Janice A. Black

Emergence of virtual or network organizations: fad or feature

The information age has highlighted the complex nature of our organizing systems. Complex systems move between ordered and disordered states. Ordered states condense near attractor points which include bifurcation points where order is redefined for the system. Such points have occurred repeatedly in our economy over the past decade, causing an unpredictable environment. As our economy moves from a stable state, a different set of organizing rules is needed. When this new set of organizing rules are overlaid with the conditions and processes facilitated by the use of advanced communication and computing technology, we find that virtual or network organizations are an emerging logical form for organizing.

Fermenting change ‐ Capitalizing on the inherent change found in dynamic non‐linear (or complex) systems

While there is no set definition of what constitutes “complexity,” some general classes of definitions have emerged across the writings of several fields of science. The basis for the classifications and a general definition used in this issue are presented. The papers of this issue are classified into the general categories and introduced to the reader.

Firm-Level Entrepreneurship and Field Research: The Studies in Their Methodological Context

Entrepreneurship researchers operate from various paradigms that embrace a wide range of methods from quantitative to qualitative. The studies in this special issue offer an interesting mixture of field methods. We examine the authors’ epistemological (“How do we know?”) and teleological (“Why do we know?”) choices, which affect the types of data gathered, the ways In which the data are analyzed, and the kinds of Interpretations formed about the data. By placing these studies in their methodological context, we believe the truthfulness and credibility of the conclusions drawn by the authors will be better appreciated and more fully understood.

Complex systems: boundary‐spanning training techniques

This paper explores the issue of the types of skills required of leaders and followers in new organizational forms. It reviews the concept of virtual teams in organizations. The paper addresses the role of training in facilitating boundary spanning in organisations using case examples.

Comparing simulation results of leadership style impacts on emergent versus specific task outcomes and required simulation model components

The clear specification of leadership efforts spanning levels of analysis has lagged behind leadership research in general. Simulation modeling, such as agent-based modeling, provides research platforms for exploring these interesting issues. This chapter uses agent-based models, along with Dionne and Dionnes (2009) choices of leadership styles, to examine the impact of those styles on the generation of an emergent group resource, context-for-learning (CFL), instead of the specific task outcome (group decision making) described by Dionne and Dionne. Consistent effectiveness is found across leadership styles for workgroups with high and slightly lower initial individual levels of a CFL. A second agent-based model includes the ability of agents to forget previous learned skills and reveals a reduced effectiveness of all leadership styles. However, the effectiveness of the leadership styles differs between the two outcomes (the specific group task model and the emergent group resource model). Reasons for these differences are explored, and implications from the comparisons of the two models are delineated.

Leadership style matters: The deployment of leadership skills in developing an organizational context-for-learning capability

The competence perspective requires deploying various organizational resources, skills, and capabilities in creating organizational-level skills. Of particular interest in organizational behavior is the effect of leaders on developing skills. This paper examines an emergent organizational capability, the Context-for-Learning, using virtual experiments and an agent-based model. In examining the developmental paths of this skill, we found that both the organizations composition and the leaders leadership style had very different effects on the developmental paths. The set of followers in an organization and the leaders leadership style are both critical in determining the developmental paths of the organizational skill, the Context-for-Learning. However, the leadership style of a highly skilled leader with a high set of followers did not matter.

Simulation of the Emergence of the Organizational Competence: Context-for-Learning

This paper applies a complexity-theory-based simulation to the diverse field of organizational behavior. The specific form or level of competency emerges from the involved people and resources and the interactions among them. This paper focuses on an organizational competency of being capable to change which arises from the set of individuals involved (a leader and direct reports) and their interactions. This model is a simplified version of reality that may provide insight into the complex processes of organizations. The Context-for-Learning (CFL) competency is based on the work of Black and Boal 1997. Leader behavior is based on Quinns competing values framework (1984, 1988). In addition to complexity theory, the simulation uses social constructivism to explain the coevolution of the individual, leader, and organizational capabilities. Using the same set of individual responses for a set of subordinates and varying leader behavior, we examine the resulting level of organizational CFL. This simulation demonstrates that leader behavior impacted the level of the emerging CFL in ways that were unique to individual leaders. Even two “good” leaders had surprisingly different impacts.

FRACTALS, STORIES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF COHERENCE IN STRATEGIC LOGIC

In this paper, we look at how understanding the basic rules governing the iterative mathematical generation of fractals might be translated into understanding a mathematics of social systems. In particular, we will apply the fractal metaphor to illustrate the creation of a coherent strategic orientation in a nonprofit organization. We believe that the use of “stories” in prominent organizational publications is an integral part of the generation of a coherent strategic orientation.

Virtual teams and organizations: Using complex systems logic to understand emerging organizational forms

Information Age (Davidow & Malone, 1992) is here and critically impacts work life. Such work systems have the characteristics of complex systems which move between ordered states near attractor points and disordered states. Some ordered states have bifurcation points where order is redefined and a qualitative change of the system occurs. We suggest that such points have occurred repeatedly in our economy over the past decade due to advances in information technology. As our economy moves from one stable state to another, the organizing rules change. Our assessment reveals that virtual teams or organizations emerge as a logical form for organizing. This new form also meets Brown and Eisenhardts (1998) call for a new organizing form. A new set of organizing rules is derived from a literature review and should facilitate understanding boundary issues, time issues and information management for practitioners.

Modeling International Market Development: The Tools of Production Defining the Stages of Market Evolution

A fact of life that many people have noted is that paradigms which underlie social systems such as organizations, markets and economies change over time. For thousands of years, society was based on an agrarian paradigm (Toffler, 1996). In the U.S., this paradigm shifted in the 1800s to one based on industrialization. While elements of the industrial paradigm began during the Renaissance with the advent of the printing press and the concept of a standardized product, it wasn’t until electricity became widely available that a critical mass of organizations switched over to this new paradigm. This shift initiated a change in thinking from individualized knowledge and ways of knowing to a standardized set of knowledge and the emphasis on generating a “common body of knowledge.” It took a critical mass of these new ideals and the advancement of technology to enable a separation of communication from a tangible to an intangible product, and ultimately, to the next paradigmatic shift introduced by technology.