TY - JOUR
T1 - The population ecology of undesigned systems
T2 - an analysis of the Arizona charter school system
AU - Mars, Matthew M.
AU - Bronstein, Judith L.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are especially grateful to Eric Berschback, Ildiko Laczko-Kerr, and Kelly Powell at the Arizona Charter School Association and Anabel Aportela with the Arizona School Boards Association for their input and general support of our project. We thank the Editor for his enthusiasm for our study and guidance on how to make a better-positioned paper, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and insights. The study was internally funded by a Start for Success Grant awarded by The University of Arizona Office of Research, Discovery, and Innovation and a Research Seed Grant awarded by The University of Arizona Center for Insect Science.
Funding Information:
We are especially grateful to Eric Berschback, Ildiko Laczko-Kerr, and Kelly Powell at the Arizona Charter School Association and Anabel Aportela with the Arizona School Boards Association for their input and general support of our project. We thank the Editor for his enthusiasm for our study and guidance on how to make a better-positioned paper, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and insights. The study was internally funded by a Start for Success Grant awarded by The University of Arizona Office of Research, Discovery, and Innovation and a Research Seed Grant awarded by The University of Arizona Center for Insect Science.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - The application of ecological concepts and principles to the study of organization design and system development is now commonplace. Population ecology is one biological perspective that has been especially influential within the organization design literature. In the current study, we illustrate for the first time how this framework can be used to reveal when and in what ways intervention is warranted within a system that, like a biological population in nature, has emerged with little to no purposeful design. Specifically, we use 20 years of data on 1,074 Arizona charter schools to illustrate how population analysis can be used to uncover the characteristics of individual organizations that have the highest ability to survive over time within systems that have been allowed to emerge with little to no purposeful design. Our findings lead us to argue how pre-intervention population analysis at the system level can influence organization-level design choices in a way that enables dynamic fit and thereby enhances the likelihood of organization survivorship and innovation over time.
AB - The application of ecological concepts and principles to the study of organization design and system development is now commonplace. Population ecology is one biological perspective that has been especially influential within the organization design literature. In the current study, we illustrate for the first time how this framework can be used to reveal when and in what ways intervention is warranted within a system that, like a biological population in nature, has emerged with little to no purposeful design. Specifically, we use 20 years of data on 1,074 Arizona charter schools to illustrate how population analysis can be used to uncover the characteristics of individual organizations that have the highest ability to survive over time within systems that have been allowed to emerge with little to no purposeful design. Our findings lead us to argue how pre-intervention population analysis at the system level can influence organization-level design choices in a way that enables dynamic fit and thereby enhances the likelihood of organization survivorship and innovation over time.
KW - Inter-organizational dynamics
KW - Population ecology, dynamic fit
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091418124&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091418124&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s41469-020-00083-y
DO - 10.1186/s41469-020-00083-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091418124
SN - 2245-408X
VL - 9
JO - Journal of Organization Design
JF - Journal of Organization Design
IS - 1
M1 - 17
ER -