Modularity of Organization and Design of Adaptive Organizations: An Analysis of the Transformation of American Military Organizations
By Pierre Barbaroux
English
This article applies the concept of quasi decomposable systems to investigate organizational transformation processes. Based on a military case study (U.S. Army), the article shows how the principles of quasi-decomposability and modularity have been effectively implemented to manage the transformation of a vertically integrated organizational form toward a modular, network-centric organization. From a theoretical perspective, the article defines an adaptive organizational form as the combination of a reliable functional architecture and flexible communication interfaces. JEL codes: L22, L39, M19
Keywords
- modularity
- transformation
- network-centric organization