In this paper, we argue that multi-agent systems developed to model and support organizations must on the one hand be able to describe and realize the goals and structure of that particular organization and on the other hand allow for autonomous behavior of participating actors. The agent autonomy should include collaboration autonomy, which means that agents can decide among each other how they want to cooperate. We present a model for agent societies and two techniques that can be used to achieve the described objectives: landmarks and contracts. The effects of these techniques on different agent society types are explored as well.

“Like most phenomena–atoms, ants, and stars–characteristics of organizations appear to fall into natural clusters, or configurations. ” – Henry Mintzberg Software use in many organizations has spread vertically. I present evidence that applications that are widely used in organizations have at least three distinct patterns of use: one for individual contributors, one for managers, and one for executives. Use within each of these groups is shaped by its particular activity and incentive structures. Interaction among group members promotes shared social conventions and feature use. When designing, acquiring, or supporting such an application, the best approach could be to treat it as three distinct applications. The applications discussed include

The challenge of designing the best overall interface while supporting individual and task-based differences has long been with us. As software is used more widely, one might think the problem would grow. In fact, the studies reported here suggest that it is becoming more tractable. Greater interaction among users coalesces usage into a few widelyshared constellations of features. Widespread use can help us identify and understand those patterns. Applications that are widely used in organizations have different patterns of use resulting from at least three significant activity and incentive structures: one for individual contributors, one for managers, and one for executives. When designing, acquiring, or supporting such an application, the best approach could be to treat it as three distinct applications. Failure to consider these categories results in avoidable problems and missed opportunities.

This paper examines the notion of the employment relationship in a multi-disciplinary review drawing on sociology, psychology, economics and HRM perspectives. It attempts to synthesise from these various perspectives a general model on the employment relationship. Following this there is a general review of the 'transferability ' debate, ie. the extent to which western management theory is transferable to other societies and cultures in order to contemplate the differences between employment relationships in developed and developing countries.

Management science, the scientific study of problem-solving, has developed a body of literature and methodologies over the past four decades on decision theory methods, evaluation of management and systems performance, and analysis of systems under uncertainty. These methods have been influential and applied successfully to many industrial decision-making and strategic-planning settings. Fisheries management has not yet embraced these innovations, which involve the ‘‘scientific method of problemsolving’’ and which offer considerable opportunity for improved fisheries decisionmaking. Fisheries science and management can be integrated with management science in what we term ‘‘fisheries-management science’’. The broader framework allows management in the face of uncertainty and, at the spatial and temporal scales, is appropriate for the complexity of fisheries systems. This paper presents an implementation plan for fisheries-management science in a commercial fishery. The implementation plan is presented as a possible remedy for issues that have plagued fisheries management to date. It is argued that decision theory methodologies are needed to analyse the management problem context, including strategic planning and objectives

This study focuses on culturally-endorsed implicit theories of leadership (CLTs) Although cross-cultural research emphasizes that different cultural groups likely have different conceptions of what leadership should entail, a controversial position is argued here, namely that attributes associated with charismatic/transformational leadership will be universally endorsed as contributing to outstanding leadership. This hypothesis was tested in 60 cultures as part of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Research Program. Universally endorsed leader attributes, as well as attributes that are universally seen as impediments to outstanding leadership and culturally-contingent attributes are presented here. The results support the hypothesis that specific aspects of charismatic/transformational leadership are strongly and universally endorsed across cultures.

Why would managers choose to acquire information from the world wide web? In attempting to answer this question researchers are likely to be guided by theories which match information requirements to the type of task, theories of information retrieval, theories of the properties of information, and information channel selection theories. This is a complex theory base for a research project. This paper provides a review of these theories and then speculates about how the web may be used by managers.

This paper draws on the need to understand how mobile technology is implemented and used at the organisational level. IT is a general-purpose technology and therefore its use involves a high degree of uncertainty and ambiguity. Moreover, IT vendors and system developers tend to be very unambiguous in their rhetoric about mobile technology opportunities. Therefore, managers have trouble to identify the real scope, the functionality and the impact of new mobile applications. However, these three types of uncertainties need to be handled in change management projects where new information technology is involved. Gradual uncertainty reduction at these three different levels, i.e. what technology can do; will technology work; and will users adopt it, is studied in this paper. This is achieved through an analysis of the implementation process of an information system where mobile terminals are used to give service technicians access to the ERP system at BT Europe, a leading supplier of forklift trucks. The analysis shows how the three levels of uncertainty interact, and how the computerised parts of the information system are complemented by mindful intertwining with the non-computerised communication and manual data processing, in order for the information system to work.

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