Formation and Dynamics of Organizational Routines

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。“工作流程对于组织中的工作如何完成至关重要。 共同行动是由多个行动者执行的相互依赖的重复的、可识别的行动模式。 这些模式可以是灵活的，也可以是僵化的;它们可以产生效率增益，也可以产生持续的低效率。 本项目旨在提高我们对常规何时对组织绩效有利或有害的理解，包括创新，组织变革和吸收新技术方面的绩效。 调查的中心是组织惯例如何形成和随着时间的推移而变化。 研究人员从三个方面解决了这个问题。 首先，他们研究参与协调解决问题的个人网络的形成。 形成完成日常工作的网络尤为重要，因为一旦一种行动模式开始，它往往会影响谁参与其中以及随后完成什么任务。 其次，他们研究在复杂和不断变化的环境中形成和适应惯例的挑战。 这部分研究考虑了影响组织处理偶尔或持续变化的问题的因素。 第三，他们确定的条件下，例行显示惯性或变化，以及组织效率的影响。 该项目的这一方面研究了环境的不稳定性和组织特征如何解释组织惯例的不稳定性和变化。该项目将涉及一个基于代理的惯例形成和演变的计算机模拟模型，该模型将用于运行一系列实验，阐明三个中心研究问题。 在进行三项模拟研究的同时，该团队还将进行实地研究，以帮助验证模拟模型并提供参数空间的范围。他们还将创建一个独立的计算机模拟程序，具有简单的图形用户界面，可用于教授例程的动态。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Routines are vital to how work gets done in organizations. Routines are repetitive, recognizable patterns of interdependent actions carried out by multiple actors. These patterns can be flexible or rigid; they can produce efficiency gains or persistent inefficiency. This project seeks to advance our understanding about when routines are advantageous or disdvantageous to organizational performance, including performance in terms of innovation, organizational change, and assimilation of new technology. The inquiry centers on how organizational routines form and change over time. The researchers address this question in three ways. First, they look into the formation of networks of individuals who engage in coordinated problem solving. The formation of networks for accomplishing routines is especially important because once a pattern of action starts, it tends to influence who gets involved and what tasks get done subsequently. Second, they examine the challenges of forming and adapting routines in complex and changing environments. This portion of the research considers the factors that affect how well organizations handle problems that change occasionally or persistently. Third, they identify the conditions under which routines display inertia or change, and the implications for organizational efficiency. This facet of the project examines how environmental instability and organizational characteristics explain instability and change in organizational routines.The project will involve an agent-based computer simulation model of routine formation and evolution, which will be used to run a series of experiments that illuminate the three central research issues. In parallel with the three simulation studies, the team will conduct field studies to help validate the simulation model and provide bounds on the parameter space. They will also create a stand-alone computer simulation program with a simple graphical user interface that can be used to teach the dynamics of routines.