The Strength of Social Influence as a Determinant of Organizational Change

社会影响力作为组织变革的决定因素

• 批准号: 0433280
• 负责人: Stephen Mezias
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-09-15 至 2009-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0433280&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Strength; Social; Influence; Determinant; Organizational

0433280 Mezias AbstractThis research addresses the question of "why changing a public school so hard?" by bridging multiple theories of change with the cognitive and social structure of interaction. A leading edge sociocognitive network model is developed to provide a parsimonious and powerful explanation for the cognitive and social dynamics that generate change in organizations. Specifically, three interlinked studies are designed to test the sociocognitive network model within a context notorious for its resistance to change - public elementary and secondary schools.Study I utilizes an experimental design that manipulates network interactions and characteristics of change to determine their impact on individual and group assessments. The impact of group assessments on the likelihood of change is also investigated. Study II is a computer simulation study designed to determine the impact of various network conditions on the sociocognitive process and answer questions such as, "do limited interactions due to network size, structures, or information sharing patterns effect shared understandings?" Study III is a field study in New York City Schools Under Registration Review (SURR). It is argued that differences in outcomes are driven by differences in organizational members' shared understanding about the feasibility, urgency, effectiveness and legitimacy of change. This triangulation of research methods has been demonstrated to provide both contextually rich and reliable results when testing new theory.The research team is very multidisciplinary, with scholars from organizational change, education, social networks and social cognition from two universities. The study will also significantly involve graduate and undergraduate students. INTELLECTUAL MERIT. This research advances existing knowledge by integrating sociocognitive and social network theory to model the type of real-world exchanges and interactions that take place in organizations. Evidence resulting from the research team's experience and research in organizational contexts faced with change corroborates theoretical assertions about the strength of the sociocognitive model. A particular innovation of the model establishes boundary conditions for the effects of cognition on change, arguing that the effects of cognition on change depend on stable and widely shared social assessments of a particular form. The proposed research addresses the call of the Human and Social Dynamics program by 1) demonstrating how cognition is a product of social structure and can be represented as a collective process; 2) integrating work from network and sociocognitive theory as well as studies of strategic and institutional change to demonstrate how collective cognition becomes the impetus for change and 3) offering practitioners theoretically justifiable and contextually valid knowledge with which to manage profound change in their organizations.BROADER IMPACTS. Findings that illustrate the complex social and cognitive dynamics responsible for change impact all organizations; yet, the research is conducted with the needs of public elementary and secondary schools in mind. Results of the research will be disseminated via workshops and conferences to public school teachers and administrators to use as a new tool for understanding and facilitation change in under performing schools where students are mostly poor, are mostly people of color and are among the most underserved groups in the nation. The positive research results can provide knowledge that empowers practitioners to change schools in a way that realizes the full potential of students and the organizations that serve them.This project is supported by an award resulting from the FY 2004 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD). Coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards involves all NSF directorates and offices.

0433280 Mezias Abstract这项研究解决了一个问题：“为什么要这么努力地改变公立学校？”通过与互动的认知和社会结构桥接多种变化理论。开发了领先的社会认知网络模型，以为组织改变组织变化的认知和社会动态提供简约而有力的解释。具体而言，三项相互联系的研究旨在测试社会认知网络模型在臭名昭著的情况下以其对变化的抵制 - 公立小学和中学。研究i使用了一种实验设计，该设计操纵网络相互作用和变化的特征以确定其对个人和小组评估的影响。还研究了小组评估对变革可能性的影响。研究II是一项计算机模拟研究，旨在确定各种网络条件对社会认知过程的影响，并回答问题，例如“由于网络规模，结构或信息共享模式导致有限的互动会影响共享的理解吗？”研究III是纽约市学校的一项现场研究，并在注册审查（SURS）下进行。有人认为，结果的差异是由组织成员对变革的可行性，急切，有效性和合法性的共同理解的差异所驱动的。已经证明，这种研究方法的三角剖分在测试新理论时既可以提供上下文丰富又可靠的结果。研究团队非常多学科，来自两所大学的组织变革，教育，社交网络和社会认知学者。这项研究还将大大涉及研究生和本科生。智力优点。这项研究通过将社会认知和社交网络理论整合到建模现实世界交流和组织中发生的互动的类型来推动现有知识。研究团队在组织背景下的经验和研究所产生的证据证实了有关社会认知模型实力的理论主张。该模型的特殊创新为认知对变化的影响建立了边界条件，认为认知对变化的影响取决于对特定形式的稳定且广泛共享的社会评估。拟议的研究通过1）证明认知是社会结构的产物，可以用作集体过程； 2）整合网络和社会认知理论的工作，以及对战略和制度变革的研究，以证明集体认知如何成为变革的动力和3），3）从理论上讲，从事从业者在组织上有效且具有上下文有效的知识，以管理其组织中的深刻变化。说明了负责变革的复杂社会和认知动态的发现，影响了所有组织；然而，这项研究是考虑到公立小学和中学的需求。这项研究的结果将通过研讨会和会议向公立学校的教师和管理人员进行传播，以用作理解和促进在表演学校中变化的新工具，在这些学校中，学生大多数是贫穷，大多数是有色人种，并且是全国最受欢迎的群体之一。积极的研究结果可以提供知识，使从业人员以一种实现学生和为他们服务的组织的全部潜力改变学校的能力。该项目得到2004财年NSF范围内人类和社会动态竞争（HSD）的奖项的支持。 HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理涉及所有NSF局和办公室。