Organizations as Algorithms: A New Metaphor for Advancing Management Theory
提出“组织即算法”这一新隐喻，认为大数据和算法处理能推动管理理论创新，强调能动性分布、机器可读性基础以及提示与编程对专业角色和关系的影响。
Abstract According to the ‘Point’ essay, management research's reliance on corporate data threatens to replace objective theory with profit‐biased ‘corporate empiricism’, undermining the scientific and ethical integrity of the field. In this ‘Counterpoint’ essay, we offer a more expansive understanding of big data and algorithmic processing and, by extension, see promising applications to management theory. Specifically, we propose a novel management metaphor: organizations as algorithms. This metaphor offers three insights for developing innovative, relevant, and grounded organization theory. First, agency is distributed in assemblages rather than being solely attributed to individuals, algorithms, or data. Second, machine‐readability serves as the immutable and mobile base for organizing and decision‐making. Third, prompting and programming transform the role of professional expertise and organizational relationships with technologies. Contrary to the ‘Point’ essay, we see no theoretical ‘end’ in sight; the organization as algorithm metaphor enables scholars to build innovative theories that account for the intricacies of algorithmic decision‐making.