Hazhir Rahmandad
Hazhir Rahmandad
Some Recent Papers
"Behavioral dynamics of COVID‐19: estimating underreporting, multiple waves, and adherence fatigue across 92 nations." Rahmandad, Hazhir, Tse Yang Lim, and John Sterman (2021). System Dynamics Review 37.1: 5-31.
"What makes dynamic strategic problems difficult? Evidence from an experimental study." Rahmandad, Hazhir, Jerker Denrell, and Drazen Prelec. (2021) Strategic Management Journal 42.5: 865-897.
"If Higher Pay Is Profitable, Why Is It So Rare? Modeling Competing Strategies In Mass Market Services." Rahmandad, Hazhir, and Zeynep Ton (2020). Organization Science 31(5): 1053-1071.
“Explaining Heterogeneity in the Organization of Scientific Work.” Rahmandad, Hazhir, Vakili, Keyvan (2019) Organization Science 30(6): 1125-1145
Biography
Hazhir Rahmandad is the Schussel Family Professor of Management Science and an Associate Professor of System Dynamics at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Hazhir's research shows how complex organizational dynamics can lead to heterogeneity in organizational practices and outcomes. He has analyzed how organizations learn in the presence of delays between taking action and observing the results, and has shown through empirical data and simulations the resulting learning challenges. Hazhir's strategy research has explored the shape of organizational performance landscapes, capability development tradeoffs under competition, and erosion of organizational capabilities through adaptation traps. In another stream of work he has studied public health problems, including COVID-19, obesity and depression dynamics, and comparing different modeling methodologies in application to epidemics, among others. Hazhir also contributes to expanding the dynamic modeling toolbox through advancing parameter estimation and validation methods for dynamic models.
Hazhir has published in diverse journals including Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Strategy Science, Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Obesity, Lancet Planetary Health, and System Dynamics Review, among others. He has been a reviewer for over 30 NIH and NSF panels and over two dozen different journals, and his research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and private sector firms.
Hazhir holds a BS in industrial engineering from Sharif University of Technology and a PhD in management with system dynamics concentration from MIT. Before joining MIT Sloan in 2015, Hazhir was an Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.
Hazhir’s Affiliations:
System Dynamics Group
System Dynamics is a computer-aided approach for strategy and policy design that uses behaviorally realistic models to help people make better decisions in complex, dynamic problems. System Dynamics was developed by late Prof. Jay W. Forrester at MIT in the 1950s and the group has been conducting research and training students since then.
Institute for Work and Employment Research
The MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) is a multidisciplinary research and teaching unit that is located within the MIT Sloan School of Management and has run its own PhD program since 1937.
Institute for Data Systems and Society
IDSS advances education and research in state-of-the-art analytical methods in information and decision systems, statistics and data science, and the social sciences, and applies these methods to address complex societal challenges.