A formal specification for organizational adaptation

Abstract

Agent organizations are a good means to guarantee certain system objectives in the context of autonomous, self adapting agents. However, in highly dynamic environments such as in crisis management where different organizations have to cooperate flexibly and efficiently, the organizational structure itself should also be adaptable to the circumstances. In this paper we distinguish different types of context changes and the way organizations can adapt to such changes. We give a formal description -of both organizations and the changes- which facilitates proving that certain features remain stable throughout the life cycle of the organization or are justifiable changes. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.