Michael D. Cohen (academic)

Michael D. Cohen
Born	(1945-03-22)March 22, 1945 Sheridan, Wyoming
Died	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Fields	organization theory
Institutions	University of Michigan
Alma mater	University of California, Irvine
Known for	Garbage Can Model

Michael D. Cohen (22 March 1945 - 2 February 2013) was the William D. Hamilton Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Information and Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Early life and Education

Cohen received his B.A. in History at Stanford University in 1966, and his Ph.D. in Social Science at the University of California, Irvine in 1972.

Career

Cohen's research centered on learning and adaptation within organizations in response to changing environments. He wrote many articles and books which contributed to theories of organizational decision making. Much of his work employed computer simulation.

Garbage Can Model

In 1972, as a NSF-SSRC post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University, Cohen worked with James G. March and visiting professor Johan Olsen from the University of Bergen. Together they published the paper; A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. The paper, since frequently cited, describes a model which disconnects problems, solutions and decision makers from each other. This was a novel approach compared to traditional decision theory. The paper includes Fortran source code to demonstrate the model.

Complexity

By 1981, Cohen was working at the University of Michigan.

Cohen's research and publication continued to use computers to model complex organizational behavior. In 1995 he worked with Robert Axtell, Robert Axelrod and Joshua M. Epstein and compared two agent based models; Axelrod's model with Epstein and Axtell's Sugarscape.

In 2000 Cohen and Axelrod went on to publish a book on complexity in organizations: Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier.

Other works

Cohen's later work included studies in organizational behavior in hospitals, with a view to improving patient care. Much of this work focused on "handoffs"; the transfer of responsibility for patients from one team or department to another.

External links

• Michael D. Cohen CV