Optimizing organizational structure: A hausdorff benchmark for complex social systems

Abstract

The search of optimal structures for social organizations has been an ongoing concern of management science, but reliable answers have not been given. Optimization theory has provided solutions, but these have always addressed very specific organizational problems, not the issue of overall optimality in terms of the fitness of the organization as a whole. In this paper, a new approach, grounded in system theory is suggested for assessing and ultimately also for pursuing such a general optimality of organizational designs. It is proposed that the optimal fractal dimensionality of organizations is equivalent to that of living organisms. This hypothesis is submitted to and corroborated by a first test. Herewith, a new path to a theory-based design of optimal organizations has been opened up, the implications of which for the methodology of organization design may be substantial. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.