We ought to; they do; blame the management! A conceptualisation of group norms

Abstract

Norms are used to represent desirable behaviours that software agents should exhibit in sophisticated multi-agent solutions. Although we now enjoy a body of research on norms, research has, so far, largely ignored a formal treatment of norms aimed at groups of individuals. Depending on the interpretation, group norms may be intended to effect all, each or some members of the group, sometimes requiring coordination among the members of the group to ensure norm-compliance. In this paper, we map out the various groups which might be involved, and use these groups to sketch a taxonomy of group norms. We also propose a formal representation of group norms using simple set expressions, and provide its semantics. To do so, we introduce a simple notion of power and formally represent the various cases of group norms of our taxonomy. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.