ARBAS: A Formal Language to Support Argumentation in Network-Based Organizations

This paper proposes a formal language to support and document argumentation, claims, decision and negotiation, and coordination in network-based organizations. The purpose of the language, once implemented in the organization's Intranet, is to promote communication using structured arguments, claims and justified decisions and to preserve this information as corporate memory. We contend that organization effectiveness can be achieved by continuous exchange of information, arguments, and joint agreements on actions with appropriate knowledge of the organizational decision-making context. As a mechanism for group decision and negotiation support and as an organizational repository, the proposed language is constructed based on supporting discussions that focus on the relationship between actions and the resources required to implement these actions.