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Registration AOM PDW - Advanced Theory Building: Computational Process Theorizing – NOW OPEN!

Are you interested in learning how to build and evaluate process theory (versus conventional theorizing based on construct relationships) using agent-based simulations (ABS)?

Then check out this PDW. It is a full day PDW, with the morning session setting the conceptual foundation for process thinking via computational process theorizing and the afternoon session addressing hands on learning to map process actions into pseudo code, the primary step prior to building your ABS in programming code.

The organizing/presenting team includes Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Michael T. Braun, James A. Grand, and Goran Kuljanin.

The day has yet to be scheduled, but is expected to be Friday, August 1 or Saturday, August 2. Morning will run from 9AM to 12PM, Lunch on your own from 12PM to 1:30PM, afternoon will run from 1:30PM to 5PM. There is time built in for networking and connecting.

The full day is recommended, but you can register for what works for you, depending on your level of familiarity with CPT and ABS.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED (Free!)

We merely need your name, email, and level of familiarity. Free registration is open until capacity is reached. Don't delay, register now!

Register here .

Abstract

Although organizations have been viewed as systems for a century, it has largely been purely metaphorical. The advent of multilevel theory (MLT) advanced research on linkages across system levels, but most MLT work is largely cross-sectional and static. Relatedly, although virtually every theory in organizational behavior (OB) endeavors to understand processes responsible for phenomena within this construal, processes are largely conceptualized as constructs, rather than action/event sequences that constitute real process phenomena. Construct relationships dominate OB theory building; process theorizing is little used. Unpacking processes is the theoretical frontier for OB. The advent of computational process theorizing (CPT), which uses simulation to put theory into motion to enable insights and evaluate its plausibility, is advancing that frontier. Many scholars are aware of CPT and are intrigued by its advantages for theory building, but CPT is also mysterious and misunderstood. Understanding how one translates construct thinking into process thinking and instantiates it in a CPT is daunting. This Professional Development Workshop (PDW) will provide an overview, conceptual foundation, and methodological grounding for building CPT. It is a two-part full day workshop that will provide attendees with (a) actionable conceptual tools and hands-on skills to shift from construct (factor) thinking to process (actor) thinking (morning session) and (b) basic skills to conceptualize and operationalize (in pseudo code) generative mechanisms that drive process action sequences (afternoon session). Attendees will then be equipped with a basic foundation for building CPT that can be instantiated in an ABS to generate insights regarding organizational phenomena of interest to them.

We hope to see you at our PDW!