A generic architecture for redesign of organizations triggered by changing environmental circumstances

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence has contributed (formal) design models and software support tools to application areas such as architecture, engineering and software design. This paper explores the effectiveness of applying design models to the area of organization (re)design. To that purpose a component-based model for (re)design of organizations is presented as a specialization of an existing generic design model. Using recently developed formalizations within Organization Theory organization models are described as design object descriptions, and organization goals as design requirements. A formal design process description is presented that models the redesign process for an organization that adapts to changes in the environment. The formally specified and implemented approach to organization redesign thus obtained has been tested for a well-known historical case study from the Organization Theory literature.

Illustrating the Contrasting Roles of Self-Organization in Biological Systems with Two Case Histories of Collective Decision Making in the Honey Bee

“…The model can therefore support organizational modelers and analysts working with multi-agent organizations in highly dynamic environments, without a central authority directing change, in general in designing and analyzing such an organization. In [10] a more generic approach towards modeling these decentralized adaptations is presented, in which the honeybee colony is used as an example to perform these decentralized cases. The formal specification of the behavior in the organizational model presented of in this paper is described by dynamic properties at different aggregation levels.…”

“…This gives a specific definition of the priority relation priority_relation(X1, v1, w1, …, Xn, vn, wn, X) as has been done for the following decision mechanism based on norms used as thresholds (see e.g. [10] for a more elaborate description of this mechanism within honeybees).…”