Agent-Based Simulation and Cooperation in Business Organizational Settings

Abstract—The object of this paper is to use Agent-Based Simulation (ABS) to study the effects of cooperation in business organizational settings. To model the functioning of a business organization we have used an Enterprise Engineering approach named Design & Engineering Methodology for Organizations (DEMO). DEMO is based on the Ψ-theory which has the overall goal to extract the essence of an organization from its actual appearance. This theory assumes that an organization is a system of actors and incorporates four axioms. The operation axiom tells us that the implementation independent essence of an organization consists of actor roles and that the acts performed by the actor roles can be divided into two kinds: production acts and coordination acts. Another important axiom is the transaction axiom which states that coordination acts are performed as steps in universal patterns. Based on these assumptions and Game Theory principles of cooperation, a simple ABS was develop focused on studying the conditions that allow cooperation to emerge. By understanding these conditions, appropriate actions can be taken to foster the development of cooperation in such settings