The Systems Research Laboratory's Air Defense Experiments

Abstract

The "off-the-top" findings of the air-defense experiments conducted in RAND's Systems Research Laboratory between 1952 and 1954 were the training principles that are the basis of the system training program being implemented by the System Development Corporation. There are, however, other theoretical and methodological implications. The desired performance of complex systems can be realized only through designing and managing them for operational flexibility. This can be done by harnessing the learning ability of men in organizations. Conditions for encouraging men to adapt system's resources to most efficient use follow from the organism analogy--a key notion for explaining the behavior of the four crews studied. In addition, the simulation techniques developed in the course of the research provide a means for continued "head-on" attacks on a crucial problem of the present day--that of better understanding the adaptation process in organizations, so that it can be used and controlled. The paper is in the form of a report of a scientific search. The story of experimental mistakes, modifications in method, and successive insights is presented to convey the essence of an ambitious investigation at the frontier of knowledge where the terrain is not well-mapped and the research tools are being developed as needed.

The performance effect of organizational learning and market orientation

“…Thus, from the original studies focused on organizational learning (Argyris, 1976;Cangelosi & Dill, 1965;Chapman, Kennedy, Newell, & Biel, 1959;Cyert & March, 1963;Hirschman & Lindblom, 1962;March & Olsen, 1975) there is a very rapidly growing interest from a diverse variety of academic perspectives on this subject (Bontis, Crossan, & Hulland, 2002;Crossan, Kane, & White, 1999;Jones & Hendry, 1994;March, 1991;Romme & Dillen, 1997;Senge, 1990;Stata, 1989). The continuing popularity of this paradigm has resulted in two main perspectives: 1) Learning organizations can be seen as "…organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together" (Senge, 1990).…”

A Model of Family Factors and Individual and Unit Readiness: Literature Review

“…Research reported by Chapman, Kennedy, Newell, and Biel (1959) and by Finley, Rheinlander, Thompson, and Sullivan (1971) supports the position that the effectiveness of larger military units is in part determined by subordinate team performance. However, conflicting results have been obtained on the factor.…”

Implementation Rationality: The Nexus of Psychology and Economics at the RAND Logistics Systems Laboratory, 1956-1966

“…James Driskell and Beckett Olmstead (1989, 53) Laboratory in a room behind a Santa Monica billiard hall and brought in a few more psychologists and coders. In their first RAND research memorandum in January 1952, the design team explained, "(t)he Systems Research Laboratory will be studying particular kinds of models 8 The early history of the Systems Research Laboratory is discussed in Chapman and Kennedy 1955;Chapman, Kennedy, et al 1959;Baum 1981;Ware 2008, 94-98. In Von Neumman, Morganstern, andthe Creation of Game Theory, Robert Leonard (2010), examines the relationship between the SRL and the rest of the RAND mathematics department and stresses Kennedy's point that the limits of game theory and mathematical modeling made empirical research through simulation a necessity.…”