Adaptation as a Morphing Process: A Methodology for the Design and Evaluation of Adaptive Organizational Structures

  • Authors:

  • Didier M. Perdu;Alexander H. Levis

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Systems Engineering, MSN 5A6, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, http://viking.gmu.edu. E-mail: alevis@gmu.edu, dperdu@osf1.gmu.edu;Department of Systems Engineering, MSN 5A6, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, http://viking.gmu.edu. E-mail: alevis@gmu.edu, dperdu@osf1.gmu.edu

  • Venue:
  • Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory
  • Year:
  • 1998

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Abstract

Changes in objectives, in resources, or in the environmentmay necessitate the adaptation of an organization from one form toanother. However, in many cases, the organizations need to continuefunctioning while adaptation takes place, i.e., it is not possible tostop the organizational activity in order to reorganize, and then startagain. In this case, adaptation can be expressed as a morphing processin which the organization transitions from one form with its attendanttask allocation to a different one through a series of incrementalsteps that preserve overall functionality and performance. Coordination between organization members during adaptation iscritical. A computational model for this type of organizationaladaptation at the operational level is presented. The model isimplemented using the Colored Petri Net formulation of discrete eventdynamical systems. A design methodology that utilizes this model isoutlined and a simple example is used to illustrate the approach.