Inducing and Mitigating a Self-Reinforcing Degradation in Decision-making Teams

Computational analyses of organizational behavior employ either intellective or emulative models [1]. The model described in this paper 1 is an intellective models. Intellective models are usually abstract, small, relatively simple, and incorporate only a few parameters. They help modelers make general predictions about trends and the relative benefit of organizational changes, identify the range of likely behaviors, and qualitatively compare the impact of different types of policies or technologies on expected behaviors. Emulative models are much more detailed, incorporate a large number of parameters or rules, are more difficult and expensive to construct, and require large volumes of input data. They help modelers make specific predictions about quantitative characteristics of organizational behavior for specific organizations under specific conditions, and compare quantitatively the expected impact of alternative organizational designs or policy changes.