Skip to main content

Towards Simulating the Impact of National Culture on Organizations

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Multi-Agent-Based Simulation XIV (MABS 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

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

    Article  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)

    Article  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)

    Article  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)

    Article  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)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  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)

    Article  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)

    Article  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

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Loïs Vanhée .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics