ABSTRACT
Since 1989, the Virtual Design Team (VDT) research group at Stanford has been conducting research to develop a theoretical framework and computational simulation model to predict the impact of changes in organization structure on the performance of project-oriented organizations engaged in knowledge work. The long-range goal of this research program is to formalize theories and develop computational analysis tools that can support the systematic (re)engineering of organizations engaged in a variety of project-oriented and ongoing enterprises. The research was initially directed toward large and complex but routine design projects like design of power plants and oil refineries. For such design projects, both goals and means are clear and agreed upon by a majority of participants; coordination of large numbers of interdependent activities is the principal organizational issue to be addressed. This chapter:
Discusses some abstractions we chose to make in the representation and reasoning of VDT-2 that permitted rapid progress in modeling complex but routine design projects;
Presents results from a case study in which we used this organization and work process framework and computational model to predict aggregate and detailed performance of a team engaged in a challenging, real-world engineering project; and
Provides a view of how the representation and reasoning assumptions of VDT-2 can be extended in a number of ways to create a simulation tool that can be used to test virtual prototypes (i.e., to do real “organizational” (re)engineering), and to run new kinds of computational, “virtual” experiments for project-oriented enterprises engaged in less routine knowledge work.
