Erik R. Larsen - Böcker

An introduction to the use of computer simulation in studying organizational behavior.An organization is more than the sum of its parts, and the individual components that function as a complex social system can be understood only by analyzing their collective behavior. This book shows how state-of-the-art simulation methods, including genetic algorithms, neural networks, and cellular automata, can be brought to bear on central problems of organizational theory related to the emergence, permanence, and dissolution of hierarchical macrostructures. The emphasis is on the application of a new generation of equation- and agent-based computational models that can help students of organizations to reformulate their basic research questions starting from assumptions about how to link—rather than separate—different levels of organizational analysis.

Energy is a sector where there has always been a serious modelling tradition, but with the worldwide trend away from planned economies to new market structures, the risk, uncertainties and competitive aspects which need to be incorporated pose new challenges to analyse strategic as well as economic behaviour. Systems Modelling for Energy Policy addresses the strong and apparently countervailing themes dominating energy policy in the current decade: concerns about global warming have stimulated an intense and methodologically diverse level of analytical activity aimed ultimately at greater international co-ordination in policy and planningsimultaneously we are witnessing a worldwide trend away from planned national energy policies to new market structuresTo accommodate these shifts in focus, more comprehensive analytical procedures are needed to address technical challenges in handling large models whilst smaller, policy-specific behavioural models may give greater insight to the strategic challenges involved in maintaining focus on key industry restructuring issues for which past data is not available. This volume provides a comprehensive and up-to-date reference to the range of issues and modelling alternatives that a systems perspective gives to the analysis of energy policy. Practitioners, analysts and researchers will find new studies and comparative modelling insights in this book which are not easily accessed elsewhere.