Forces That Drive Organizational Change in an Adaptive Virtual Organization

Abstract

Virtual Organizations are a specific type of Multi-Agent Systems that look for modeling agent organizations by means of elements typically used in Organizational Theory, such as roles, organizational goals, or services. The Organizational Theory considers that the structure of a human organization is likely to change through time, being the external and internal forces that drive organizational change the most important source for change. This work presents a set of guidelines that will help MAS designers and developers how to deal with these forces, in order to take advantage of them, or to avoid damage to the organization.