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2005 > |
Course
Description |
Organizational
Learning: Theory and Experiments
Massimo
Egidi
University of Trento
Persistency of organisational diversity has
received a considerable amount of attention in the recent literature, and the
application of some mathematical tools such as Kauffman’s Nk
Model and Polya Urns in economic and organisational
contexts has permitted new promising results in the attempt to explain it. An
interesting progress into this direction has been accomplished when it has been
suggested that sources of diversity can be found in learning processes and in
connected selection pressures being characterised by path dependency and which
may, therefore, give rise to a display of diverse organisational forms. Lock-in
phenomena are the cornerstone of this distinction. In some experiments, which
we will discuss in the course, different groups, exposed to a different context
have been induced to discover different sets of behavioural rules: the
discovery has shown high persistency, a sort of "imprinting" which
induces different groups to react in very different ways when exposed to the
same configuration. This effect explains organisations’ "cognitive
inertia" and ambiguity.
Finally, lock-in processes will be explained as
biases in individual’s decision-making produced by simplified representations
of the decision problem. We will see that individuals make systematic use of
default classifications in order to reduce the short-term memory load and the
complexity of symbolic manipulation and therefore the rise of biases in the mental
representation of a problem may be the "natural" effect of the
categorization and the identification of the building blocks of a strategy. We
will see that these findings are coherent with the most recent views expressed
by Kanheman and Vernon Smith on bounded, constructivist and ecological
rationality.
Lecture 1. Why organizational learning? From Optimal Planning to Organizational
Learning – An Historical perspective
Required readings:
Optional readings:
March, J. G., Simon H. A. (1958) Organizations,
(1993 2nd edition) New York: John Wiley. (selected chapters)
Cyert, R.
M., & March, J. G. (1963). A behavioral
theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.(selected
parts)
Coase R (1937) “The Nature of the Firm” Economica 4:386-405
Lecture 2. Routinized Thinking: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Required readings:
Egidi,
Massimo ; Narduzzo, Alessandro (1997) The
Emergence of Path Dependent Behaviors in Cooperative Contexts in : International
Journal of Industrial Organization; 15(6), October 1997, pages 677-709. Downloads:
(external link) http://www.sciencedi ...
c714963ee056f75b6f49
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
Working Paper: The emergence of path-dependent behaviors in cooperative contexts
Optional readings:
Cyert R.
M., Simon H.A.
e Trow D.B. (1956) 'Observation of a business
decision', Journal of Business n. 29,
pp. 237-248.
Cohen, M.
D. Burkhart, R., Dosi, G. Egidi,
M., Marengo, L., Warglien, M., Winter, S. (1996),
“Routines and Other Recurring Action Patterns of Organizations: Contemporary
Research Issues”, Industrial and
Corporate Change, 5 (3), pp. 653-98
This journal article can be ordered from http://www.oup.co.uk/journals
Lecture 3. The Landscape of Organizational diversity
Required readings:
Kauffman, S. A. (1989) 'Adaptation on Rugged Fitness
Landscapes' in Lectures in the Sciences of Complexity, edited by Stein D. L.
Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Vol. I, pp.527-712.
Redwood City, CA: Addison Wesley.
Levinthal
D.A.(2001) “Modeling Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes” in Lomi
A. and Larsen E. R. Dynamic of
Organizations ,Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press., pp329-348
Optional readings:
Kauffman,
S. A., Johnsen, S. (1992) 'Co-evolution to the Edge
of Chaos: Coupled Fitness Landscapes, Poised States, and Co-Evolutionary
Avalanches', in Langton C.G., Taylor L., Farmer J. D. , Rasmussen S. Artificial Life II, Redwood City, CA: Addison Wesley.
Lecture 4. Multiple representations of a problem: experimental
evidence
Required readings:
Simon, H. A., &
Hayes, J. R. (1976). Understanding process: Problem isomorphs. Cognitive
Egidi
M.(2004) “Decomposition Pattern in Problem Solving” in Social Science Research Network http://www.ssrn.com/
Downloads: http://econwpa.wustl ... ers/0309/0309003.pdf
http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/archive/00000543/
Lecture 5. Biases
and Ambiguities; tacit and explicit knowledge.
Required readings:
Optional readings:
Selten R.
(1999) What is Bounded Rationality? SBF Discussion
Paper B-454
Egidi
M. (2005) “From Bounded Rationality
to Behavioral Economics” forthcoming in
Revue Economique