Organization vs Disorganization: A Computational Model of Goals, Motivation and Problem Solving

This paper presents an agent-based simulation of “disorganization” and its effect on problem solving. The Prime objective of the simulation is to determine the variance in problem solving under two settings. The first has inflexible structural limitations enacted on the agents (organization) while the other has very little structural limitations (disorganization). The simulation also employs goals as a foundation for the motivation with which agents solve problems. Findings of the simulation show that the “organization” setting guarantees a minimal number of problems are solved independent of how much simulated employees interact with each other. Instead, the “disorganization” setting seems to be more efficient when agents extend the range of social interaction, in or outside their working group, department, or division.