Information exchange and the robustness of organizational networks

被引:133
作者
Dodds, PS
Watts, DJ
Sabel, CF
机构
[1] Columbia Univ, Inst Social & Econ Res & Policy, New York, NY 10027 USA
[2] Columbia Univ, Dept Sociol, New York, NY 10027 USA
[3] Santa Fe Inst, Santa Fe, NM 87501 USA
[4] Columbia Univ, Sch Law, New York, NY 10027 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1073/pnas.1534702100
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The dynamics of information exchange is an important but understudied aspect of collective communication, coordination, and problem solving in a wide range of distributed systems, both physical (e.g., the Internet) and social (e.g., business firms). In this paper, we introduce a model of organizational networks according to which links are added incrementally to a hierarchical backbone and test the resulting networks under variable conditions of information exchange. Our main result is the identification of a class of multiscale networks that reduce, over a wide range of environments, the likelihood that individual nodes will suffer congestion-related failure and that the network as a whole will disintegrate when failures do occur. We call this dual robustness property of multiscale networks "ultra robustness." Furthermore, we find that multiscale networks attain most of their robustness with surprisingly few link additions, suggesting that ultrarobust organizational networks can be generated in an efficient and scalable manner. Our results are directly relevant to the relief of congestion in communication networks and also more broadly to activities, like distributed problem solving, that require individuals to exchange information in an unpredictable manner.
引用
收藏
页码:12516 / 12521
页数:6
相关论文
共 35 条
[1]   Statistical mechanics of complex networks [J].
Albert, R ;
Barabási, AL .
REVIEWS OF MODERN PHYSICS, 2002, 74 (01) :47-97
[2]   Error and attack tolerance of complex networks [J].
Albert, R ;
Jeong, H ;
Barabási, AL .
NATURE, 2000, 406 (6794) :378-382
[3]  
[Anonymous], 1975, Markets and Hierarchies
[4]  
[Anonymous], 1994, MANAGEMENT INNOVATIO
[5]  
Arenas M, 2001, LECT NOTES COMPUT SC, V1973, P39
[6]  
Beunza D., 2003, Socio-Economic Review, V1, P135
[7]   THE FIRM AS A COMMUNICATION-NETWORK [J].
BOLTON, P ;
DEWATRIPONT, M .
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, 1994, 109 (04) :809-839
[8]   Network robustness and fragility: Percolation on random graphs [J].
Callaway, DS ;
Newman, MEJ ;
Strogatz, SH ;
Watts, DJ .
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2000, 85 (25) :5468-5471
[9]   The Nature of the Firm [J].
Coase, R. H. .
ECONOMICA-NEW SERIES, 1937, 4 (16) :386-405
[10]   Resilience of the Internet to random breakdowns [J].
Cohen, R ;
Erez, K ;
ben-Avraham, D ;
Havlin, S .
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2000, 85 (21) :4626-4628