Investigating Organisational Structures with Networks of Planning Agents

In this paper, we present a simulation model specifically for investigating formal and informal organisational structures. CAVALIER-NPA (networks of planning agents) is an agent-based simulation written in Java, where agents can communicate and do BDI-based planning. We describe a simple experiment which explores the impact of planning time, communications delays, and workload sharing on a simple mission. Analysis of the experimental results underlines the importance of efficient communication, the balance between planning and reactive behaviour, and the benefits of workload sharing within informal organisational networks.