Complex Decision-Making in Economy and Finance

7Complexity and Theory of Organizations: Structure and Architecture of an Enterprise

This chapter discusses the fundamental notion of structure for an organization, typically a company. There are many structures that implicate the way complexity is tackled in organizations, hence the need to distinguish them successfully.

The discussion provided below comes as an extension of Mintzberg’s theory of organizations [MIN 96] and multi-agent systems principles in a networked enterprise, as described by Minat in [MIN 99]. It aims to introduce decision-making strategies in different contexts related to the Internet as well as the types of activities to be covered in a company.

7.1. Notions of structure in organizations

7.1.1. The “enabling” environment for Information and Decision Systems

On the basis of decision-making strategies, a physical structure can be put in place and an information system architecture can be designed and implemented. In an organization, a population or a company, several architectures can be identified and implemented in their related decision-making systems. We first make a distinction between:

• – Centralized Systems: where the company’s various business processes, from research to operation, are entirely managed by the head office, also known as the Main Decision Center.
• – Duplicate Systems: here, research and development is carried out at the company’s headquarters, near the Decision Center, but production and operation are divided between geographically ...