Abstract:
The analysis of this chapter starts from organisational theory, and from this it draws conclusions for the design, and possible organisational applications, of Distributed AI systems. We first review how the concept of organisations has emerged from non-organised black-box entities to so-called computerised organisations. Within this context, organisational researchers have started to redesign their models of intelligent organisations with respect to the availability of advanced computing technology. The recently emerged concept of Organisational Intelligence integrates these efforts in that it suggests five components of intelligent organisational skills (communication, memory, learning, cognition, problem solving). The approach integrates human and computer-based information processing and problem solving capabilities. As organisations are inherently distributed this contribution discusses further how Distributed AI interacts with the different components of Organisational Intelligence. This involves posing three questions: What are the contributions of Organisational Intelligence to Distributed AI? How can Distributed AI benefit Organisational Intelligence? Why is Organisational Intelligence an important Distributed AI application?