Ventana software support forum

Posted by ""Abhijit Mandal"" <Abhijit.Mandal@wbs.ac.uk>

Please let me know if there are any existing models on the process of instiutionalization, or other models that can be adapted to model the process described below.


The basic causal model is as follows
1. A jolt in the institutional environment
2. Gives rise to processes of decline of actors who have adopted a
dominant institutional form
3. Which leads to an increase in new institutional forms
4. Which leads to an increase in formalisation activity. Many of
the forms in stage 3 will drop away.
5. And then an increase diffusion activity. A small number of
forms will battle it out for supremacy at this stage.
6 a. If this diffusion is successful they become a new institution.
This will result in increasing number of actors adopting one form
and dropping others forms
6 b. If this diffusion is not successful it becomes a fad or
fashion. This will result in a decline of that form.
7. Eventually contradictions will arise within the existing
institution
8. Which will give rise to another round on
de-institutionalisation (back to 3)

Regards,

Abhijit
Posted by ""Abhijit Mandal"" <Abhijit.Mandal@wbs.ac.uk> posting date Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:10:51 +0000 _______________________________________________

Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>

Rather than speak to models that may exist, I refer you to the well-known book by Thomas Kuhn, ""The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,"" for many suggestions about causal loops in the kind of process you're talking about.
I've often wished that Kuhn had been an SD modeler so we could have had his version of how this works in an SD form, but I think he makes the dynamics quite clear.

[ See Path Dependence, Competition, and Succession in the Dynamics of
Scientific Revolution by Sterman and Wittenberg
http://web.mit.edu/jsterman/www/SDG/self.html ]


John
Posted by ""John Gunkler"" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
posting date Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:52:23 -0400
_______________________________________________

Posted by Bob Powell <scuba@usa.net>

Your query reminded me of this short paper that you might find interesting:
""Organizational Evolution: Successive barriers to growth for which organizations must be prepared."" (pdf, 254K).
http://www.exponentialimprovement.com/c ... Evol4p.pdf

A causal loop model is based on a brilliant HBR classic by Larry E.
Greiner, ""Evolution and revolution as organizations grow,"" Harvard Business Review, May-June 1998 (orig. 1972).

In the case described, the ""jolt in the institutional environment""
isn't a jolt, but a gradual building of pressures due to changes in the organization itself as it grows. The organization must either cope successfully with those pressures to move to the next stage or regress or die.

A model like you describe could be created by specifying the nature of the jolt, its effect on the actors, what they do in response, etc.

__________

Bob Powell
Posted by Bob Powell <scuba@usa.net>
posting date Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:26:51 -0600 _______________________________________________