Computational experimentation on new organizational forms: Exploring behavior and performance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Edge</Emphasis> organizations

New organizational forms are being conceived and proposed continually, but because many such organizations remain conceptual—and hence have no basis for empirical assessment—their putative advantages over extant organizational forms are difficult to evaluate. Moreover, many such organizational forms are proposed without solid grounding in our cannon of organization theory; hence understanding their various theoretical properties in terms of our familiar, archetypal forms remains difficult. This poses problems for the practitioner and researcher alike. The Edge represents one such, recent, conceptual organizational form, which lacks readily observable examples in practice, and the conceptualization of which is not rooted well in our established organization theory. Nonetheless, proponents of this new form argue its putative advantages over existing counterparts, with an emphasis upon complex, dynamic, equivocal environmental contexts; hence the appeal of this form in today’s organizational environment. The research described in this article employs methods and tools of computational experimentation to explore empirically the behavior and performance of Edge organizations, using the predominant and classic Hierarchy as a basis of comparison. We root our models of these competing forms firmly in Organization Theory, and we make our representations of organizational assumptions explicit via semi-formal models, which can be shared with other researchers. The results reveal insightful dynamic patterns and differential performance capabilities of Hierarchy and Edge organizations, and they elucidate theoretical ramifications for continued research along these lines, along with results amenable to practical application. This work also highlights the powerful role that computational experimentation can play as a complementary, bridging research method. Mark Nissen is Associate Professor of Information Systems and Management at the Naval Postgraduate School. His research focuses on dynamic knowledge and organization. He views work, technology and organization as an integrated design problem, and has concentrated recently on the phenomenology of knowledge flows. Mark’s publications span information systems, project management, organization studies, knowledge management and related fields. In 2000 he received the Menneken Faculty Award for Excellence in Scientific Research, the top research award available to faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School. In 2001 he received a prestigious Young Investigator Grant Award from the Office of Naval Research for work on knowledge-flow theory. In 2002–2003 he was Visiting Professor at Stanford, integrating knowledge-flow theory into agent-based tools for computational modeling. Before his information systems doctoral work at the University of Southern California, he acquired over a dozen years’ management experience in the aerospace and electronics industries.