In the following, I will analyze two articles called Complex Adaptive Systems Ecology
I & II (Molin & Molin, 1997 & 2000). The CASE-articles are some of the more quirky
articles that have come out of the Molecular Microbial Ecology Group – a group
where I am currently making observational studies. They are the result of a
cooperation between Søren Molin, professor in the group, and his brother, Jan
Molin, professor at Department of Organization and Industrial Sociology at
Copenhagen Business School. The cooperation arises from the recognition that both
microbial ecology and sociology/organization theory works with communities of
sorts. The articles explore if insights from the one field – organization theory – can
be used fruitfully in the other field – microbiology.
The two articles are written as prolongations of each other and I will consider
CASE I & II to be two parts of the same textual body. It is my main goal with this
analysis to localize actants and developmental dynamics, which I can use as
guidelines in my later empirical analyses.
A central issue in science policy today is the changing role and function of
research evaluation. How is quality selected, has local organizational traditions
and managerial practices influence on the research evaluation? Who is
perceived as peers or evaluators by the researchers and by managers? Recent
organizational theory has focused on organizational and social dimensions in
private knowledge-based companies, but left out research organizations. How
important is the organizational context for the research evaluation processes?
The paper will present results from an interview-based study of four private
and public research organizations and discuss the importance of the
organizational context on the production of new knowledge.
