Negotiation Behavior During Multiple Agent Specification: A Need for Automated Conflict Resolution
William N. Robinson
Committee:
Technical Report(Nov 1989)
Keywords:

Negotiation is part of specification. During specification acquisition, users negotiate amongst themselves and with analysts. During specification design, designers negotiate amongst themĀ­elves and with a project leader. Throughout the specification of a system, people communicate needs and constraints in ways which benefit the project or themselves. The study of such behavior has been valuable to disciplines such as contract negotiation and office management. However, software engineering has yet to address negotiation behavior. Here we show how negotiation applies to specification. We present automated means to promote integrative behavior during specification. We conclude that formal models of users' desires and resoluĀ­tion methods are necessary for integrative reasoning.