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

了解组织环境下通信网络的发展是组织科学的一个基本研究问题。在过去的30年里，这一领域的研究激增，人们对网络如何在平衡、同质性和交换等二元特征的平衡条件下运作有了新的理解。然而，我们仍然不了解个人代理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网络结构和发展的理论，该理论是基于在群体环境中相互影响的人类代理人的活动。该项目有四个贡献：(1)将网络节点建模为具有自己动机和网络倾向的代理，(2)描述重点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)将网络动力学解释为结构和行为循环的产物，这些循环随着时间的推移相互影响。理解这些现象将有助于更好地设计更大范围的组织，以及更好地预测和减轻组织失败。本研究的理论背景是网络网状理论（NRT）。该理论将结构理论和活动焦点理论的元素结合起来，解释了感知网络关系是如何被组织系统中的触发器激活的，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来产生黑客马拉松，从而潜在地加强了过程中的组成网络关系。我们使用一个独特的数据集来研究这个过程，该数据集包括对软件工程商店的无所不在的观察，从中记录了79名员工在三年时间内的感知关系、观察到的沟通、任务活动和成员感知的数据。为了评估这一理论，我们采用了三种互补的方法：(1)利用统计关系事件模型对经验数据进行直接检验；(2)多智能体社会网络模拟，通过捕获激活、网状和制定过程忠实地模拟NRT；(3)一个认知多智能体社会网络模拟，在网络节点上增加了决策体系结构。该项目还采用了一种从录音中识别网络连接的新方法，为社会计量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.