Organizational Modularity and Its Measurement——An Analytical Framework Based on Loosely Coupled System

This paper first clarifies the concept of modularity and relevant concepts from Simon's "near decomposability" to Baldwin and Clark's "design rule" , and proposes a basic framework for the analysis of organizational modularity and other related concepts by the use of design structure matrix. Then it analyzes the relationship between modular organization and loosely coupled system,and presents a new taxonomy for the latter. Finally in this taxonomy it introduces three indicators and methods for the measurement of organizational modularity in order to lay a foundation for further empirical studies.