of nearly decomposable systems. Critical to Simon’s notion of nearly decomposable systems is the property that the details of a particular sub-problem may be encapsulated and captured by more aggregate parameters and that those sub-problems interact in an aggregate way. We explore these issues in reference to the role of three canonical organizational structures in facilitating adaptation in the presence of near decomposability: a traditional hierarchy in which a subordinate reports to a single boss, an autonomous form in which the subordinate does not have a direct reporting relationship, and a multi-authority structure in which the subordinate reports to multiple bosses. Despite the ubiquity and potential benefits of multi-authority structures in coordinating highly interdependent tasks, our understanding of the mechanisms that determine the performance of those structures is still relatively modest. Scholars have noted conflicting empirical findings and have called for a more rigorous approach to study these organizational forms. To help address these issues, we develop an agent-based computational model that compares the performance of these three canonical types of organizational forms in settings characterized by different degrees of complexity and near decomposability.


Maciej Workiewicz

Assistant Professor
Management Department
ESSEC Business School

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Department Seminar Series JOSHUA SKEWES AARHUS UNIVERSITY - September 26th 2017



The Management Department
Department Seminar Series


JOSHUA SKEWES
AARHUS UNIVERSITY

 Tuesday, September 26th 2017
   Room LE CLUB  at 10:00 am (4.00 p.m in Singapore)


Theme“Informational Openness Enhances Collaborative Decision-Making 
in Groups of Autonomous Agents: A Cognitive Agent-Based Study”



    Abstract: "Collaborative decision making is central to the organization of society. Juries decide cases; boards and executive teams make strategic decisions; and voters elect government officials. It is common to think of such groups as decision making entities. We say that juries deliberate; that boards rule; and that electorates decide. But this language is imprecise. Real decision processes do not occur within any group as an abstract entity. Collaborative decision making always happens within and between individual group members. There is a rich body of research focused on how individuals decide together in groups. Most of this research assumes that individuals are already committed to the group they are in. This leaves open the question of how individuals decide to join decision making groups in the first place. We present an agent-based model of collaborative decision making designed to address this question. We develop this model in the context of existing research on task learning and intra-group communication. We demonstrate that collaborative decision making is done best when it is done by groups that are informationally, as well as structurally, open."

The Management Department SEMINAR SERIES 2017-2018



     The Management Department SEMINAR SERIES 
   2017-2018


Tue., Sept. 26th
10:00-11:30
Joshua Skewes, Aarhus University
LE CLUB
Tue., Oct. 17th
10:00-11:30
Leslie DeChurch, Northwestern University
LE CLUB
Tue., Nov. 14th
10:00-11:30
Nishani Bourmault
LE CLUB
Tue., Dec. 12th
10:00-11:30
Gerben van der Vegt
LE CLUB
Tue., Jan. 16th
10:00-11:30
TBD
LE CLUB
Tue., Feb. 13th
10:00-11:30
TBD
TBC
    Tue., March 13th 
10:00-11:30
Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, NYU
LE CLUB
Tue., April 10th
10:00-11:30
TBD
LE CLUB
Tue., May 22nd
10:00-11:30
TBD
LE CLUB
Tue., June 12th
10:00-11:30
TBD
LE CLUB
Tue., June 26th
10:00-11:30
TBD
LE CLUB