Reliable agent engineering should integrate machine-compatible organizational principles
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks
Abstract (arXiv)
As AI agents built on large language models (LLMs) become increasingly embedded in society, issues of coordination, control, delegation, and accountability are entangled with concerns over their reliability. To design and implement LLM agents around reliable operations, we should consider the task complexity in the application settings and reduce their limitations while striving to minimize agent failures and optimize resource efficiency. High-functioning human organizations have faced similar balancing issues, which led to evidence-based theories that seek to understand their functioning strategies. We examine the parallels between LLM agents and the compatible frameworks in organization science, focusing on what the design, scaling, and management of organizations can inform agentic systems towards improving reliability. We offer three preliminary accounts of organizational principles for AI agent engineering to attain reliability and effectiveness, through balancing agency and capabilities in agent design, resource constraints and performance benefits in agent scaling, and internal and external mechanisms in agent management. Our work extends the growing exchanges between the operational and governance principles of AI systems and social systems to facilitate system integration.
Key facts. Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 69 of its 169 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 8 Dec 2025.
Builds on
69 of 169 references.
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