Socio-technical Perspective Research Articles

Strategic planning of the collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence in production

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds a vast potential for various applications and benefits in production, particularly concerning the collaboration of humans and AI. Their complementary skills can lead to significant advantages. However, the implementation of AI presents technical, organizational, and employee-related challenges that must be addressed from a socio-technical perspective. Concrete actions are necessary, such as defining the roles and responsibilities between humans and AI and selecting appropriate AI applications. Given the extensive scope of potential changes and challenges, a systematic approach is required.Therefore, this paper presents an approach for strategically planning of the collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence in production. The approach is based on an extensive literature review and empirical surveys and includes use cases, design fields, and a procedure model. This model allows companies to assess their current situation in terms of relevant capabilities for human-AI collaboration in manufacturing. Additionally, it identifies any organizational capabilities required for human-AI collaboration that may be lacking for specific use cases, enabling the derivation of necessary measures. Some measures may be similar across different use cases, allowing for the creation of bundles of measures to integrate AI into different work processes. The approach is integrated into a company's strategic planning as a strategic initiative, ensuring alignment with other sub-strategies such as the IT strategy.

The effect of 5S implementation for manufacturing sustainability performance in Indonesian small and medium enterprises: socio-technical perspective

The effect of 5S implementation for manufacturing sustainability performance in Indonesian small and medium enterprises: socio-technical perspective

Understanding the Role of Socio-Technical Infrastructures on the Organization of Access for the Mixed-Ability Collaborators

TPositioning disabled people as deficient, dysfunctional, and locating the 'problem' of disability within the individual, the over-medicalized, individualistic, and not equity-oriented perspectives of disability have led to oppression, discrimination, and exclusion of disabled people from important parts of public life. The global politics of disability rights and disability movements have brought thorny questions regarding the nature of dominant explanations. Equity-oriented perspectives and collaborative approaches regarding organization and distribution of access started to gain visibility. HCI research has a vital potential to contribute to this by providing related tools and technologies for integrating equal access in the collaborative organization of access. Considering the existing literature, the question of how access is collaboratively organized, negotiated, distributed and scaled through socio-technical mechanisms especially at an institutional level, as well as how mixed-ability groups reorganize access by interacting with institutional socio-technical structures remains open. In this research, I aim to extend the body of literature in collaborative access by presenting the importance of socio-technical perspectives for designing collaborative technologies to support equal distribution of access. My research is about the signifcance of equity perspectives in access and interaction. Specifcally, this research focuses on understanding the role of socio-technical infrastructures for the organization and distribution of access by mixed-ability collaborators and developing design insights for socio-technical mechanisms to support equal distribution of access for people with disabilities.

“Simplifying” Digital Complexity? A Socio-Technical Perspective. Editorial Introduction to Issue 33 of CSIMQ

This thematic issue of four papers focuses on the importance of a socio-technical perspective in research and practice. A socio-technical perspective sees an organization as a combination of two components – a social and a technical one. The real pattern of behavior in the organization is determined by how well these parts fit each other. While analyzing system problems of getting things done, adequate consideration should be given to technology as well as informal and formal interactions of people with the technology as well as with other people using the technology. The papers in this issue present the sociotechnical perspective as a lens enabling researchers and practitioners to simplify the digital complexity in the socio-technical context.

CyberSecurity Readiness: A Model for SMEs based on the Socio-Technical Perspective

Like most companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have become reliant on digital technology for their day-to-day business operations. While valuable, this comes with challenges; one of which is the rise in cybercrime. In terms of their cybersecurity resilience and risk, SMEs are among the most vulnerable and least mature. This article addresses a gap in the literature that has neglected cybersecurity readiness in SMEs. The study proposes a CyberSecurity Readiness Model for SMEs (CSRM-SME) based on a Socio-Technical view of organizations. The model was applied to three SMEs to assess their cybersecurity readiness and further understand the environment and strategies adopted to prevent and manage cyber-attacks.

Socio-technical challenges towards data-driven and integrated urban water management: A socio-technical network approach

Data-driven and integrated urban water management have been proposed to reduce surface water pollution in light of climate change and urbanization impacts. Besides technological innovation, data-driven and integrated management require information exchange among many actors, e.g., operators, engineers, or authorities. With the aim of achieving a more profound understanding of socio-technical infrastructures, such as urban water systems, I draw on the approach of socio-technical networks to study actors and infrastructure elements as well as multiple relations in-between. In this article, I investigate whether underlying socio-technical dependencies influence social interactions such as information exchange. More specifically related to data-driven and integrated management, I analyze potential challenges, such as organizational fragmentation, data access, and diverging perceptions. Based on empirical data from three case studies in Switzerland, I provide inferential results obtained from fitting exponential random graph models. Findings showed that actors’ relatedness to infrastructure elements affects their information exchange. Among the cases, the presence of the three challenges varied and is potentially contingent upon system size, organizational form, or progress in terms of data-driven and integrated management. Thus, incorporating a socio-technical perspective on social actors and infrastructure elements could help to improve policy design and implementation aiming to achieve more sustainable cities.

An Evaluation of a Training Management System Adoption in A Public Sector: A Case Study

Information systems is evaluated to determine its success in fulfilling organization requirements and intended purposes. Information systems is meant to improve work process effectiveness; however, various problems result in user dissatisfaction and low system acceptance. The problems include system inability to fulfill user requirements, process inconsistency, unintuitive user interface, data entry, lack of user involvement in system development, and insufficient training. Therefore, we identified factors that influence the information systems adoption and the related aspects that need to be improved in order to optimize the system potentials. We evaluated a training management system in Malaysia's public sector from the user and socio-technical perspectives using the human-organisation-technology-fit (HOT-fit) framework. We performed a case study evaluation using interview, observation, and document analysis methods. The structured and specific measures in the HOT-fit framework facilitated the system evaluation. Positive factors include ease of use, information relevancy, good technical and management support, effective communication and strong relationships. In contrast, factors such as slow system access, user attitude, shortage of technical staff, task constraint, and leadership or policy changes affect system adoption negatively. System net benefits motivated users to use the system.

Critical Obstacles Affecting Adoption of Industrial Big Data Solutions in Smart Factories

Industrial big data is the key to realize the vision of smart factories. This research aims to identify and explore potential barriers that prevent organizations from deploying industrial big data solutions in the development of smart factories through a socio-technical perspective. The research follows an inductive qualitative approach. Twenty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with the CEO, smart factory manager, IT managers, departmental heads, and IS consultants in the selected case company. The interview data were analyzed using a thematic analysis method. Derived from a thematic analysis, six sets of barriers including technical, data, technical support, organization, individual, and social issues were identified, as well as the relationships between them. An empirical framework was developed to highlight the relationship between these barriers. This study contributes to the knowledge of industrial big data in general and provides constructive insight into industrial big data implementation in smart factory development particularly.

Mediating Infrastructural Discipline: Established Practices and Changing Structures of Dar es Salaam’s Transport Sector

This article discusses the interplay of urban transport infrastructures and their need to and of discipline. Drawing on participatory observation, ride-alongs, and interviews, it elaborates the case of BRT introduction in Dar es Salaam and illustrates how various humans and nonhumans needed to be disciplined so that the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit system could become operational. Referring to the conceptualizations of mediating technologies (Latour, 1994) and disciplinary devices (Ureta, 2012), this article elaborates how the new transport system disciplines its environment, and how it is itself disciplined through different norms and materialities. However, discipline did not realize as planned. De-scriptions (Akrich, 1992) of the system’s disciplining technologies occurred, as practices turned out differently. New forms and effective combinations of established practices and changing structures have led to fluid formations of urban transport. Two perspectives enable to deeply understand this transitional process. First, a sociotechnical perspective shows how agency has been (re)distributed and mediated through technologies and artefacts that were implemented to secure smooth bus operations. Second, a historical perspective elucidates how previous and prevalent practices of Tanzania’s minibus system and other road users impacted the formation of DART. The article hence demonstrates that technological innovation and spatial reorganization do not only lead to new forms of discipline, but to ongoing mediations and negotiations of transport practices.

Open Source Software Sustainability: Combining Institutional Analysis and Socio-Technical Networks

Sustainable Open Source Software (OSS) forms much of the fabric of our digital society, especially successful and sustainable ones. But many OSS projects do not become sustainable, resulting in abandonment and even risks for the world's digital infrastructure. Prior work has looked at the reasons for this mainly from two very different perspectives. In software engineering, the focus has been on understanding success and sustainability from the socio-technical perspective: the OSS programmers' day-to-day activities and the artifacts they create. In institutional analysis, on the other hand, emphasis has been on institutional designs (e.g., policies, rules, and norms) that structure project governance. Even though each is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of OSS projects, the connection and interaction between the two approaches have been barely explored. In this paper, we make the first effort toward understanding OSS project sustainability using a dual-view analysis, by combining institutional analysis with socio-technical systems analysis. In particular, we (i) use linguistic approaches to extract institutional rules and norms from OSS contributors' communications to represent the evolution of their governance systems, and (ii) construct socio-technical networks based on longitudinal collaboration records to represent each project's organizational structure. We combined the two methods and applied them to a dataset of developer digital traces from 253 nascent OSS projects within the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) incubator. We find that the socio-technical and institutional features relate to each other, and provide complimentary views into the progress of the ASF's OSS projects. Refining these combined analyses can help provide a more precise understanding of the synchronization between the evolution of institutional governance and organizational structure.

A Global Pandemic: Sociotechnical Perspectives on COVID-19

A Global Pandemic: Sociotechnical Perspectives on COVID-19

AI model transferability in healthcare: a sociotechnical perspective

To deliver value in healthcare, artificial intelligence and machine learning models must be integrated not only into technology platforms but also into local human and organizational ecosystems and workflows. To realize the promised benefits of applying these models at scale, a roadmap of the challenges and potential solutions to sociotechnical transferability is needed.

Cybersecurity Threats in Local Government: A Sociotechnical Perspective

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by local governments is widespread and meant to improve managerial effectiveness and public engagement. ICTs are commonly used by governments to collaborate and communicate with stakeholders. Yet, the use of ICTs increases local governments exposure to cyberthreats. Cyberthreats are increasing and local governments are often under-resourced and underprepared for them. While many organizations combat cyberthreats with technological solutions, it is well known that social aspects—including manager vigilance and buy-in—are critical in reducing cyber incidents. Thus, governments require both social and technical solutions to cyberthreats. This research takes a sociotechnical perspective to examine the relationships between social (e.g., values and perceptions) and technical factors (e.g., design and capacity) and cyber incidents in local government. We use data from a 2018 national survey of public managers in 500 U.S. cities, data from city government websites, and the U.S. Census. The results indicate that manager buy-in and perceptions interact with technical aspects to explain reported cyber incidents in government. The findings expand our understanding of how social and technical factors are associated with cyberthreats in government, particularly manager.

Designing and implementing smart glass technology for emergency medical services: a sociotechnical perspective.

This study aims to investigate key considerations and critical factors that influence the implementation and adoption of smart glasses in fast-paced medical settings such as emergency medical services (EMS). We employed a sociotechnical theoretical framework and conducted a set of participatory design workshops with 15 EMS providers to elicit their opinions and concerns about using smart glasses in real practice. Smart glasses were recognized as a useful tool to improve EMS workflow given their hands-free nature and capability of processing and capturing various patient data. Out of the 8 dimensions of the sociotechnical model, we found that hardware and software, human-computer interface, workflow, and external rules and regulations were cited as the major factors that could influence the adoption of this novel technology. EMS participants highlighted several key requirements for the successful implementation of smart glasses in the EMS context, such as durable devices, easy-to-use and minimal interface design, seamless integration with existing systems and workflow, and secure data management. Applications of the sociotechnical model allowed us to identify a range of factors, including not only technical aspects, but also social, organizational, and human factors, that impact the implementation and uptake of smart glasses in EMS. Our work informs design implications for smart glass applications to fulfill EMS providers' needs. The successful implementation of smart glasses in EMS and other dynamic healthcare settings needs careful consideration of sociotechnical issues and close collaboration between different stakeholders.

Digital (In)Security in Latin America: The Dimensions of Social Media Violence against the Press and Journalists’ Coping Strategies

As the journalism industry faces increasing risk and insecurity in the digital environment, there is still much to know about how journalists are reacting to and internalizing online harassment, and what the consequences are for their routines. Approaching the problem from a socio-technical perspective and using focus groups with Latin American journalists, this study identified the dimensions of social media violence against journalists, and the actors and coping strategies involved in responses to social media violence. This study shows that social media violence against journalists permeates all stages of news production stages. The study also identifies new and changing actors—such as the social media agent provocateur, who, working on behalf of governments and parties, stirs up mob censorship as part of orchestrated online harassment to try to dictate what news is told—, as well as actants, such as messaging apps that journalists use to create support networks. Implications for Latin American journalism are discussed.

Towards convergence of central grid and decentralised electricity solutions – Assessment of Indian rural electrification cases using a socio-technical framework

The paper examines the dynamics of rural electrification in India and explores the transition to a complementary convergence of decentralised and centralised electricity systems for sustainable rural electricity services. A novel socio-technical framework of analysis for assessment of cases of rural electricity systems is developed and applied in Indian villages to explore the interplays of different elements of rural electricity systems, enabling and hindering factors, and actors and institutions that affect the governance and sustenance of rural electrification. A mixed research method, along with document analysis, was applied to study the socio-technical perspectives, using 21 indicators representing nine different interplays of elements of rural electricity systems. The analysis reveals there is a significant effect of governance on technology performance, which in turn affects customer practices. There is also a significant correlation between customer practices and governance. Policy enablers along with strong institutions and actors - both at the subnational and local level - are key drivers to effective governance. Furthermore, irrespective of centralised or decentralised technology, adequacy and reliability of electricity supply and effective customer service delivery at the local level are important i.e., both supply reliability and quality, and customer service quality are equally important. The findings have clear policy implications for the governance of the electricity sector in India.

The relationships between soft and hard factors of the Toyota way: a socio-technical perspective

The relationships between soft and hard factors of the Toyota way: a socio-technical perspective

Locked in unsustainability: Understanding lock-ins and their interactions using the case of food packaging

Lock-in mechanisms are major hurdles to sustainability transitions. Scholars identified various types of lock-ins; however, their dynamics and interactions remain underexplored. Using the case of food packaging, this study enhances the conceptual understanding and empirical analysis of lock-ins and their interactions from a socio-technical perspective. We analyze the material, institutional, behavioral, and discursive configuration and the shallow and deep lock-ins reinforcing the persistent dominance of single-use over reusable food packaging in Germany. Additionally, we explore the lock-in interactions both within and between the socio-technical elements. Hence, we introduce archetypical interlock-ins and lock-in clusters pointing to core trends of resistance towards reusable packaging alternatives. This study advances the lock-in concept for future socio-technical analyses while guiding the illumination of the complex dynamics of stability, the assessment of current sustainability transition interventions, and the search for potential unlocking strategies to enable change.

More than ‘more than ever’: Revisiting a work design and sociotechnical perspective on digital technologies

AbstractWe respond to commentaries on our 2020 article ‘Automation, algorithms, and beyond: Why work design matters more than ever in a digital world’ and report on research on the topic since that publication. A top‐down work design perspective on digital technologies appears even more important than ever yet still neglected, as suggested by recent studies. The opportunities and challenges of new technologies have been addressed somewhat more successfully through bottom‐up work design in the form of job crafting. The specific topic of virtual working has also attracted significant research attention. Nevertheless, we continue to advocate more scholarly and practical attention to the following: how to proactively redesign work when introducing new technologies; how work design issues can be built into the design and procurement of work technologies; the need to identify and understand both the organizationally oriented strategies and macro‐level change needed for successful sociotechnical application; and how to upskill employees, managers, unions and other stakeholders, in work design and related topics. There is also more scope for consideration of the role of individual differences. Finally, we call for interdisciplinary research that involves, for example, the designers of technology, and we advocate the importance of intervention studies.

Future Maritime Transport Systems and Integrated Planning

Transport systems are becoming increasingly interconnected, automated, and complex, from a human centred approach to digital connectivity. This involves new opportunities but also implies new vulnerabilities. This paper present maritime transport challenges when implementing automated vessels, and especially how this may affect cooperation between organisations. Moreover, the inclusion of vessels with different levels of automation (LoA) will change the interactions between technology (vessels), managers and operators. The purpose is to identify how socio-technical perspectives represented by the Integrated planning (IPL) concept and resilience perspectives can be beneficial when implementing autonomy. Cooperation in a future maritime transport system (MTS) including autonomous vessels will frequently be between unequal actors, involving both conventional and automated vessels and several control centres. Resilience engineering (RE) may contribute to a paradigm shift towards a more proactive perspective. It is important ensuring that new ways of working, regulations and standards are in accordance with practice between strategical, tactical, and operational levels. The paper presents the IPL related to an ongoing Norwegian project for preparation and management ofpotential brittleness and risks, uncertainties and unknowns when executing transport operations. Particular attention is on integrated planning both between different actors and at different management levels.