The basic research question was whether hierarchies were useful in changing environments, and if so, when, how, and why? In this model, a simple hierarchical organization attempts to adapt to a changing environment, and where that organization consists of workers and managers that see information at different scales: ground-level vs higher-level. The model had both core requirements and constraints. Adaptation would require very simple learning on the part of both the workers and the managers. The environment should be as simple as possible while still being able to vary by worker location. Agents could have no ability to punish one another; no social power would be in play in the model. Thus, the organizational structure consisted only of communication between workers and managers.