La relación organización – entorno y la ontología evolutiva : una propuesta para la comprensión de las interacciones como producto del proceso evolutivo de reglas con la caracterización de la prestación del servicio de salud en urgencias

Abstract

The main purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to answer the question of how the evolutionary process of rules allows organizations to develop designs–activities aimed at adapting to changing environment conditions. The point of departure of this argument is based on identifying the research gap between the literature geared to studying the Environment-Organization Relation (EOR), especially with regard to Organizational Ecology Theory (OET), and that inspired by evolutionary theory. This dissertation argues that OET is not able to accurately transfer the evolutionary discourse to the case of organizations as the variation in the evolutionary process is not taken into account. This argument is based on the evolutionary ontological framework, as well as the understanding of the organization as a system of rules and knowledge builder. Needless to say, the OET is defined by organizational designs that are results of the evolutionary trajectory of rules, shaped by the interaction between individuals. Such context produces competitive, depredatory and cooperative activities that ultimately enable organizational adaptive processes. This theoretical assumption is supported by analyzing the Colombian emergency health system, which is characterized by means of the agent-based simulation methodology. Finally, a working framework aimed at understanding organizational evolutionary processes is established, which constitute a theoretical and empirical guideline for scholars, managers, and decision-makers.