Clinical Organizational Science (COS) and Organizational Routine Theory: Connecting Feldman & Pentland's Theory with the Emergence Bridge

COS repositions Feldman & Pentland's organizational routine theory as a mechanism where individual habits connect to organizational transformation through repetitive interactions.

DroR Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Makoto Yamanaka), a research and practice firm that observes and designs the "invisible interaction structure" of organizations based on complex systems science and neuroscience, has published a paper titled "Clinical Organizational Science: An Integrative Framework for Structural Intervention in Complex Organizations." The paper, featuring CEO Makoto Yamanaka as the lead author, was published in the Organizational Psychology section of the international academic journal "Frontiers in Psychology."

An English news release regarding this paper was distributed via EurekAlert!, and the overarching problem statement of COS was also featured on the international science news site Phys.org. This release summarizes the connection between Feldman & Pentland's organizational routine theory and COS's emergence bridge.

This release is part of the Clinical Organizational Science (COS) explanation series distributed from May 7 to June 5. This installment focuses on Feldman & Pentland's organizational routine theory and COS's emergence bridge, clarifying how COS connects with existing theories, where it expands upon them, and what verifiable questions it presents.

## Fixed Definition of Clinical Organizational Science (COS)

Clinical Organizational Science (COS) integrates complex systems science, neuroscience, organizational psychology, and behavioral science to theorize the interaction structures that actively reproduce an organization's stable state, providing a framework to intervene in those structures. COS frames organizational transformation not as "individual behavioral change" but as "organizational attractor transition," presenting Field Gradient Theory, Loop Conversion Design, and Neural Base Design as its core techniques. It proposes the "emergence bridge" as the concept linking individual habituation to organizational-level change.

## What Organizational Routine Theory Revealed

Feldman & Pentland's organizational routine theory viewed routines not as fixed procedures or manuals, but as dynamic patterns generated and reproduced through repeated interactions. Organizational routines are not established solely by documented rules. The stable patterns of an organization are reproduced by how people start meetings every day, who speaks, how they confirm details, and how they share problems.

COS connects this insight with the theory of organizational attractors. An organization "reverts" not simply because individuals fail to change. Even if individuals change temporarily, as long as organizational routines continue to reproduce the same interaction patterns, the organization will return to its existing attractor.

## Where COS Expands: The Emergence Bridge Connecting Individual Habits and Organizational Routines

The emergence bridge, a core concept of COS, is the theoretical mechanism connecting individual-level habituation to organizational-level attractor transitions.

This bridge is not a simple addition. COS argues against the model that "if individuals change, the organization changes as a sum total." Instead, it proposes an emergent model where individuals' habituated behaviors are repeated at the interaction level, and that repetition alters the reproduction conditions of organizational routines.

The positioning of organizational routine theory within COS: Building on Feldman & Pentland's organizational routine theory, it views routines not as fixed procedures but as structures where ostensive and performative aspects are reproduced through repeated interactions, connecting to organizational attractor transitions via the emergence bridge.

## The 3-Layer Structure of the Emergence Bridge

In COS, psychological safety is treated not as an abstract atmosphere, but as an observable interaction pattern. For example, the following indicators are important:

- Layer / Content / Related COS Concept
- Individual Level / Habituation of gratitude sharing, acknowledgment responses, physical check-ins, 3Good1More, etc. / Neural Base Design
- Interaction Level / Changes in repetitive patterns of meetings, responses, problem sharing, and feedback / Loop Conversion Design / Field Gradient Theory