Informal Networks and Resistance to Organizational Change: The Introduction of Quality Standards in a Transport Company

In this paper we investigate the association between resistance to the introduction of ISO quality standards in a transport company and three effects of the informal advice and trust networks in the organization. The analysis includes four prevailing explanations from the literature on organizational resistance: job satisfaction, perceived legitimacy, unit grouping and decision making authority. The network effects we propose are: (a) a contagion effect, which predicts that members with the same opinion tend to have close or equal trust and advice relations; (b) a prominence effect, which predicts that prominent actors in the trust network show less resistance than other members—and that prominent members of the advice network show more resistance than less prominent actors; (c) a role equivalence effect, which predicts that members with the same patterns of combined trust/advice relations show the same resistance. The paper presents the operationalization and measurement of the variables and the results of three analyses to test the effects. Contagion of resistance appears to be very significant in the trust network. Resistance gradually erodes in the trust network when moving from management to employees. Members who are trusted in the transport company are significantly less resistant to the introduction of the quality standards than members who are not especially trusted. This network effect is controlled for the significant effects of job satisfaction and perceived legitimacy. The role equivalence structure of the combined trust/advice network does not explain the resistance. We conclude that informal networks have important effects on resistance to the proposed changes in the transport company. The case study shows how network analysis can be used to empirically test for effects of social relations in organizations.     

The Dynamics of Cultural Influence Networks

This article investigates the behavior of cultural influence networks over time, using a computer simulation based on a formal model of cultural transmission in organizations. In the formal model, every organizational member exerts some cultural influence on, and is influenced by, every other member; these influence paths constitute a dense social network and the weights of paths (ties) vary throughout the network. Over time, each organizational member's enculturation level changes in response to influence from other members, and the influence weight of each path changes in relationship to the cultural similarity of the individuals connected by the path. Virtual experiments explore the configuration and evolution of the cultural influence network under varying demographic conditions and influence principles. Demographic effects are studied by varying organizational size, hiring selectivity and turnover rates. Two principles for determining initial influence path weights are examined, cohort-based influence and random influence. The simulations show that the cultural influence network evolves over time to a robust configuration, fluctuating around a stable dynamic equilibrium as individuals enter and leave the organization. As turnover rates rise, cohort-based influence strengthens the influence network and reduces network inequality. In this model, cohort-based influence processes promote cultural stability in organizations.     

不同信任环境下在线知识社区知识系统演化研究

信任作为在线知识社区中的社会影响因素,对社区中的成员进行沟通学习、知识共享有着重要的作用。不同的在线知识社区有着不同的信任环境,而信任环境的不同会影响社区中用户的学习模式和观点传播。基于此,本文提出了基于信任与Deffaunt的组合观点影响模型。信任模型主要将社区中的信任分为认知信任和情感信任,通过调节参数结构,对应不同信任环境中信任的动态演化过程。Deffaunt模型作为基本观点影响模型,模拟了不同信任环境下的在线知识社区的知识观点的演化过程。实验结果发现,信任环境的高低决定了社区中的观点是否收敛,并且社区中的群体理性人占比和信任程度都能影响观点的收敛速度。     

基于AHP法的个人博客影响力评价方法研究

参照网络信息资源评价的理论与方法,从博客日志质量、博客作者权威性、博客作者与读者的互动性三个方面入手,构建个人博客影响力评价体系,提出了9项个人博客影响力评价指标,并用层次分析法获得各评价指标的权重.进而建立各评价指标的5个评价等级体系,根据博客各评价指标的得分和权重,获得个人博客影响力评价模型.最后,选取2个博客进行了实证分析.     

基于半参数单指标方法的公司治理研究

本文以1995-2000年间我国所有上市公司CEO更换的数据为样本,应用半参数单指标方法(single-index semi-parametric methods)分析影响上市公司CEO强制更换的因素,对公司治理的效率进行了初步的判断。研究表明:(1)强制性CEO更换与公司业绩、银行短期贷款比率负相关;(2)当最大股东为国有商业机构时,CEO被强制更换的几率比较大;(3)最大股东的持股比率未能对强制性CEO更换起到显著解释作用。总体而言,公司的治理起到一定的作用。但是银行作为债权人,应加强对上市公司的监管。     

On periodical behaviour in societies with symmetric influences

We propose a simple model of society with a symmetric functionw(u, v) measuring the influence of the opinion of memberv on that of memberu. The opinions are chosen from a finite set. At each step everyone accepts the majority opinion (with respect tow) of the other members. The behaviour of such a society is clearly periodic after some initial time. We prove that the length of the period is either one or two.     

Structural constraints on communication: The diffusion of the homomorphic signal analysis technique through scientific fields

Within an organizational environment there are a variety of communication channels through which information can and does diffuse. One's view about the nature of information affects which type of communication channel is expected to be most effective for diffusion. Further, each type of communication channel defines a structure within the organization. In order to determine the relative impact of various communication channels on the diffusion of information within science the diffusion of a particular method, Homomorphic Signal Analysis, is explored relative to a set of organizational structures for the relevant scientific community. Findings include the following. Methods, as information, have a map rather than a grammatical production nature. Consequently, organizational structures that combine both shared knowledge and potential for interaction are most effective in the diffusion of methods. Generalist journals and the working connections between opinion leaders play dominant roles in the diffusion of methods.     

Attitude change in arbitrarily large organizations

The alignment of collective goals and individual behavior has been extensively studied by economists under a principal-agent framework. Two main solutions have been presented: explicit incentive contracts and monitoring. These solutions correspond to changes in the objective situation faced by individuals. However, an extensive literature in social psychology provides evidence that behavior is influenced, not only by situational constraints, but also by attitudes. Therefore, an important aspect of organization is to choose the structures and procedures that best contribute to the dissemination of the desired attitudes throughout the organization. This paper studies how the initial configuration of attitudes and the size of the organization affect the optimal organizational structure and the timing of information flows when the objective is to align the members’ attitudes. We identify and characterize three factors that affect the optimal organizational structures and procedures and the degree of alignment of attitudes: (1) clustering effects; (2) member cross-influence effects; and (3) leader cross-influence effects.     

Managerial influence on attitude formation in organizations: how to manage emergence

The emergence of a shared attitude in organizations can be regarded as a self-organizing complex process in which a majority attitude emerges from the ensemble of interactions among individuals. Almost by definition, emerging processes seem beyond the control of management, which is in conflict with the task of management to steer an organization. By modeling the emergence of a shared attitude in organizations, we were able to demonstrate that management had a distinct influence on this process. Furthermore, the first round of interactions was decisive for the outcome. The key to influencing the emergence of a shared attitude is to reduce resistance against the preferred attitude. High levels of group conformity inhibited conversion to the preferred attitude. Although the emergence of a shared attitude can be influenced by management, there remains an intrinsic uncertainty in the outcomes of attitude development processes.     

Further Areas for O.R. Modelling in Industry

This paper sets out the case for OR workers embarking on the construction of models of wider scope than has been traditional. Changing industrial conditions emphasize the need to include the social costs of absenteeism, high labour turnover, training and indifferent quality in the evaluation of new projects, as well as the influence on productivity of these factors, and, more especially, of the means devised to overcome them. New criteria of effectiveness are required.A plea is made for OR to be involved in model building of the new patterns of industrial organization; such models could help the uncommitted countries to explore the alternatives at factory and union levels. A comprehensive model would therefore need also to quantify the effect of alternative union structures and strategies on industrial output and on the living standards of the workers.Quantification presents formidable difficulties but to avoid such problems would condemn OR to a role of perpetual sub-optimization.     

Fitting the lognormal distribution to censored labour wastage data

In this paper an estimation technique is developed on the basis of the well-known lognormal hypothesis for labour wastage to estimate the early leavers for each entry cohort. Early leavers are those leavers who joined and left the company during the twelve-month period and are not recorded at the census data taken at the end of this period. The results of applying the lognormal model on the extended data in predicting survivors for several companies are then shown to be improved.     

Normality and sharing functions

In this paper, we proved some normality criteria for a family of meromorphic functions, where a holomorphic function is shared by every function from the family and a linear differential polynomial generated by the members of the family.     

Heuristic and exact solutions to the inverse power index problem for small voting bodies

Power indices are mappings that quantify the influence of the members of a voting body on collective decisions a priori. Their nonlinearity and discontinuity makes it difficult to compute inverse images, i.e., to determine a voting system which induces a power distribution as close as possible to a desired one. The paper considers approximations to this inverse problem for the Penrose-Banzhaf index by hill-climbing algorithms and exact solutions which are obtained by enumeration and integer linear programming techniques. They are compared to the results of three simple solution heuristics. The heuristics perform well in absolute terms but can be improved upon very considerably in relative terms. The findings complement known asymptotic results for large voting bodies and may improve termination criteria for local search algorithms.     

A model of influence based on aggregation functions

The paper concerns a dynamic model of influence in which agents make a yes–no decision. Each agent has an initial opinion which he may change during different phases of interaction, due to mutual influence among agents. We investigate a model of influence based on aggregation functions. Each agent modifies his opinion independently of the others, by aggregating the current opinion of all agents. Our framework covers numerous existing models of opinion formation, since we allow for arbitrary aggregation functions. We provide a general analysis of convergence in the aggregation model and find all terminal classes and states. We show that possible terminal classes to which the process of influence may converge are terminal states (the consensus states and nontrivial states), cyclic terminal classes, and unions of Boolean lattices (called regular terminal classes). An agent is influential for another agent if the opinion of the first one matters for the latter. A generalization of influential agent to an irreducible coalition whose opinion matters for an agent is called influential coalition. The graph (hypergraph) of influence is a graphical representation of influential agents (coalitions). Based on properties of the hypergraphs of influence we obtain conditions for the existence of the different kinds of terminal classes. An important family of aggregation functions–the family of symmetric decomposable models–is discussed. Finally, based on the results of the paper, we analyze the manager network of Krackhardt.     

基于演化博弈论的环卫自律组织激励机制研究

我国部分城市开始推进市容环境卫生责任区制度,并探索建立环卫自律组织。本文将自律组织和组织成员作为博弈双方建立演化博弈模型,并引入激励机制;然后计算博弈双方在不同收益下的选择意愿,进行稳定性分析;最后运用MATLAB仿真分析参数变化对演化结果和路径的影响。结果表明,合理的激励机制大大提高了组织成员的积极性,并将激励机制设置为正激励与负激励,其中正激励包括荣誉激励、资金激励两者并行激励。同时,上级政府部门需加强对自律组织的监管,大力宣传环卫自律自治,提高组织成员的自律自治意识,使环卫自律组织的管理运行更加顺畅。     

Organizational dynamics with symmetric responses of members

In this paper, we consider the dynamics of an organization whose members share a sense of camaraderie. More specifically, the organization to be considered is formed when people who share a specific sense of purpose spontaneously gather and cooperate with one another to engage in a specific social activity. We describe the state of such organizations with an index derived from a “principle” of each member. We can then trace the evolution of an organization by examining the behavior of the index. We consider the behavior of the index to be determined through two channels: (1) the principle response among members and (2) the relation between a member’s principle and the social environment. We analyze the evolution of the organization by using a dynamical system with a particular focus on how an organization changes in response to changes in the social environment. Using the bifurcation theory, we obtain a result where an organization with a symmetric response of members’ principles eventually either splits into two parties or maintains unity but with a different index. In addition, we propose a process for the reaction of an organization to changes in the social environment and show that the type of initially formed symmetric response determines the final state of the organization.     

基于多Agent仿真的双元创新平衡与组织绩效关系研究

运用多主体仿真方法,探讨了双元创新平衡对组织绩效的作用机理,并且检验了个体间模仿学习速度、任务复杂度、人员流动、环境扰动等情境因素与双元创新平衡对组织绩效的交互影响。仿真实验的结果表明,当组织处于稳定环境下,任务复杂程度适中,并且个体间模仿学习速度中等时,双元创新平衡参数与组织绩效间呈现倒U型的影响关系;当任务过于复杂或者过于简单时,任务本身的特性削弱了双元创新平衡参数对组织绩效的影响,不同平衡模式对应的组织绩效没有明显的差距;当个体间模仿学习速度比较慢时,增强了组织的探索性,此时具有利用式创新倾向的组织可以更好地提升组织绩效水平。但当个体间模仿学习速度过快时,组织更多的倾向探索式创新对组织绩效的提升更有利;当组织存在人员流动和外部环境扰动时,更多的利用式创新可以提升组织对现有知识进行重组和整合的能力,从而更好地适应环境的动态变化。     

Multiplex Multi-Core Pattern of Network Organizations: An Exploratory Study

Recent research on small-world theory has been expanded upon organizations behavior. However, most individual studies have taken a simplified view of individuals and relationships among members by focusing on a single type of links mainly within dyadic relationships. In reality, members of organizations are interacting with each other and often connected via many types of links within more complex relationships. To explore this complex interaction, this study models organization as network and proposes a multiplex approach that captures the complexity of relationships among members in organizations. This approach accounts for the multiple types of links among members and the multiple roles of members within network organizations. It is illustrated via a case study of a network organization. The case study demonstrates how this approach could capture the many types of relationship among members as well as the various roles that members play within the network organization. Such an approach can yield new insights on how to better manage network organizations.     

Assessment and improvement of employee job-satisfaction: a full-scale implementation of MUSA methodology on newly recruited personnel in a major French organisation

During the last 20 years, a large number of studies have investigated the relationship between employee satisfaction and specific job characteristics, with often contradictory results. The aim of this paper is the assessment of job satisfaction of recent recruits in a large French company. The approach adopted here is to view employees as internal customers of an organization, and their satisfaction as an important driver for business success. Using the MUSA multicriteria methodology for customer satisfaction evaluation, the study aimed (1) to identify and measure satisfaction criteria of newly recruited personnel, and (2) to determine new organisational policies based on the findings.