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 the
garbage can model, 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. ==Selected publications==