Modeling Change in Fields of Organizations: A Simulation Study

本研究开发了一套计算机模拟，以提取随着时间的推移，社会群体的成员竞争的PI的生态理论的逻辑含义。该理论认为，群体通过流入和流出这些群体的个体群体相互作用。人口的特点是作为一组点的位置是由社会人口层面定义的。这些维度形成了一个“相空间”，在这个空间中，社会形态随着时间的推移而成长、衰落和改变其特征。该理论的短期（10-15年）含义已经在志愿协会、美国职业和文化形式的人群中得到了成功的检验。一套计算机模拟研究将允许探索社会群体和其他实体如何在更大范围的人口参数下发展。群体行动模拟程序（GASP）考察了控制理论模型行为的几个重要参数变化的影响，包括（1）人们进入和退出组织的速度，（2）个人网络关系中的同质性力量，以及（3）群体之间的竞争程度。要研究的结果变量包括领带稳定性，组大小，组年龄，组重叠，组分散，以及系统中的组数。此外，该项目还探讨了组织人口在这些不同的行为参数下稳定或不稳定的条件。

This research develops a set of computer simulations to extract the logical implications of the PI's ecological theory of the competition of social groups for members over time. The theory argues that groups interact with each other through the population of individuals which flow into and out of these groupings. The population of individuals is characterized as a set of points whose locations are defined by sociodemographic dimensions. These dimensions form a "phase space" within which social forms grow, decline, and change their characteristics over time. The short term (10-15 years) implications of the theory have been successfully tested in populations of voluntary associations, of U.S. occupations, and of cultural forms. A set of computer simulation studies will allow the exploration of how social groups and other entities develop under a larger range of population parameters. The Group Action Simulation Program (GASP) examines the effects of variations in several important parameters governing the behavior of the theoretical model, including (1) the rates at which people enter and exit from organizations, (2) the force of homophily among individuals' network ties, and (3) the extent of competition among groups. Outcome variables to be studied include tie stability, group size, group age, group overlap, group dispersion, and the number of groups in the system. In addition, the project explores the conditions under which organizational populations stabilize or fail to stabilize under these varying behavioral parameters.