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

‘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’

• 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

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?

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

Does It Matter?Cost of misalignment

•Iraq procurement system

•Challenger

•Process Management - what ISO Standards miss

Cost –effectiveness of Synergy

Cost of Misalignment

• Challenger Iraq procurement system

• Iraq procurement system was deemed a success - technically

• Process Management - what ISO Standards miss

‘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

What Are Socio-technical Systems?

• 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

‘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

The Difference

Table 4.1 Dimensions of Difference 

Dimension Germany Brazil 

Avoidance of undefined situations

High Low

Approach to time-planning Long-term and prescriptive

Short-termand 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

Aligning Coupled Systems

Coupled systems can either:

• create synergy• generate costs or risk

Adding Value in Coupled Systems

How the Book Deals with It

• The Problem• Case Scenarios

- problem in context

- transferable strategies• Summary of Strategies• Some Theoretical

Context

• 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

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

Complex Systems Can Generate Simple Patterns

• scenarios that account for many of the problems and solutions

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

The Local: Global Case

• Software designed to standardise safety compliance procedures globally, was actually increasing risk in some local operating sites

www.petrotechnics.com

The Problem with Global Systems

• Safety compliance systems increasing risk in oil and gas

• Fixed vs variable

• Leveraging local knowledge

• Communities are IS

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’

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

Your Examples

Leveraging the Technical and the Human System to Mutual Advantage

The Virtual Learning Environment

Recurring Design & Management Strategies

1. Aligning technical and human systems- coupled systems

2. Using a common platform - designing technology around the architecture of the cognitive or the social process

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

2. Using a Common Platform

Building systems around the cognitive process.

• WebSOMs• Shneiderman• Bush• Pask• Hitchens

Building systems around the social process.

• UML• SSM• Concept Maps

TeTechnical Social

Open

Closed

3. Bridging the Gap

middleware – technical or human systems that transform, translate or mediate capital between systems

Technical Middleware

• Electronic chip adds value by mediating information between coupled systems

• Human ‘middleware’• Control and capital

Harnessing the Energy of other Systems

Software as middleware

• Software as middleware between technical systems

• Windows as mediator between human users and technological systems

• between levels and between groups – reinforcing shared interpretations and validating situated actions

• Brokerage• Re-use and co-

evolution

People as Middleware

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

Pre-requisites for Knowledge Sharing

• Shared spaces• Shared frames of

reference

• The ‘file’ ‘programme’ analogy

Vendor Visit

Vendor Workshop

True Costs

The Business Know The Benefits

Vendor Prototype

Scale BackPot Sharing

Operational Skim

Contract Boxing

Re-Use Successful

Teams

BloodhoundRequirements

Prototype

Collocate

Mentor Knock Heads

Time

Project Start-Up/Feasibility Project Execution

Shared Frames of Reference – Time

Frames of Reference -Space

• Images

• Maps

• Metaphors

• Patterns

• Concepts

• Norms

• Role of feedback in creating and reinforcing these adaptively

Case7

Shared Frames of Reference - Problems   

 

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

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

Table 1(a) 

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.

Alignment Adds Value

3. Building Technology Around Social Processes

• Local Scenario• Soft Systems• Catwoe• Amazon• Limewire• Brokerage

4. Using the Architecture of Social Networks

• Burt• Brokerage• Closure• Sense-making• Social Capital

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.

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?’

The Extranet Project

• Range of recurring problems in aligning technical and business requirements design of an Extranet (at a more specific level)

• Solutions adopted

• Implications for design or management

Tensions

Tensions

Tensions

Web technologies

Object technologies

Tensions

Emerging requirements

Raised expectations

No historical data

Scoping problem

Business Objectives

Technical Objectives

Not Just KM

The Extranet Cases suggest that alignment between business and technical teams was about criteria and reward within particular communities – not knowledge transfer

Table 1(a) 

Phase 1 Aligning knowledge of design requirements

Recurring problem Solution

Lack of shared terms. Difficulty of coming to a common understanding. Few opportunities for informal or face to face exchange to build this up. 

 

 

Knowledge of previous problems and solutions in other projects is not available 

Difficulty of fully understanding the requirements and implications of complex business processes being migrated to web-based system. 

Business model is incomplete, and requirements are based on the current mainframe system

Phase 2 Aligning Competing Requirements within Constraints

Recurring problem Solution

Competing aims and requirements – brain-storming becomes blame-storming 

 

Constantly emerging requirements (‘creep’) leading to additional costs, risks and delays as a design is repeatedly revised or added to.

Late changes are particularly costly and impact greatly on other design aspects. An initial solution of matching requirements with set criteria of costs and benefits is often overridden by lobby groups in the senior management team who ‘move the goal posts’ and undermine the official change control processes. 

Getting support from management for ‘invisible’ or long-term initiatives flagged by current problems 

 

I think "knowledge management" is a bullshit issue. Let me tell you why. I can give you perfect information, I can give you perfect knowledge and it won't change your behaviour one iota. People choose not to change their behaviour because the culture and the imperatives of the organization make it too difficult to act upon the knowledge. Knowledge is not the power. Power is power. The ability to act on knowledge is power. Most people in most organizations do not have the ability to act on the knowledge they possess. End of story. Michael SchrageTeamwork ConsultantKnowledge Inc. Interview

Phase 3 Aligning outcomes with expectations

Recurring problem Solution

Hyped anticipation of outcome(‘over-promise and under-deliver’)

Cost and development time increased by constant changes to spec. 

Capturing knowledge of solutions to recurring problems for the future 

Activity 3: The Extranet Case

• Discuss some possible solutions

• Note down other non-technical problems that come up in discussion

Table 1(a) 

Phase 1 Gathering knowledge of design requirements and considering solutions

Recurring problem Solution

Lack of shared terms. Difficulty of coming to a common understanding. Few opportunities for informal or face to face exchange to build this up.

Business model is incomplete, and requirements are based on the current system mainframe system 

Co-location of project team representing different stakeholder groups. Shared space online as well as on-site to support dialogue and shared experience.

 

Knowledge of previous problems and solutions in other projects is not available 

Create a knowledge-base of recurring problem–solution patterns that are socio-technical.

Difficulty of fully understanding the requirements and implications of complex business processes being migrated to web-based system. 

Maintain a core team which has developed

(a) expertise and credibility across its members’ areas of expertise

(b) shared frames and terms of reference

(c) had the seniority to implement any changes in their own team

Phase 2 Aligning objectives

Recurring problem Solution

Competing aims and requirements.Brain-storming – to blame-storming

Ensure a detailed business model is in place, with criteria agreed and enforced, before embarking on the technical design. Separate core invariant elements from peripheral and variable elements where possible, to limit the cost and scale of redesign while allowing flexibility to meet the market requirements.

 Early mock-ups and prototypes make stakeholders more aware of the real implications, risks and opportunities of a new system. Use Dreamweaver directly with users to avoid changes in priorities and requirements at a later stage of build.

 

Constantly emerging requirements (‘creep’) leading to additional costs, risks and delays as a design is repeatedly revised or added to.

Late changes are particularly costly and impact greatly on other design aspects. An initial solution of matching requirements with set criteria of costs and benefits is often overridden by lobby groups in the senior management team who ‘move the goal posts’ and undermine the official change control processes. 

Getting support from management for ‘invisible’ or long-term initiatives which may have implications for future competitiveness. 

Show the benefits and risks with other company examples as a benchmark Share resources with other groups with shared concerns. 

Phase 3 Aligning expectations

Recurring problem Solution

Hyped anticipation of outcome ‘Under-promise’ and ‘over-deliver’ design, and roll out discrete ‘chunks’, so the human and technical challenges are more manageable. 

Cost and development time of prototype, followed by changes to spec. 

Collaborative prototyping of rapidly generated mock-up.

Capturing knowledge of solutions to recurring problems. 

Matrix of organizational expertise.

Supporting Sense-making

• Building around the cognitive system

• This requires a model of the cognitive process - from (1) information to (2) knowledge and (3)situated action

A Definition of Knowledge 

‘an adaptive interface between information and action.’

‘information applied to achieve a goal, solve a problem or enact a decision.’

Nicholas Shadbolt, 2001

Where?• Locally

• Where there is scope for interaction

• Where there is scope for intervention

Invisible Architecture

•Biological and technical systems have developed a range of solutions to the problem of distributed information processing

•When powerful systems are ‘coupled’ the interface betweenthem are crucial in shaping theperformance that results

Key Interfaces in Socio-technical Systems

Information Performance

1. Perception

• Zooming and Scanning

• Shneiderman• WebSOMs

2.Cognition - Making Sense of Information

• Information is not the problem

• Making sense of it is

• File –programme analogy

Pre-requisites for Knowledge Sharing

• Shared spaces• Shared frames of

reference

• The ‘file’ ‘programme’ analogy

Frames of Reference -Space

• Images

• Maps

• Metaphors

• Patterns

• Concepts

• Norms

• Role of feedback in creating and reinforcing these adaptively

Context

• Information• Knowledge• Context

• Metaphors

• Concepts ‘Once a person begins to accept a stereotype of a particular group, that "thought" becomes an active agent, "participating" in shaping how he or she interacts with others in that class’

• Norms

‘Trust is regulated by norms and provides a mechanism for optimising value in transactions and minimising risk within groups’

A Grammar of Shared Contexts

Culture is persistent

Beliefs: Those things we hold to be true despite evidence to the contrary.

J. O’ConnorThe Art of Systems Thinking

“..cybernetic systems are feedback loops which are either negative or positive (weakening or enforcing). They give to the system the qualities of stabilization and renewal. In this context the organisation of feedback processes is an important managerial task with regard to the survival of the system.”

3. Action

Drawing On Biological Systems for Solutions

• Shaping through feedback loops (not KM

• Recurrent scenarios or patterns despite complexity

• Reinforcement and emergence of structure

Feedback Shapes Distributed Autonomous Networks

• Ants brains and cities• Reinforcing behaviour

shapes the system• At key interfaces• Emergent structure

shapes subsequent performance

Complex Systems Can Generate Simple Patterns

• scenarios that account for many of the problems

Structuration and enactment theories.

Actor network and agent based theories

Complex systems theory and Chaos theory

Social Network AnalysisSSM

Aims

• Awareness-raising• Collection of recurring

scenarios• Undergraduate training• Development of tools to

map soft processes

Implications

• A Starter

• Collect and share recurring scenarios

• For use in undergraduate training

• Extend development of tools to map soft processes

Making The Dark Matter Visible?

• Ranking • Inclusion

unknown

explicit

tacit

Thank You

Jenny.Ure@ed.ac.uk