Bellwether by Connie Willis

Bellwether is a quirky little book about a company that does scientific research. Sandra studies fads--she's currently trying to determine why women started bobbing their hair in the 1920s. Sandra's colorful and generally incompetent assistant, Flip, misdelivers a package, which causes Sandra to meet Ben, a scientist studying chaos theory. And that sets off a whole chain of events involving misplaced paperwork (once again thanks to Flip), a smoking ban, a prestigious award--and a flock of sheep.

Bellwether is a clever look at human behavior, told with a wry sense of humor. As an aside, if you like the humor in this book, you will also like Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog, which involves time travelers from the future who get stuck in Victorian England.