Plasticity in Network Organizations

Alqithami, Saad; Hexmoor, Henry

doi:10.20965/jaciii.2014.p0567

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…Beyond formation and dissolution, other organizational operations, such as growth, merging, shrinking, and bifurcation, guide organizations. Structural adaptations are discussed in a property called plasticity [3].…”

Section: Outline Of An Snomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It can be abstractly observed as a tuple N, E, T, F, L . An account of organizational changes is elaborated in the discussion of plasticity with a more detailed model in [3].…”

Section: Formal Model For An Snomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, E m ), where m is number of events. Elsewhere, we divide the events set into external and internal in order to delineate ways in which an SNO will stay focused on a set of external triggers to initiate appropriate internal cues for generating responses [3].…”

Section: Formal Model For An Snomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling emergent network organizations

Alqithami

Hexmoor

2014

Web Intelligence and Agent Systems: An International Journal

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Fervent and agile communication on social networking sites and in virtual organizations provides opportunities for potential issues to trigger individuals into individual action as well as the attraction and mobilization of like-minded individuals into an organization that is both physically and virtually emergent. Examples are the rapid pace of Arab Spring and the diffusion rate of the occupy movement. Previous organizational models lack the representational power to model spontaneous exigencies of a network organization that accounts for rapid rates of dissemination in impromptu networks. This model, therefore, is conceived in a life cycle for a prototypical, emergent networked organization and description of operations therein from formation to dissolution. After describing the life cycle, this article offers insights for a model of a successful emergent organization and an implemented example of a spacecraft organization of satellites.

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Section: Outline Of An Snomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It can be abstractly observed as a tuple N, E, T, F, L . An account of organizational changes is elaborated in the discussion of plasticity with a more detailed model in [3].…”

Section: Formal Model For An Snomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling emergent network organizations

Alqithami

Hexmoor

2014

Web Intelligence and Agent Systems: An International Journal

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“…Previous treatments of the topic do converge on some key facets of OP but diverge as to the conceptual boundary as well as the use of the concept towards predefined ends. For instance, Alqithami and Hexmoor (2014, p. 567) defined OP as the “property of network organization that affords them rapid change”. This definition implies that plasticity is a property of organisations that rapidly adapts to volatile environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the quest for defining organisational plasticity: a community modelling experiment

Siebers

Herath

Bardone

et al. 2020

EBHRM

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PurposeThis viewpoint article is concerned with an attempt to advance organisational plasticity (OP) modelling concepts by using a novel community modelling framework (PhiloLab) from the social simulation community to drive the process of idea generation. In addition, the authors want to feed back their experience with PhiloLab as they believe that this way of idea generation could also be of interest to the wider evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM) community.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used some workshop sessions to brainstorm new conceptual ideas in a structured and efficient way with a multidisciplinary group of 14 (mainly academic) participants using PhiloLab. This is a tool from the social simulation community, which stimulates and formally supports discussions about philosophical questions of future societal models by means of developing conceptual agent-based simulation models. This was followed by an analysis of the qualitative data gathered during the PhiloLab sessions, feeding into the definition of a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation.FindingsThe PhiloLab experiment helped with defining a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation, which are presented in this viewpoint article. The results indicated that the problem was rather complex, but it also showed good potential for an agent-based simulation model to tackle some of the key issues related to OP. The experiment also showed that PhiloLab was very useful in terms of knowledge and idea gathering.Originality/valueThrough information gathering and open debates on how to create an agent-based simulation model of a plastic organisation, the authors could identify some of the characteristics of OP and start structuring some of the parameters for a computational simulation. With the outcome of the PhiloLab experiment, the authors are paving the way towards future exploratory computational simulation studies of OP.

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“…Key elements to achieve plasticity are flexibility, adaptability, resilience and easy responsiveness to deal with unpredictable events. Plastic organizations, in contrast to hierarchical organizations, are characterized by decentralization, fast feedback and agile and self-selecting teams which often come along with network structures (Alqithami and Hexmoor, 2014). While it is argued that organizational plasticity provides benefits for adapting to a changing environment (Crozier, 1969), it is also argued that plasticity comes at the cost of reduced selectability of the underlying traits (Levinthal and Marino, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From organizing to organizations: a typological scale of human relations management outside the legal world

Neumann

2020

EBHRM

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PurposeThe article examines strategies of human resource management in the absence of institutional hedging by norm-enforcing institutions such as a state monopoly of violence by using case studies of criminal organizations. This condition provides a test-bed for studying the effects of human relations management strategies on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, a case study methodology is applied. Three cases are selected to build a scale from complete plasticity of an undifferentiated network via a status differentiated gang to a hierarchical organization that provides social positions. The case studies are analysed by qualitative content analysis, network analysis and agent-based simulation.FindingsAn undifferentiated network based on informal trust lacks mechanisms for conflict resolution. This is a highly vulnerable organizational structure. While a status differentiated gang is more resilient towards internal conflicts, its activities remain dependent on individually accumulated social capital. This organizational structure is not resilient over generations of actors. A hierarchical organization provides highest degree of structural resilience up to a level of a system of self-organized criticality.Originality/valueThe study of human relations management outside the legal world provides insights into the basic mechanisms and functional effects of organizational activity.

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Plasticity in Network Organizations

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Modeling emergent network organizations

Modeling emergent network organizations

On the quest for defining organisational plasticity: a community modelling experiment

From organizing to organizations: a typological scale of human relations management outside the legal world

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