Timothy N. Carroll

Designing a New Organization at NASA: An Organization Design Process Using Simulation

The challenge for NASAs Systems Analysis Integrated Discipline Team (SAIDT) is to develop a new organization design capable of performing complex modeling and analysis tasks, using team members at various NASA centers. The focus is on: (1) design as a process, (2) the effect of design tools on the process as well as alternative designs, (3) the fit between the tools and their fit with the organization, (4) the effect of an ongoing agencywide transformation, and (5) implications for organizational contingency theory.

A contingency approach to designing project organizations: theory and tools

Many firms have increasingly come to rely on projects as a fundamental approach to organizing work. Yet understanding the best way to organize projects is a challenge, given the various contingencies that impact project success. We focus here on three contingency-based project organization design tools (the design structure matrix, OrgCon™ and SimVision™) that help to manage project complexity and ensure project success by identifying misfits or misalignments between organizational elements. We discuss the application of these models to a large National Aeronautics and Space Administration project as an example. We conclude with a consideration of how the existing tools are useful, and where they fall short.

The Structural Properties of Sustainable, Continuous Change Achieving Reliability Through Flexibility

Recent studies show that the relationship between structure and inertia in changing environments may be more complex than previously held and that the theoretical logics tying inertia with flexibility and efficiency remain incomplete. Using a computational model, this article aims to clarify this relationship by exploring what structural properties enable continuous change in inertia-generating organizations and what their performance consequences are in dynamic environments. The article has three main findings: First, employing managers who anticipate change is not enough to generate continuous change; it is also necessary to raise both the rate of responsiveness and desired performance. Second, continuous change increases average organizational performance and reduces its variation. Third, organizations’ capacity for continuous change is counterintuitively limited by the organizations’ capacity to build inertia. These are important insights, because they suggest that with the right design, organizations may be both more flexible and reliable than commonly believed.

Predicting Organizational Reconfiguration

This chapter addresses the issue of structural change within for-profit organizations, both as adaptation to changing markets and as purposeful experimentation to search for new opportunities, and builds upon the “reconfiguration” construct. In the areas of strategy, evolutionary economics, and organization theory, there are conflicting theories that either predict structural change or discuss obstacles to change. Our aim is to highlight relevant theoretical rationales for why and when organizations would, or would not, be expected to undertake structural reconfiguration. We conclude with remarks on how these literatures, together, inform our understanding of reconfiguration and organization design and provide insights for practitioners.

A Framework of Organisations as Dynamic Structures

This paper integrates advances in organisational structure research into a broader framework of ‘structural action’ that depicts organisations as dynamic structures. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main contributions from various theories and perspectives that have all informed our understanding of the impact of organisational structure on strategic change. We propose that organisational structures, as one mechanism by which strategy is enacted, are moulded purposefully and in different ways. To better understand how organisations are re-designed, the framework recommends particular structural actions depending on the turbulence (both internal and external) and performance (both actual and aspired) aspects of the organisation.

Organizational Design, Learning, and the Market Value of the Firm

We compare market returns associated with firms’ creation of new units focused on e-business. Two aspects of organization design - governance and leadership - are considered with regard to exploitation- and exploration-oriented organization learning. We find that exploitation in governance (high centralization) is associated with a lower mean and variance in returns; that exploitation in leadership (appointment of outsiders) is associated with the same mean yet higher variance; and, among units exhibiting both modes of learning, the variance of returns are not equal.