# Modeling the Human Condition By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-11-07 Organizational, management, and leadership behavior is frequently observed, explored, and summarized. Endless articles, books, and stories express the deep human interest in these topics. However, most of these studies are definitively not scientific. Rarely are hypotheses tested in controlled environments and replicated by a third party to verify and validate the results. Instead, we observe a series of activities, formulate a theory, and then point to data that support one's theory and belief system. This outcome isn't for the lack of trying to make organizational management scientific. It occurs because organizations are complex, chaotically unpredictable, and cannot be removed from their environment and timeline. Simply put, you can't rewind the clock to see if a different leadership approach would produce different results in the same situation. The butterfly effect is powerful in organizational studies, and we have yet to invent time travel. When studying organizational systems and leadership, we are left with beliefs formed by biases and time-based cultural phenomena. Understanding these biases and cultures helps with interpreting past organizational belief systems. Someone truly creative and well-versed in the [[liberal]] arts may be able to find a common thread through the ages. However, philosophy, arts, history, and psychology are rarely discussed in business or business school programs. Business, as currently positioned and practiced, is decidedly unscientific and minimizes the understanding of the human condition. What if you were to take a more serious look at organizational, management, and leadership behavior using modern computational techniques such as Agent-Based Modeling? You could explore the complexities of the system, control time and scenarios, and perhaps unearth hidden principles. This would only be a model, but it might be the most useful one available. The trouble is not its feasibility but figuring out where to start modeling the human condition. How do you capture beliefs, intentions, work, collaboration, and growth within a computer simulation? What about outside market forces? Putting [[together]] all facets could be overwhelmingly complicated, but isn't life complicated anyways? Building such models within a computer is not that different from your mental model of living. The biggest difference is that a computer model must be logically coherent and it's much faster than your brain. Sounds like it's the right tool for the right job. Time to start building. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Management]] [[Leadership]] [[Business]] [[All Models are Wrong]] [[Agent-Based Modeling]] [[The Human Condition]]