A Structural Basis for Assessing Organizational Performance and Vulnerability (Research Seminar, April 22nd, 2004) Kathleen Carley Carnegie-Mellon University Abstract An approach to assessing and managing organizational performance and vulnerability that combines social network analysis, operations research and knowledge management is described. This approach is based on the recognition that organizational structure, at any point in time, can be viewed as a set of networks linking agents (people + artificial agents), knowledge, resources, and tasks. By examining these networks key organizational vulnerabilities in terms of intellectual property, satisfaction, workload can be identified. Further, these networks constrain and enable performance and adaptability, and facilitate the identification of emergent leaders. Information technology, by altering these networks, can fundamentally change the core vulnerabilities in an organization and create opportunities for success and failure that were not previously possible. The approach is illustrated using data collected at various organizational sites such as NASA.