organizational behavior

institutional structure and patterns of collective action

John Lydus on a revolution in formal authority

Systematic decision-making requires supporting information technology.  In sixth-century Byzantium, the judicial bureaucrat John Lydus complained that the new, leading financial bureaucrat: did not give the business that was being transacted to the proper overseers of the regions, called tractatores, namely, “regional governors,” or to accountants, to be filled in conformably to the established custom in … Continue reading John Lydus on a revolution in formal authority

micro-consituencies support global information sharing

Creating a new, common language for machine-readable information allows information to be shared across organizations with disparate information systems and information formats.  The Global Justice XML Data Model is a successful example of such a language.  Its success prompted the development of a similar, but broader initiative called the National Information Exchange Model.  Both models … Continue reading micro-consituencies support global information sharing

Bell System response to automatic telephony

Early in the year 1900, local authorities in Springfield, Massachusetts, held a hearing on Hampden Automatic Telephone Company’s application to provide automatic telephone service in Springfield.  The Bell System at that time provided operator-switched telephone service in Springfield. The hearing produced an early battle of experts.  It also displayed general argumentative strategies quite common in … Continue reading Bell System response to automatic telephony