  The models in this paper demonstrate how self-reinforcing error due to
positive feedback can lead to overload and saturation of decision-making
elements, and ultimately the cascading collapse of an organization due to the
propagation of overload and erroneous decisions throughout the organization. We
begin the paper with an analysis of the stability of the decision-making
aspects of command organizations from a system-theoretic perspective. A simple
dynamic model shows how an organization can enter into a self-reinforcing cycle
of increasing decision workload until the demand for decisions exceeds the
decision-making capacity of the organization. We then extend the model to more
complex networked organizations and show that they also experience a form of
self-reinforcing degradation. In particular, we find that the degradation in
decision quality has a tendency to propagate through the hierarchical
structure, i.e. overload at one location affects other locations by overloading
the higher-level components which then in turn overload their subordinates. Our
computational experiments suggest several strategies for mitigating this type
of malfunction: dumping excessive load, empowering lower echelons, minimizing
the need for coordination, using command-by-negation, insulating weak
performers, and applying on-line diagnostics. We describe a method to allocate
decision responsibility and arrange information flow dynamically within a team
of decision-makers for command and control.
