An agent based approach to modeling design teams

It is well recognized that an effective design process is contingent on the joint optimization of both the social and technical aspects of such an activity. Thus interactions between individual designers, within integrated product teams, and the nature of design tasks, all have a significant impact upon how well a design task can be performed, and hence the quality of the resultant product and the time in which it can be delivered. In order for organizations to gain a full understanding of interactions within integrated product teams, we propose the use of multi-agent systems to develop computer models of the behaviors and cognitions of team members, and to explore the applicability of different agent-theoretic approaches that could augment current understanding of team practices. In this paper we describe an ongoing research project which aims to model integrated product teams. We discuss the background and rationale for this work, and explore the antecedents and consequences of individual and team variables. A multi-agent system for modeling integrated product teams has been developed, and the initial results are presented