Democratization in Industry via MAS: Case Study Approach 

RWTH 
Noushin Qeybi 
Type: Model
TRL: n/a

AI-based decision support systems create new opportunities for decision-making and co-determination in companies, raising the question of whether and how democratization can take place in this context. To explore this, we introduced a conceptual approach for analyzing democratization efforts and examined specific challenges through a case study of an SME. A key aspect of democratization through MAS is the concept of representation, which plays a crucial role in ensuring meaningful worker participation. This representation can be developed considering three key aspects. First, MAS functions as a form of indirect representation, serving as a mediating instance between workers and the respective production situations where concrete allocation decisions must be made. Second, this indirect representation should be conceptualized and developed as a layered model with various options and levels of representation, as structured mediation processes are essential to maintaining decision-making capacity within the organization. Third, these layers help refine specific functionalities that connect the technical representation within MAS to the requirements of workers. In this sense, developing the concept first requires establishing a well-structured ‘nested representation’.

Contact Person

Noushin Qeybi

Information

More information is provided in:

  • our D3.3, to be precise
    • chapter 3.2: Democratization of Decision-Making in Socio-Technical Settings
    • chapter 5.2: The Question of Representation
  • FAIRWork Webinar #12: Socio-Technical Aspects in FAIRWork: Case Study Research at Use-Case Partner
  • FAIRWork Webinar #19: Exploring Democratic Design of Decision-Support in Companies: Report Based on an Empirical Case-Study
  • Published FAIRWork Success Story: FAIRWork was published as a success story of EU-Projects for AI support systems from NKS DIT

Or you can have a look at our paper:

  • Gheibi, N., Boeschen, S. (2024). Democratization in Industry via Multi-Agent Systems, The case of a production company. In: Lucas Paletta (eds) Cognitive Computing and Internet of Things. AHFE (2024) International Conference. AHFE Open Access, vol 124. AHFE International, USA.https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1004709