Management of cultural differences in Organisations by Intelligent Software Agents

AUTHOR
Ali Reza Kian Abolfazlian

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we entertain the notion of management of cultural differences in Organisations by Intelligent Software Agents. Especially we shall look at the differences that arise in organisations based on the new values that the introduction of new Information Technologies in these organisations generates. We start by looking at the concept of human values, understood as knowledge, through reconsidering knowledge as a social concept realised in the framework that was developed in [Abolfazlian, 1996f]. We shall look at the relationship between Information and the development of human values especially in connection with the introduction of new IT in an organisation. Then, we introduce the notion of Intelligent Software Agents as autonomous, social, reactive, proactive and subservient software computer systems. Organisations are introduced to new Technology as a natural consequence of the ever continuous stream of new tasks within the bounderies of organisations. We not only use and invent our newly acquired technologies to deal with our new tasks but in the same time and in duration of the same process we ourselves are changed by the very same instruments and the consequences of using them. As a natural consequence of this dynamic process, differences based on the conflicts between the newly introduced values in the organisations and the old ones arise. We shall see how Intelligent Software Agents can help human-agents to get a better understanding of these differences and how theses Agents can actively participate in the management of the problems concerning these particular differences.