(De-)stabilizing change
Stabilizing and Destabilizing Processes of Change: Insights from Brain and Software Development
Processes of change are a central phenomenon in various scientific disciplines, such as physics, biology, and business administration. These processes often unfold along trajectories. For example, due to the laws of physics, a toy car begins to move when we place it on a sloping wooden track until it reaches the lower platform. The wooden track functions here as a trajectory that stabilizes the toy car’s movement along the track. However, under certain circumstances, destabilization can occur, causing the toy car to derail or become wedged in the track. We find similar mechanisms in many change processes, though these are often subject to greater complexity than in the example of the toy car.
The goal of the project “Stabilizing and destabilizing processes of change – Insights from brain and software development” is therefore to gain new insights into the stabilizing and destabilizing mechanisms of change processes. To this end, the interdisciplinary project draws on two different case studies from the life sciences and business administration. The first case study explores the developmental process of the human brain. This process is defined by a genetically determined blueprint, but external influences, such as medications, can destabilize the process. The second case study examines the process of change in work routines within software development. The case study identifies stabilizing mechanisms that lead to an exact replication of an existing team’s work routines, as well as mechanisms that lead to a destabilization of the change process.
By combining the two case studies, this research identifies stabilizing and destabilizing mechanisms of change processes that can be generalized across disciplines. These insights are relevant to a wide range of academic disciplines as well as to management practice. Thus, this project explores in detail which mechanisms keep the toy cars on track and what causes them to deviate from their planned course.
Funded by
Workshop: “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Change”
on September 21 and 22, 2023, at the HAdW.
Program and registration information:
https://www.hadw-bw.de/news/events/interdisciplinary-perspectives-change
Invitation to the workshop “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Change” on September 21 and 22, 2023
As part of our WIN project "(De-)stabilizing change," we are hosting an international workshop on "Interdisciplinary perspectives on change" on September 21 and 22, 2023. We are delighted to have secured the participation of outstanding scholars from various disciplines who will share their insights with us. Professor Hans-Jörg Rheinberger from the Max Planck Society will deliver a keynote address. In addition, Professor Britta Nestler (KIT), Professor Robin Hiesinger (FU Berlin), and Professor Brian Pentland (Michigan State University) will reflect on the topic of change in a panel discussion. The aim of the workshop is to stimulate an interdisciplinary exchange on processes of change.
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger is a research fellow of the Max Planck Society and former director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. He is also a member of the Leopoldina. His work focuses on the history and epistemology of experimentation in the life sciences. Britta Nestler is Director of the Institute for Applied Materials – Microstructure Modeling and Simulation and of the Microstructure Simulation Division at the Institute of Nanotechnology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In a dual role, she is also Director of the Institute for Digital Materials Research at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Her work focuses on computational materials science, particularly microstructure simulation in the field of materials engineering. Her research has been honored with numerous scientific awards, including thePrize German Research Foundation. Robin Hiesinger studied biology and philosophy and is a professor at Freie Universität Berlin. He researches the mechanisms of neural network formation in fruit flies and is currently focusing, as part of an ERC project, on how flexibility and robustness can be ensured during development. Brian Pentland is the Main Street Capital Corporation Intellectual Capital Professor at Michigan State University. His work lies at the intersection of organizational theory and business informatics and focuses in particular on the study of organizational routines and processes.
With this in mind, we cordially invite you to participate in our workshop. You can find the preliminary program and the registration form at the following link: hadw
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at christian.mahringer@bwi.uni-stuttgart.de.
Warm regards,
Simone Mayer and Christian Mahringer
HAdW