Abstract
Accurate comprehension and analysis of complex sociotechnical systems is a daunting task. Empirically examining, or simply envisioning the structure and behaviour of such systems challenges traditional analytic and experimental approaches as well as our everyday cognitive capabilities. Computer-based models and simulations afford potentially useful means of accomplishing sociotechnical system design and analysis objectives. From a design perspective, they can provide a basis for a common mental model among stakeholders, thereby facilitating accurate comprehension of factors impacting system performance and potential effects of system modifications. From a research perspective, models and simulations afford the means to study aspects of sociotechnical system design and operation, including the potential impact of modifications to structural and dynamic system properties, in ways not feasible with traditional experimental approaches. This paper describes issues involved in the design and use of such models and simulations and describes a proposed path forward to their development and implementation.
Highlights
All models are wrong, but some are useful. (Box and Draper 1987, 424)The concept of the sociotechnical system originated with the insights of Tavistock Institute researchers in the early 1950s, with respect to examining the impact of the introduction of novel technical systems in the British coal mining industry (e.g. Trist and Bamforth 1951)
Social factors include features such as the nature of rewards and punishments that play a central role in a worker’s sense of what constitutes desirable and undesirable behaviour and accomplishments on the job. Technical factors include both the technical systems and tools that support the execution of work-related activity, as well as the technical processes and techniques used in its execution
A number of these are critical for envisioning the ways in which modelling and simulation can potentially support the design and analysis of real-world systems, as well as the scientific examination of general principles of sociotechnical systems. These include the broad acknowledgement of the complex nature of social and technical factors impacting system performance; the interactive, hierarchical nature of sociotechnical systems and the assertion that traditional experimental paradigms may not be equipped to adequately examine or explain complex system performance
Summary
All models are wrong, but some are useful. (Box and Draper 1987, 424). The concept of the sociotechnical system originated with the insights of Tavistock Institute researchers in the early 1950s, with respect to examining the impact of the introduction of novel technical systems in the British coal mining industry (e.g. Trist and Bamforth 1951). A number of these are critical for envisioning the ways in which modelling and simulation can potentially support the design and analysis of real-world systems, as well as the scientific examination of general principles of sociotechnical systems These include the broad acknowledgement of the complex nature of social and technical factors impacting system performance; the interactive, hierarchical nature of sociotechnical systems and the assertion that traditional experimental paradigms may not be equipped to adequately examine or explain complex system performance. A significant reduction in the number of appropriately trained workers performing an inherently risky activity in an industrial setting combined with a demand to meet significantly accelerated production goals can generally be expected to result in diminished workplace safety This is an example of a fairly linear, cause-and-effect relationship, the study of even such apparently straightforward relationships can be problematic from a laboratory or traditional field research perspective. We wish to propose that the development of computer-based models and simulations of sufficient fidelity may offer a useful approach to the examination of safety issues associated with sociotechnical system structure and function
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