Socio-technical

system
► Presented by Aimen farooq (38)
 Origin of socio-technical sys
► In the early 1950's Eric Trist and the Tavistock
Institute studied the English coal mining industry where
mechanization had actually decreased worker
productivity.
► Trist proposed that manufacturing (and many other)
systems have both technical and human/social aspects
that are tightly bound and interconnected.
► Moreover, it is the interconnections more than
individual elements that determine system performance
 Socio-technical system
► “A socio-technical system is a system
composed of technical and social
subsystems”.
► An example for this is a factory or also a
hospital where people are organized, e.g.
in social systems like teams or
departments, to do work for which they
use technical systems like computers or
x-ray machines
 Two sub systems
► The technical system includes machinery, processes,
procedures and a physical arrangement. We usually
think of a factory in terms of its technical system
► The social system includes people and their habitual
attitudes, values, behavioral styles and relationships. It
includes the reward system
 Need for joint optimization
► Joint optimization is the goal of socio-Technical design. It is the
integration of the social requirements of people doing the work with
technical requirements needed to keep the work system viable with
regard to environment.
► For example, a manufacturing work cell that requires high
teamwork will not produce in an environment of suspicion and
command/control. A self-directed work team will be ineffective
when the layout of their area prevents communication or does not
require cooperation. The social and technical systems must
integrate and assist one another.
 Technological system
► Aspects of technical systems that place
demand on the social system:
► Nature of material being worked on
► Level of mechanization (or automation)
► Units of operation and grouping of these units into
production phases
► Degree of centrality of different operations
► Maintenance operations
► Supply operations
► Spatial layout of process over time
► Physical work setting
 The social system
► work role that promote cooperation among workers
► Work roles organized to promote self responsibility
► Whether workers are made jointly responsible for how
services are delivered or separately and unilaterally.
► The extend to which the key variances are
imported/exported or being controlled by employees
directly.
► Simultaneous interdependencies among workers to provide
for task accomplishment in less time and continuity in the
face of individual failure
 Cont.
► How each workers role is experienced in terms of
attractiveness and perceptions of dependence, pay equity,
trust and isolation with regard to others.
► The extend of coordination of task interdependence in
term of social relation
► The presence of formal over specification as well as under
specification
 Three levels of analysis
► The socio-technical experience may be carried out at
any one of three broad levels, from micro to macro.
Each level is interrelated and interconnected.
► Primary work system
► The whole organizational system
► The macro-social system
 Primary work sys
-A set of activities that make up a functioning whole in an
identifiable and bounded subsystem of an organization.
-The small work units or subsystems ensconced
throughout the whole organization—such as a line
department or service unit.
-The most satisfying and efficient primary work system
comprise small number of people that can perform a
whole task while satisfying the social and psychological
need of system members as well as organization needs.
 The whole organization sys
► Whole organization systems are larger enterprise-wide
systems consisting of several work units.
► It is at this level that goals are set that reflect
organizational capabilities in conjunction with the external
environment.
► The managers have potential power for aligning the
organizations structural arrangements and values.
► By communication of purpose, knowledge and values
among employees we can develop shared
objectives,values,norms and feel of belonging.
 The macro-social sys
► macrosocial systems, embody community-wide systems
and institutions operating within an industry sector.
► Organizations can best adapt to environmental
turbulence by identifying shared ideals to guide them in
fashioning new objectives and their goals.
 Principles of Sociotechnical Systems

► Compatibility
► Minimal critical specification
► Sociotechnical criterion
► Multifunctionality
► Boundary location
► Information flow
► Support congruence
► Design and human values
► Incompletion
 cont
► Compatibility – requires the process of system re-design to be
compatible with the desired organizational objectives.
► Minimal Critical Specification – methods of working should be
minimally predetermined for team members.
► Sociotechnical criterion – involves identifying key unanticipated
events which critically affect outcomes. If they can’t be
eliminated, they need to be handled at source.
► Multifunctionality – highly specialized jobs should be avoided as
specialism reduces flexibility. A more multi-skilled approach is
essential.
► Boundary location – boundaries can be drawn to group people and
activities in terms of technology, territory or time.
 cont
► Information flow – those that need resources should have access
and authority over them.
► Support congruence – systems of social support should reinforce
the desired organizational behaviours.
► Design and human values – the objective of the organizational
design should be to provide a high quality of work.
► Incompletion – redesign should be an iterative process, not a “one
off” change.
Steps in data collection and analysis
► The methodology of sociotechnical analysis usually proceeds as follows:
► (1) Initial scanning. The aim, in this phase, is both to identify the main
characteristics of the production system and its specific environment and
to elucidate the main problems on which subsequent analyses must focus.
► The main ``outputs’’ of this phase are:
► the physical layout of the production system; a definition of the
organisational structure;
► the identification of the most important inputs and outputs of the system
► and of the main processes of transformation; the aims of the system, both
the production and the social aims;
► the history and the relevant social aspects of the system;
► and, lastly, identification of the main variances.
 2)Technological analysis
► In sciotechnical system ,technical analysis means inputs and
outputs rather than tools equipments.
► identification of unit operations, that is, of the main phases in the
production process; where possible the purpose of each unit
operation should be specified in terms of its inputs, its
transformations, and its outputs;
► identification of key process variances (which originate either
from the materials or from the nature of the process of
transformation as currently being carried out) and their
interrelationships (by constructing variance matrixes).
 3)Social analysis
► The aim here is to analyse the main characteristics of
the existing social system, in order both to understand
► how the network of roles contributes to checking on
the previously identified variances
► and to evaluate each role in relation to the psychological
needs of the workers.
► 4)Analysis of external systems. Those which influence
the system being analysed (for example, the
maintenance system).
► 5)Work system design proposals. These are within the
logic of the best fit between the technical sub-system
and the social sub-system.
 limitations
► The STS concept that we have discussed is only for bringing
improvement in the design and redesign of the workplace of a ‘well
defined linear system’ rather than the growing number of ill
defined ‘non linear systems’
► Well defined system are characterized by programmed tasks that
follow sequential conversion process of input to output
► Where as in non linear system it is difficult to separate different
conversion process into well bounded entities
► Another limitation is that it provides clear advice on organisational
change, such as changes in people and processes, but it does not
tell you how to design the technology to support performance.
Therefore, if you identify a number of change initiatives and one
of them relates to new technology, it will not tell you what and how
the technology needs to work to drive performance.
 New approach to sts analysis
► For complex, nonlinear situations, pava suggested an additional
analysis, a “second-generation” of STS theory that focused on
“deliberations” in technical analysis and “discretionary coalitions” in
social analysis.
► Pava defined deliberations as ““choice points” that are not simply
the equivalent of decisions or meetings; rather, Deliberations are
reflective and communicative behaviors concerning a particular
topic. They are patterns of exchange and communication in which
people engage with themselves or others to reduce the equivocality
of a problematic issue.
► Deliberations have three salient aspects: topics, forums of
exchange, and participants.
 Cont.
► Analysis of the technical sub-system entails both identifying major
deliberations, forums and participants and critically evaluating the
elements that may render each individual deliberation ineffective
(e.g. information gaps in each deliberation, problems related to
component work activities for each deliberation).
► Analysis of the social sub-system entails identifying, for each major
deliberation:
► . The way in which responsibility is distributed among the various
participants;
► . Orientations and values that typify each participant; and
► . Interdependent parties – ``people with divergent values who are engaged
in the same deliberation and must continually work at forging a
discretionary coalition that can make intelligent trade-offs among its
members for the sake of some long-term general interest’’.