Predictive Organisational Simulation

Organisational simulation of Headquarters Joint Operations Command

Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC), 2009

IGOR worked in partnership with Votec to develop a predictive organisational simulation of Headquarters Joint Operations Command and its interface with the Australian Defence Force higher command-and-control system.

The multidisciplinary team combined psychology, computer science and mathematics. Working with personnel inside the headquarters and Defence science specialists, the team identified the organisational relationships, information flows, human variables and operational data required to construct a realistic model of the headquarters within the wider command-and-control environment.

The model represented the headquarters as a system of interconnected nodes and relationships. It was developed iteratively, using data gathered from the organisation, and then run under different conditions to examine how alternative organisational structures and arrangements could affect operational efficiency and effectiveness.

IGOR’s contribution included systems modelling, the design and adaptation of research methods for extracting appropriate organisational data, and the translation of human and organisational variables into specifications that could be incorporated into the computational model.

What this demonstrates: IGOR can bring human, organisational and technical expertise together to model complex command environments, test possible configurations and provide evidence for organisational design decisions.