{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T03:46:30Z","timestamp":1760240790282,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,17]],"date-time":"2019-09-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1568678400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We quantify a social organization\u2019s potentiality, that is, its ability to attain different configurations. The organization is represented as a network in which nodes correspond to individuals and (multi-)edges to their multiple interactions. Attainable configurations are treated as realizations from a network ensemble. To have the ability to encode interaction preferences, we choose the generalized hypergeometric ensemble of random graphs, which is described by a closed-form probability distribution. From this distribution we calculate Shannon entropy as a measure of potentiality. This allows us to compare different organizations as well as different stages in the development of a given organization. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated using data from three empirical and two synthetic systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e21090901","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,23]],"date-time":"2019-09-23T04:50:21Z","timestamp":1569214221000},"page":"901","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["What Is the Entropy of a Social Organization?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1674-7961","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"Zingg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Systems Design, ETH Zurich, Weinbergstrasse 58, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0233-5747","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giona","family":"Casiraghi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Systems Design, ETH Zurich, Weinbergstrasse 58, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giacomo","family":"Vaccario","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Systems Design, ETH Zurich, Weinbergstrasse 58, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Frank","family":"Schweitzer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Systems Design, ETH Zurich, Weinbergstrasse 58, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1550008","DOI":"10.1142\/S0219525915500083","article-title":"How do OSS projects change in number and size? 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