Computational modeling of project organizations under stress

An organization's operational structure can either enable or hinder its capability to plan and implement projects. This article examines--via computational models--a study that shows how organizations can improve project performance by changing their organization's structure. In doing so, it defines the study's approach (computational organization theory, or COT) and its methodology (virtual design team, or VDT), describing how the authors modeled and simulated the behavior of organizations under stress, such as those associated with the United States Department of Defense's (DoD) weapons system programs.