Research Project:

Decision Structures of Socio-Technical Organizations

Updated February, 2000

Members of the Complex Systems Modeling Team of the Computer Research and Applications Group (CIC-3) of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are working on a project with the Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) of the New Mexico State University (NMSU) on the analysis of the decision structures of complex organizations dependent on information systems for communication and coordination. The project aims to develop formal representations and agent-based computer simulations of such Socio-Technical Organizations (STOs), conceived as hybrid systems with an underlying physical (dynamic, law-based) system, mediated with a layer of computer-based communication, and interacting with communities of decision-making agents or actors. Target applications include "Operations Management" (OM) STOs such as 911/Emergency Response or Search and Rescue operations.
  • Position Paper: Background and Approach: Semiotic Agent-Based Modeling of Socio-Technical Organizations

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  •      Mathematical Approaches
         Development Environments (under evaluation)
     
  • Project Members

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    Public Documents

    Project Organization

    The overall project is a joint effort involving: The overall project breaks into three sections: While the LANL is also participating in Problem Definition, our primary role is to bring to bear concepts from semiotic modeling to the representation of the decision structures of the kinds of STOs considered by the project. In particular, this involves: Our specific research involves the exploration of constraints on decision making in agent models of STOs, in terms of: The LANL contribution to the overall project is their team member's expertise not only in the above areas, but also in the design, development, and experimental exploration of agent-based simulations.

    Related Links

    Related Mathematical Approaches

    Development Environments (currently under evaluation)

    Project Members