The Science of Organizational Design

Experimentation and simulation can be the basis for theory development. An experiment is a test, trial, or tentative procedure - an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle or supposition. Experiments provide insight into cause and effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. Empirical studies evaluate what is, while simulation and experimentation can help in finding what might be and what should be.

Experimentation requires a theoretical basis and an experimental setup, and models can be of the organization system or of the agents in the system. Models of the system include system dynamic models as well as mathematical programming models. Agent-based modeling is a relational, bottom-up understanding of organizations as ongoing processes arising out of individual and group decisions. Further, it can be based on interaction between "agents". Levitt et al. developed a model that extends and operationalizes Galbraith's information-processing view of organizations. The model allows for simulation of the micro-level information processing, communication, and coordination behavior of participants/agents in a project organization.

Most simulations of organization design are computer-based, some are laboratory experiments with humans as the agents, while others are mixed, and some agents being computer agents and others being individuals. Models of social and economic organizations based on the interaction between agents are becoming more common.

This stream of research has developed an integrated multi-contingency theory utilizing theory development, laboratory experiments, simulation, and empirical analysis together for deeper understanding of contingency theory for organization design - a scientific approach to organization design. The work has thus contributed to the theory of organizational design as well as the extension of triangulation as a research design. Further, a forward-looking perspective of organizational design has been argued.