Daniel Hershey
- PROFESSOR
- B.S. (ChE) The Cooper Union, 1953
- Ph.D (ChE) University of Tennessee, 1961
Phone: (513)556-2763, FAX: (513)556-3473
E-Mail: Daniel.Hershey@uc.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Aging
- Evolving Corporate Systems
The size and shape of an organization affects its performance. So does the distribution of power.
Corporations, like people, age. But the corporation can reverse the debilitating aspects of
growing old and stagnating by changing, by evolving to new structural configurations, by
reorienting the power centers, by promoting small-cell operations, by improving information
flow.
We track corporations as evolving systems, as we analyze structure, resource allocations, and
levels of responsibility. Our equations are derived from the second law of thermodynamics and
information theory (based on ideas pioneered by Claude Shannon and Ilya Prigogine).
A New Tool to Assist in the Restructuring of an Organization
1. Determining the Actual Structure The hierarchy or table of organization can be
found from an examination of the organization's major activities and the responsibilities of the
individual units.
2. Six Parameters For Characterizing the Efficiency of the Structure Structural
Redundancy related to the overlapping of duties amongst the units; Structural Redundancy of its
geometry, compared to best case and worst case configurations; Structural Redundancy arising
from interactions between units, which bypass major information flow lines; Center of Gravity
of Power Distribution; Symmetry of Power Distribution. Entropy Content of the Structure.
3. Construct and Analyze Bar Graphs for the Six Parameters
4. Play "What-If' Games Assess the changes in the "quality" of the six parameters
caused by varying the number of units, their activities, and resources.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
- D. Hershey, "Entropy as a Biological Marker in Human Aging, a Chapter in Practical
Handbook of Human Biologic Age Determination," CRC Press, A. Balin, editor, 1993.
- D. Hershey, "A Rational Design of a Governing Structure for Czechoslovakia, in General
Systems Alternative Economics and Values," Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting,
International Society for the Systems Sciences, Denver, 1992, Vol. I, 134-140.
- D. Hershey, "Evolving Systems, Entropy and Death," a chapter in "Time, Rhythms, and
Chaos," Iowa State University Press, 1990, pp. 117-129.
- D. Hershey, "The World as an Evolving System," in "Toward a Just Society," Proceedings of
the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting, International Society for the Systems Sciences, Portland,
1990, Vol. I, pp. 456-461.
- D. Hershey, "Longevity Projections for Females Using Excess Entropy Production," Systems
Research, 7, pp. 127-128, 1990.
- D. Hershey, "Speculation on Organizational Structure, Entropy, and Function," Systems
Research, 7, pp. 207-208, 1990.
- D. Hershey, "Aging and Evolving Systems," Systems Research, 5, p. 167, 1988.
- D. Hershey, "Excess Entropy (EE) and Excess Entropy Production (EEP) in Aging, Evolving
Systems," Systems Research, 5, pp. 261-263, 1988.
- D. Hershey, "Entropy Analysis of an Aging, Evolving Corporate System," Systems Research,
6, pp. 75-79, 1989.