Collaborative Research: The reticulation/activation nexus in organizations: An agent-based model and empirical test using unique data

在组织背景下理解通信网络的发展是组织科学中的一个基础性研究问题。在过去的30年里，这一领域的研究爆炸式增长，使人们对网络如何基于平衡、同质性和交换等二元特征在均衡条件下运行产生了理解。然而，我们仍然不了解个体机构和组织活动等背景因素的影响。这个项目的目的是开发和测试一种网络结构和发展的理论，该理论基于人类代理人在团体环境中相互影响的活动。该项目有四个贡献：(1)将网络节点建模为具有自身动机和联网倾向的主体；(2)描述集中活动对网络发展的影响；(3)考虑组织结构和工作单位对网络发展的影响；(4)将网络动态解释为结构和行为随时间相互影响的循环的产物。了解这些现象将有助于更好地设计广泛的组织，以及更好地预测和缓解组织失败。这项工作的理论背景是网络网状化理论(NRT)。该理论综合了结构化理论和活动焦点理论的元素，解释了组织系统中感知到的网络关系是如何被触发因素激活的，例如，软件工程公司的截止日期如何激活组织网络的某些元素以产生黑客马拉松，潜在地加强了过程中的构成网络关系。我们使用一个独特的数据集来研究这一过程，该数据集包括对软件工程商店的无处不在的观察，从中记录了79名员工在三年期间的感知关系、观察到的沟通、任务活动和成员感知的数据。为了评估该理论，我们使用了三种补充方法：(1)使用统计关系事件建模对经验数据进行直接测试；(2)多智能体社会网络模拟，通过捕获激活、网化和执行过程来忠实地模拟NRT；以及(3)认知多智能体社会网络模拟，它为网络节点的决策增加了架构。该项目还利用了一种从录音中识别网络连接的新方法，为社交徽章提供了有用的补充。

Understanding the development of communication networks in organizational contexts is a fundamental research problem in the science of organizations. An explosion of research in this area over the last 30 years has produced an understanding of how networks operate in equilibrium conditions based on dyadic features like balance, homophily, and exchange. Yet we still do not understand the effects of individual agency and contextual factors like organizational activity. The purpose of this project is to develop and test a theory of network structuring and development based on the activities of human agents influencing one another within group contexts. This project makes four contributions: (1) modeling network nodes as agents with their own motives and networking tendencies, (2) describing the influence of focused activities on network development, (3) accounting for the influence of organizational structures and work units on network development, and (4) explaining network dynamics as the product of a loop of structure and behavior which influences one another over time. Understanding these phenomena will enable better design of a wide range of organizations, as well as better prediction and mitigation of organizational failure.The theoretical context of this work is Network Reticulation Theory (NRT). This theory draws-together elements of structuration theory and activity focus theory to explain how perceived network relationships are activated by triggers in an organizational system, for example how a deadline in a software engineering firm activates certain elements of an organizational network to produce a hackathon, potentially strengthening the constituent network relationships in the process. We study this process using a unique dataset comprising ubiquitous observation of a software engineering shop, from which data about perceived relationships, observed communication, task activities, and member perceptions are recorded for 79 employees over a period of three years. To evaluate the theory, we employ three complimentary methods: (1) A direct test on the empirical data using statistical relational event modeling; (2) a multi-agent social-network simulation that faithfully models NRT by capturing activation, reticulation, and enactment processes; and (3) a cognitive multi-agent social-network simulation that adds architecture for decision making at the network nodes. The project also utilizes a novel method for identifying network connections from audio recordings that offers a useful supplement to sociometric badges.