“Epimemetic” landscape relationship of organizational culture, performance, and compliance versus engagement

Abstract

Understanding the components of organizational performance in general and organizational performance in the healthcare arena in particular has been a critical yet elusive task. We believe that important insights can be gained from prior work on a seemingly universal role of scaling in which an underlying attribute is transformed according to a power law process. In biologic organisms, that attribute is body mass. In cities it is population. We have constructed an agent-based model that uses organizational knowledge as the underlying attribute that is transformed through a complex function comprised of organizational culture (the pattern and capacity for adaptation based upon shared history, values, purpose, and future). This model, though imperfect, fits what has been found in real-world empiric investigation and demonstrates both the positive effects of engagement and negative responses to forced compliance.