Adaptability, Cooperation and Reconfiguration in Very Complex Multiregional Network Organizations

Cifersky, J. & Lee, R.M. (1983). Adaptability, Cooperation and Reconfiguration in Very Complex Multiregional Network Organizations. IIASA Collaborative Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: CP-83-026

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Abstract

There seems to be a general trend that the development of technologies which interact with human beings also enhances the knowledge of human functions. For example, with the development of color television systems progress in the knowledge of human color vision was also recorded. In return this new knowledge then helped in the design of even more efficient color television system.

A similar situation seems to reign in computer systems and computer networks. Managing different resources in computer systems by operational systems resembles somewhat the management of resources in an organization. The inference block in 5th generation computers may resemble human inference and is pursued by an artificial intelligence discipline. The study of cooperative features in computer systems and networks may bring us closer to understanding these processes in organizations or even in human societies at large. This happens because many causal relations are present in computer systems in clearer and sometimes more primitive forms, stripped of many of the accompanying but irrelevant (emotional) ingredients.

This Collaborative Paper is the continuation of an activity that started when Dr. Cifersky joined the Management and Technology Area of IIASA in 1882 as a participant in the Young Scientists Summer Program, under the supervision of Dr. R. Lee. The paper scans those problems in organizations which are evoked by the environment. It attempts to describe some of those processes which are taking place in complex organizations as a response to external influences, and identifies some of the impacts this may have on the organization's performance objectives.

The paper has not been edited and supplemented by a vocabulary, therefore it does not make easy reading. It uses terms common in organization research, computer systems (for example, communication protocol), or principles used in fail-safe computer systems (reconfiguration). The topic is interesting and stimulating and can contribute to further research at the Institute in this field.

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