Organizational structure and responsibility

We analyze the organizational structure of multi-agent systems and explain the precise added value and the effects of such organizational structure on the involved agents. To pursue this aim, contributions from social and organization theory are considered which provide a solid theoretical foundation to this analysis. We argue that organizational structures should be seen along at least three dimensions, instead of just one: power, coordination, and control. In order to systematize the approach, formal tools are used to describe the organizational structure as well as the effect of such structures on the activities in multi-agent systems, and especially the responsibilities within organizations of agents. The main aim of the research is to provide a formal analysis of the connections between collective obligations to individual responsibilities.Which individual agent in a group should be held responsible if an obligation directed to the whole group is not fulfilled? We will show how the three dimensions of an organizational structure together with a specific task decomposition determine the responsibilities within a (norm-governed) organization.