FROM METAPHOR TO METHOD: NONLINEAR SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT

Emerald - Tập 5 Số 3 - Trang 249-266 - 1997
Gregory A.Daneke1
1Arizona State University, East

Tóm tắt

For several decades, scholars have called for “open” or “living systems” approaches to the study of complex organizations. These approaches were especially characterized by the presence of various nonlinear dynamics. Unfortunately, the formal mathematics required to capture these dynamics did not become widely available until the recent mass computing revolution. Meanwhile, these realms of mathematics, known variously as “catastrophes,” “chaos,” and more recently as “complexity,” have caught hold in the physical, biological, and cognitive sciences. This article contends that it is now time for these recent advances in the sciences of nonlinearity to emerge full scale in the social realm as well. However, thus far, this movement is much more metaphorical than it is methodological. Thus, a review of some policy and management applications is undertaken. Of particular interest are those where the uses of phase plane analysis and genetic algorithms portend significant practical import.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.1111/j.1467-9965.1993.tb00079.x

Ackoff R. L., 1970, A concept ofcorporate planning

Amit R., 1990, Policy Division

Anderson P. W., 1988, The economy as an evolving complex system

10.1007/978-1-349-02971-6

Argyris C., 1982, Reasoning, learning and action

Ashby W. R., 1955, Design for a brain: The origin of adaptive behavior

Bailey K. D., 1994, Sociology and the new systems theory: Toward a theoretical synthesis

Buckley W., 1967, Sociology and modern systems theory

Cascio W. F., 1993, Academy of Management Executive, 7, 95

Catanese A. J., 1970, Systemic planning: Theory and application

Coleman J. S., 1990, Foundations of social theory

Daneke G. A., 1985, Academy of Management Review, 10, 15, 10.5465/amr.1985.4277327

10.2307/976620

Daneke G. A., 1994, Journal ofBusiness andManagement, 1, 8

Daneke G. A., 1996, Nonlinear science and social inquiry: A demonstration. Working paper

DeGreene K. B., 1982, The adaptive organization: Anticipation and management of crisis

Deming W. E., 1993, The new economicsfor industry, government, education

Diesing P., 1982, Science and ideology in the policy sciences

Dooley K. J., 1994, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dornbusch R., 1987, Macroeconomics and finance: essays in honor ofFranco Modigliani

Dosi G., 1988, G. Dosi, 13

Ellis C. D., 1992, Financial Analysts Journal, 48, 16

10.1177/001872676501800103

10.1177/001872678503800804

10.1007/978-1-349-16161-4

Gleick J., 1987, Chaos: Making a new science

Herriott S., 1985, Decisions and organizations (pp. 219-227)

Holland J. H., 1992, Adaption in natural and artificial systems, 2, 10.7551/mitpress/1090.001.0001

10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245

10.1111/j.1540-6261.1992.tb04672.x

Jantsch E., 1980, The self-organizing universe: Scientific and human implications of the emerging paradigm ofevolution

Kauffman S., 1993, The origins of order: Self-organization and selection in evolution

10.1108/eb028865

March J. G., 1986, Rational choice (pp. 142-170).

10.1108/eb028806

Maruyama M., 1982, Academy of Management Review, 7, 612, 10.5465/amr.1982.4285257

Meyer A. D., 1990, Strategic Management Journal, 11, 93

10.1017/CBO9780511559990

10.1177/001872678303600402

Morgan G., 1986, Images of organization. Beverly Hills: Sage

Nichols N., 1993, Harvard Business Review, 71, 50

Powell W. W., 1991, The new institutionalism in organizational analysis, 10.7208/chicago/9780226185941.001.0001

Priesmeyer H. R., 1992, Organizations and chaos: Defining the methods of non-linear management

Priesmeyer H. R., 1994, School of Business & Administration

Prigogine I., 1984, Order out of chaos

Resnick M., 1994, Technology Review, 32

Rotemberg J., 1990, Sloan School of Management, MIT.

Schrödinger E., 1943, What is life?

Scott W. R., 1995, Institutions and organizations

Senge P. M., 1990, The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization

Silverberg G., 1988, G. Dosi, 531

Stacey R. D., 1992, Managing the unknowable-strategic boundaries between order and chaos in organizations

10.1002/smj.4250160606

Swieringa J., 1992, Becoming a learning organization

10.2307/41165082

10.1126/science.111.2872.23

Wheatley M., 1992, Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe

Zucker L. G., 1988, Institutional patterns and organizations: Culture and environment