A Minimal Dynamical MAS Organization Model

Abstract

This chapter presents the Population-Organization model, a formal tool for studying the organization of open multi-agent systems and its functional and structural dynamics. The model is minimal in two senses: it comprises a minimal set of extensional concepts able of adequately accounting for the notion of dynamic organization; and, it is a core organization model upon which a certain kind of dynamical rules can be defined, to account for the action of intensional organizational elements like prestige, power, morality, and so forth. The chapter gives a detailed presentation of the core model, in a version adapted for describing organizations where interactions have a periodic character. We also illustrate how the model supports intensional organizational processes, by introducing a sample set of moral rules for agents playing roles in informal organizations.