Talk:Hierarchy

From NECSIWiki

Hierarchies are a form of control structures. In a broader sense, control structures deal with the flow of information and action-taking within a collection of interacting agents. This collection can be for example represented by a network.

The relationship between the agents of a control structure is central to the discussion. This determines the connectivity of the network. Types of connectivity can be: hierarchical (highly centralized), hybrid and distributed (non centralized, highly interconnected).

In addition to the concept of connectivity, information flow and decision-taking are also central to the understanding of the performance of the control structure, as for example measured by its abilities to respond to the environment in a succesfull (this needs to be defined in each particular context).