Skip to main content
Book cover

International Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation

MABS 2013: Multi-Agent-Based Simulation XIV pp 151–162Cite as

Towards Simulating the Impact of National Culture on Organizations

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNAI,volume 8235)

Abstract

Both culture and organizations are concepts which have been partially formalized. Only some of their aspects have been specified to build agent-based models. In this conceptual article, we identify and characterize the features that should be considered when building an agent-based model of an organization taking into account the influence of culture. In particular, we investigate the impact culture can have on the delegation, coordination, control and normative structures of organizations and on the way these structures are used. Moreover, we describe how this cultural impact would influence the three central performance criteria of organizations: efficiency, flexibility and robustness.

Keywords

  • Simulating organizations
  • Simulating social complexity
  • Agent models of social behavior

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-54783-6_11
  • Chapter length: 12 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-642-54783-6
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.

References

  1. Argente, E., Julian, V., Botti, V.: Multi-agent system development based on organizations. Electron. Notes Theoret. Comput. Sci. 150, 55–71 (2006)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Axelrod, R.: The dissemination of culture: a model with local convergence and global polarization. J. Confl. Resolut. 41(2), 203–226 (1997)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  3. Baligh, Burton, Obel.: Validating an expert system that designs organizations. In: Computational Organization Theory, pp. 179–193 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bura, S.: Minimeme: of life and death in the noosphere. In: From Animals to Animats 3 Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, pp. 479–486. MIT Press, London (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dechesne, F., Tosto, G.D., Dignum, V., Dignum, F.: No smoking here: values, norms and culture in multi-agent systems. Artif. Intell. Law 21(1), 79–107 (2012)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  6. Dignum, F., Dignum, V.: Emergence and enforcement of social behavior. In: 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dodds, P.S., Watts, D.J., Sabel, C.F.: Information exchange and the robustness of organizational networks. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A 100(21), 12516–12521 (2003)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  8. Grossi, D., Dignum, F.: Structural aspects of organizations. In: Dignum, V. (ed.) Handbook of Research on Multi-Agent Systems: Semantics and Dynamics of Organizational Models, pp. 190–219. IGI Global, Hershey (2009)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Hofstede, G.: Motivation, leadership, and organization: do American theories apply Abroad? Organ. Dyn. 9(1), 42–63 (1980)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  10. Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G.J., Minkov, M.: Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Crowston, K.: Evolving novel organizational forms. In: Computational Organization Theory, pp. 19–38 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Levitt, R.E., Cohen, G.P., Kunz, J.C., Nass, C.I., Christiansen, T., Jin, Y.: The “Virtual Design Team”: simulating how organization structure and information processing tools affect team performance. In: Computational Organization Theory (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Mintzberg, H.: Structure in 5’s: a synthesis of the research on organization design. Manage. Sci. 26(3), 322–341 (1980)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  14. Morgenstern, O.: Prolegomena to a theory of organization. Technical report (1951)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Van Der Aalst, W.M.P., Ter Hofstede, A.H.M., Kiepuszewski, B., Barros, A.P.: Workflow Patterns. Distrib. Parallel Databases 14(1), 5–51 (2003)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The first author wishes to thank Gert Jan Hofstede for his fruitful interaction and Melania Borit for her feedback while writing this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIRMM, University of Montpellier II, Montpellier, France

    Loïs Vanhée & Jacques Ferber

  2. Utrecht Universiteit, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Loïs Vanhée & Frank Dignum

Authors
  1. Loïs Vanhée
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frank Dignum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jacques Ferber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Loïs Vanhée .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Shah Jamal Alam

  2. Soar Technology, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    H. Van Dyke Parunak

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Vanhée, L., Dignum, F., Ferber, J. (2014). Towards Simulating the Impact of National Culture on Organizations. In: Alam, S., Parunak, H. (eds) Multi-Agent-Based Simulation XIV. MABS 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8235. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54783-6_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54783-6_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-54782-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-54783-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)