The Problem

2. The Problem ‘Our JIT system works in Germany. Why doesn’t it work in Brazil? It’s the same technology – so what’s the difference?’ Automotive Manufacturing Supply Chain

3. ‘Most of the problems that came up were not technical.’ ‘We can deal with the technical problems – we do that every day – it is the soft issues that are the real problem.’ ‘I’m an engineer – I wasn’t trained for that – but it’s what I spend most of my time doing’

4. Trist and Mumford • coal mining industry where mechanization had actually decreased worker productivity • systems have both technical & human/social aspects that are interconnected • interconnections more than individual elements determine system performance. http://www.strategosinc.com/socio-technical.htm

5. 1. A Straw Poll • Who is designing or managing a Software System just now? • How much time today / this week was spent on non-technical aspects?

6. Why this affects e-business Systems Extended enterprises systems tend to be designed in one community, but support communication and interoperation among an ever-increasing number of other communities

7. Does It Matter? • Costof misalignment • Iraq procurement system • Challenger • Process Management - what ISO Standards miss • Cost –effectiveness of Synergy

8. Cost of Misalignment • Challenger Iraq procurement system • Iraq procurement system was deemed a success - technically • Process Management - what ISO Standards miss

9. What Are Socio-technical Systems? ‘Coupled’ systems where performance depends on the interaction of human and technical IS. For design and management, this raises issues of socio-technical Interoperability, Alignment, Leverage, Synergy

10. Cognitive and social systems are increasingly recognised as networked information and communication systems in their own right • Design and implementation strategies can leverage both the technical and the human systems at key interfaces where they interact

11. ‘the interaction of physical systems that are deterministic with human systems (cognitive, social, organisational, cultural, economic or political for example) which are less so.’ Cliff Joslyn & Luis Rocha, Los Alamos National Labs

12. Dimension Germany Brazil Avoidance of undefined situations High Low Approach to time-planning Long-term and prescriptive Short-term and flexible Predominating concept of time Linear, sequential Synchronous, parallel Approach to rules and regulations Rigid – the letter of the law Flexible – the spirit of the law The Difference Table 4.1 Dimensions of Difference

13. Aligning Coupled Systems Coupled systems can either: • create synergy • generate costs or risk

14. Adding Value in Coupled Systems

15. How the Book Deals with It • The Problem • Case Scenarios - problem in context - transferable strategies • Summary of Strategies • Some Theoretical Context

16. Extranet - financial services • Manufacturing supply chain - automotive • Safety management systems – oil and gas • KM Intranet – financial services • Grid – based fusion of local and global knowledge • Digital Library

17. Case-based Problems & Solutions • for developing awareness of recurring problems in the design or management of socio-technical systems • for sharing strategies for aligning social and technical systems

18. Complex Systems Can Generate Simple Patterns • scenarios that account for many of the problems and solutions

19. Recurring Patterns • Same problems in system design or management • Real cost to business and individuals • No sharing of awareness or transferable solutions • No training or established wisdom

20. The Local: Global Case • Software designed to standardise safety compliance procedures globally, was actually increasing risk in some local operating sites www.petrotechnics.com

21. The Problem with Global Systems • Safety compliance systems increasing risk in oil and gas • Fixed vs variable • Leveraging local knowledge • Communities are IS

22. Leveraging the Technical and the Human Resource To Cut Risk Fire is a complex, dynamic phenomenon in which small differences in initial conditions lead to large differences in outcome. Designing structures to reduce risk of fire in the first place, and to facilitate rapid intervention should it occur, are critical elements in a risk mitigation strategy…….Such a strategy assumes that an engineered building, with its occupants, constitutes a socio-technical system, and that many buildings, with their occupants, create a wider community that can anticipate, reduce, or increase risk. Comfort L., 2002, ‘Anticipating Fire: A Socio-technical Approach to Mitigation’

23. Activity 2: Aligning Systems • Find another example like the Global Local one • It must leverage the potential of global technical systems and the knowledge of local social/cultural systems to add value or cut risk

24. Your Examples

25. Leveraging the Technical and the Human System to Mutual Advantage The Virtual Learning Environment

26. Recurring Design & Management Strategies • Aligning technical and human systems- coupled systems • Using a common platform - designing technology around the architecture of the cognitive or the social process

27. 3. Bridging the gap – human, technical or socio-technical ‘middleware’ at the interfaces where costs or value can be generated 4. Creating new linkages between technical and/or human networks 5. Mapping the social network as a context for understanding and situated action

28. 2. Using a Common Platform Building systems around the cognitive process. • WebSOMs • Shneiderman • Bush • Pask • Hitchens

30. Building systems around the social process. • UML • SSM • Concept Maps

32. Open Social Technical Te Closed

33. 3. Bridging the Gap middleware – technical or human systems that transform, translate or mediate capital between systems

34. Technical Middleware • Electronic chip adds value by mediating information between coupled systems • Human ‘middleware’ • Control and capital

35. Harnessing the Energy of other Systems

36. Software as middleware • Software as middleware between technical systems • Windows as mediator between human users and technological systems

37. People as Middleware • between levels and between groups – reinforcing shared interpretations and validating situated actions • Brokerage • Re-use and co-evolution

38. Learning and Knowledge as Middleware Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we re-perceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning. Senge

39. Pre-requisites for Knowledge Sharing • Shared spaces • Shared frames of reference • The ‘file’ ‘programme’ analogy

40. Shared Frames of Reference – Time

41. Frames of Reference -Space • Images • Maps • Metaphors • Patterns • Concepts • Norms • Role of feedback in creating and reinforcing these adaptively

42. Case7 Context Problem Forces Solutions Volatility of a more distributed and increasingly user-led market in extended enterprise makes resource planning difficult to forecast and manage effectively. How can business respond rapidly and effectively to transient user requirements without costs and risks inherent in over- and under-build? Over-capacity is costly and invokes other costs / risks, such as security. Under-capacity can lead to loss of business due to poor service or system failure. Maximize response to changing scale and scope of user requirements. Minimize cost of system build and/or design. Maintain reliability, security and flexibility of service. Share resources Share resources dynamically Target resources Outsource transient capacity Align short-term build with long-term planning Shared Frames of Reference - Problems

43. Metaphor – the evolutionary solution in social IS - I see what you mean - Instantiation at run time - Data-mining - A system is like a dam - A nippy sweetie - A ball park figure - Square

44. Phase 1 Aligning knowledge Recurring problem Solution Knowledge transfer across domains requires a shared space, a shared currency and shared aims. However, distributed departments do not have informal social opportunities to develop this. Co-location of project team representing different stakeholder groups. Shared space online as well as on-site to support knowledge building through dialogue and shared experience. Knowledge assets are not available as no historical data of expertise on recurring problem–solution pairs. Create a knowledge-base of recurring problem–solution patterns that are socio-technical. Difficulty in understanding the full requirements and implications of complex business processes. Maintain a core team which has developed (a) expertise and credibility across its members’ areas of expertise, and (b) shared frames and terms of reference. Table 1(a)

45. Alignment Adds Value

47. 3. Building Technology Around Social Processes • Local Scenario • Soft Systems • Catwoe • Amazon • Limewire • Brokerage

48. 4. Using the Architecture of Social Networks • Burt • Brokerage • Closure • Sense-making • Social Capital

49. Social Network Analysis • Actors and their actions are viewed as interdependent • Relational ties (linkages) between actors are channels for transfer or "flow" of resources (either material or nonmaterial) • The network structural environment provides opportunities for or constraints on individual action • Network models conceptualise structure (social, economic, political, and so forth) as lasting patterns of relations among actors • The unit of analysis in network analysis is not the individual, but an entity consisting of a collection of individuals and the linkages among them. Wasserman, S. and K. Faust, 1994, Social Network Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

50. Aligning Business & Technical Teams in the Design Process Itself Interviewer: You’ve mentioned the problem of requirements ‘creep’ late in the design. Can you think of anything that might have helped avoid this? Technical Manager: ‘A cluster bomb perhaps?’