MIT System Dynamics Seminar: The Nature of Order in Process Networks

Please visit the MIT System Dynamics Seminars page for more information.

You are invited to attend the System Dynamics Seminar being held this Friday, February 4^th from 1:00-2:30pm ET in the Jay W. Forrester conference room, E62-450, or via Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94333057556 (Password: SDSpr22). Our guest speaker will be Dan Braha (UMass/NECSI) presenting The Nature of Order in Process Networks (see abstract and brief bio below). \

If you would like to schedule a 30-minute 1:1 meeting with Dan Braha before or after the seminar, please fill out the following Doodle link by COB Wednesday, February 2^nd and I will send out a calendar invite to confirm the time and location (let me know if you prefer to meet in person or virtually).

As per updated Sloan policies, there will be no food permitted inside any of the conference rooms, beverages will require a straw to be consumed underneath your mask, and in-person attendees will need to sign a check-in sheet upon arrival to assist in contact tracing should it become necessary.

Please visit https://sloangroups.mit.edu/saas/about/ for more information about all of the research seminars happening this semester.

Abstract: Can we study organizations like studying natural phenomena? Are there universal laws that govern their structure and dynamics? In this talk, I will demonstrate the universality of organizational forms and functions by focusing on an important class of organizations that are involved in collaborative planning processes–central to a variety of domains from engineering and medicine to economics and social planning. In particular, a method, called organizational spectroscopy, is shown to reveal remarkable patterns of organizational forms opening the door to a new way of defining and analyzing organizational routines.

Brief Bio: Dan Braha is a Commonwealth Professor of Decision and Information Sciences at the University of Massachusetts and is also a co-faculty of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), where he conducts research and teaches courses in complex systems. He previously held visiting professorship positions at the MIT Engineering Systems Division, the MIT’s System Design, and Management Program, the MIT Center for Product Development, and Boston University’s Division of Systems Engineering, as well as held a tenured professorship in Israel. Prof. Braha has published in various prestigious journals and authored and edited nine books. His work is regularly cited and covered by various national and international news media including Science Magazine, The Economist, Wired Magazine, Le Monde, The Huffington Post, New Scientist, The New Republic, Nova, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Standard-Times, International Business Times, The Irish Times, Science and Technology Daily (in Chinese), Business Insider, Technology Review (Published by MIT), and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Prof. Braha has also been invited to present his work as keynote and plenary speaker in high-profile international conferences and symposiums, including by The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the MIT SDM Systems Thinking, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), The IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, the RAND Corporation, and GE Global Research.

Prof. Braha has advanced the area of complex systems by introducing novel methodologies for understanding the functionality, dynamics, robustness, fragility, and control of large-scale Spatio-temporal engineering, as well as social, economic, financial, political, managerial, and organizational systems. These complex systems—like power grids, large-scale projects, financial systems, or societal systems—are so ubiquitous in our daily lives that we usually take them for granted, only noticing them when they break down. He is interested in questions such as: How do such amazing technologies, infrastructures, and organizations come to be what they are? How are these systems designed and managed? How do distributed networks work, and why does the information in social networks diffuse in a very fast and effective way? How are they made to be robust and respond rapidly to errors? To address these questions, he explores the interplay between biological, physical, and large-scale managerial and human-made systems by creating data-driven theoretical and computational models using the tools of big data, statistical physics, sociology, operations research, network analysis, computer science, and computational biology.

Prof. Braha’s passion for research is evenly matched with his passion for teaching, where he was honored to receive six times university teaching awards.