Local Rules: Some Propositions for Their Establishment and Continuation

Abstract

This paper is based findings from field research that identified local rules in two organizations. It develops these findings into a set of propositions that may explain the processes by which local rules survive or become extinct. The central metaphor for this argument is the fitness landscape developed by Stuart Kaufrman and John Holland. This metaphor provides a useful distinction between those who set dimensions of landscapes and those who act on those landscapes through the use of local rules. It is proposed that local rules have domains of action on fitness landscapes and that there is a set of conditions for establishment and continuation based on the interactions across the domain boundaries. It is further proposed that there are conditions, characterised by co-adaptation, under which rules will survive in relatively stable forms and other conditions, characterised by competition, under which local rules change.