Ineffective Organizational Practices at NASA: A Dynamic Network Analysis

Craig Schreiber, Kathleen M. Carley
2005 Social Science Research Network  
Ineffective organizational practices: a multilevel problem In 2003 many organizational problems within NASA were cited by the Columbia Investigation Board (CIB) as contributing to the Columbia disaster. Among the problems cited were barriers to communication, including information technologies, structural integration and databases, ineffective leadership and practical drift. Structural integration is assembling interdependent actions into coherent sequences and outcomes. Practical drift is
more » ... adaptation to demands that require work practices to fall outside the formal procedures of the organization. Single level analysis insufficiently addresses the problem Dynamic network analysis is a holistic approach that models the multilevel dynamics of the sociotechnical system Multi-agent network models allow for the representation of individual cognitive agents who can take action, learn and alter the network -organizational adaptation. Based on well-known social and cognitive processes that influence the agent interactions, agents will go through the process of action, learning and network alteration to produce emergent behavior. Emergent behavior that, under certain conditions, can result in communication breakdown, structural disintegration and practical drift. Agents, human and technological, can be modeled as information processing entities with heterogeneous attributes particularly in terms of organizational role, knowledge, experience, and response to stress. As such, multi-agent network models can capture the complexities of NASA structure at various levels.
doi:10.2139/ssrn.2726789 fatcat:iofoiik37zgbrfmlwrx2vhjozu