Alignment of the Garbage Can and NK Fitness Models: A Virtual Experiment in the Simulation of Organizations

Simulation models are finding increasing application and acceptance in the field of organizational theory (Carley and Hill, 2001; Cohen, 1998; Liebrand, 1998). While some work in aligning (or “docking”) different models has been done in recent years (e.g., Axtell, 1996), increased attention to this dimension of model validation stands to increase validity of simulation modeling still further (Burton, 1998). In the virtual experiment summarized in this paper, we demonstrate the technique of docking by developing and comparing results of the canonical Garbage Can model (Cohen, March and Olsen, 1972) with those of the more recent “NK Model” (Kauffman and Levin, 1987; Kauffman et. al, 1988; Kauffman, 1993; Levinthal, 1997). We define a specific domain of comparison of organizational decision-making, formulate propositions with respect to the models’ anticipated results, compare the results empirically, and show that while the models’ behavior is relatively similar their level of mathematical comparability and theoretical integrity is limited.