Dynamic Networks. An interdisciplinary study of network
organization in biological and human social systems.
Abstract of PhD Submission
Karen June Tesson
Abstract
This thesis is about a metaphor; it explores the idea that human organizations
could be treated "as if" they behaved like biological systems. The thesis focuses
on one biological metaphor in particular - the idea of a living network.
The thesis begins with an exploration of the philosophical background to my
research. The development of rationalistic and reductionist approaches to
systems enquiry is described, and the limitations of these approaches are
discussed. This is followed by a discussion of non-linear, holistic and other
approaches, including a newly emerging perspective known as Inclusionality.
Communication is an important aspect of both human and biological systems, so
I continue by examining established theories of communication, showing how
they have influenced the way we understand communicative systems. A
chapter is devoted to the subject of metaphor, which explains how in
contemporary research, metaphor is treated not merely as a linguistic device,
but as a cognitive tool that reflects how we make connections between ideas.
Various metaphors for human organizations are discussed, including the
network metaphor.
I deal with network theory itself in some detail, firstly exploring conventional
network theory, which is concerned with networks that are node based, and
secondly with the organization of natural biological networks which are quite
different in form and are the products of autocatalytic flow. The concept of the
"flow-form network" as a metaphor for human organizations is explored, and
some of the methodological issues concerning the study of such networks are
discussed.
The latter part of the thesis describes a practical study of a human organization,
where communicative patterns were investigated. The study highlights how
flow-form networks might be identified in human organizations, as well as the
limitations that conventional methods of enquiry pose in such an investigation.
CONTENTS
You can download the PhD in chapters which are stored in PDF Format
Abstract, Acknowledgements, Contents, List of Figures, List of Tablespage
2-16
Chapter 1 - Introductionpage 17-35
Chapter 2 - From Mechanism to Inclusion: a discussion of selected
literature on the philosophy of science and systems page 36-57
Chapter 3 - Communication theory page 58-76
Chapter 4 - Metaphorpage 77-97
Chapter 5 - Conventional network theory page 98-113
Chapter 6 - Natural networks: towards a new metaphor of networks page 114-136
Chapter 7 - The study of flow-form networks: an introduction to the
methodological issues and challenges
page 137-156
Chapter 8 - Teamwork study: aims, context and rationale page 157-171
Chapter 9 - Teamwork study: procedures page 172-186
Chapter 10 - Teamwork study: results and analysis
page 187-208
Chapter 11 - Teamwork study: discussion page 209-229
Chapter 12 - Concluding discussion page 230-252
References page 253-267
Appendix 1 Scheme used to transcribe video-recorded dialogue in
Study 2
page 268
Appendix 2 Raw data and initial analysis for Study 1 - The structure of
interaction networks between team members during
Liveweek page 269-287
Appendix 3 Excerpt of transcribed and coded content data from Study 2
(dialogue study) page 288
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