Expert Consideration of the System Concerns of IT-Based Projects

Introduction

Socio-technical systems (STSs) constitute tools which are made use of in helping IT-based managements to succeed in resolving interdisciplinary IT-based-project confrontations. These confrontations may include situations where manageability of resources in an IT-based organization may be technically, ethically, socially, politically, and culturally intertwined with values of the organization.

The need to effectively utilize the fundamentals of STSs makes socio-technical-analysis readily available as a facility for the integration of social-values and ethics in the management of IT-based projects. In other words, the psychoanalysis of socio-technical systems enables a better comprehension of social-impacts and aspects of ethics of IT-based projects; and basically, there is the enablement to diagnose and curtail appropriately anticipated probable challenges.

This study aims at utilizing STS tools in preparing a briefing paper for early presentation to a number of concerned executives about a forthcoming IT project. This will be realized through the following fundamental key points, among others:

• Appropriate knowledge of qualities that determine an effective IT based project: The fundamental target here is an enhancement of the effectiveness of IT based projects through an incorporation of its structural variables;
• An Articulate knowledge of the social-system as it relates IT based projects, products/services, structure, as well as values;
• Interventional changes to the process, structures, behavior and values of elements of IT based project managements.

Organizational effectiveness and efficiency and IT-Based Project

For an IT project to meet the goals which it is meant, the organization(s) where same is conducted must be efficient as well as effective in terms of the managerial structure and services. Organizational effectiveness has been defined as:

“…a measure of the extent to which an organization realizes its goals” (Albrecht, 1983, p.4).

Similarly, Albrecht (1983) has considered organizational efficiency as follow:

“…the amount of resources [that] an organization uses in order to produce a unit of output” (p. 4).

In IT project managements, effectiveness and efficiency demand that dependence on organization’s capability to restructure itself is a bid to meet up with environmental, technological, and (or) resource transformations which may sometimes really be swift. This, according to Cummings (1976) is achieved through four (4) fundamental processes, namely:

• Evaluation: this refers to the periodic and methodic procedure by which complete-functional inspection of an organization is realized;
• Adaptation: this may be considered to be the formal/disciplined process which facilitated policies and decision(s) which are realized through an articulated process of planning;
• Graduation: this entails identified organizational and systematic processes or tools by which the development of emergent leadership is achieved; and
• Innovation: this entails policies that facilitate better accomplishments in an organization by individual workers who are saddled with defined responsibilities.

In consideration of the extent and form of differences as well as the integration-mechanisms for departmental coordination, studies have noted that an organization’s efficiency is enhanced in a situation whereby environmental complexities are aligned with structural complexities (Bennis, 1969).

Teams & Socio-Technical Systems – How Organizations Can Reinforce Values

Accelerated performances in IT based projects in organizations are through self-organized teams which have been assumed a very significant position as a component of designing in organizations for the maintenance of competitive edges. An impressive design for progressive teams was put together to enable the realization of STS (Burke, 1982.). Burke defines the STS theory as follows:

“The theory of socio-technical systems (STS) is a process-based, team oriented approach to work that evolved as a way to extend democratic and humane values into the workplace” (Burke, 1982,, p.1032).

In view of the definition, The IT based organization could be considered as been an open-system which is positioned for the integration of two(2) independently connected systems; these include the technical-subsystem and the social-subsystem. The earlier goes in line with physics/chemistry/engineering rules and encompasses equipments and transformational processes that are technological in nature and are driven by economy; the choice for the most acceptable technique is reliant on which is least expensive and more result-oriented. Studies have reviewed that:

“The social subsystem, following the rules of psychology, sociology, and politics, incorporates interpersonal relationships that develop among people and build a mutual trust” (Berne,1966, p.62).

Further studies have stressed:

“The system recognizes that commitment to work is conditional on the work experience and assumes technology can be adapted to fit people. The best match of solutions is explored through joint optimization and discovery” (Pasmore,1988).

Similarly, Lewin (1981) has noted that STS also expresses the approach of worker as the desire of a number of them which is based on gaining skills, control, or authority in the managerial train of a project. Designers of social techniques have made efforts in widening the knowledge of individuals to managerial issues as well as enable the later to project the social/economical consequences accrued with management, and then persuades the various workers to acquire more skills for better results. The work-group then assumes a center for change.

Additionally, Taylor & Bowers (1972) had identified the need for STS-used organizations to structure tasks, authorities, as well as reporting-relationships in delegated groupings for easy of implementation of decisions and assigning, training, inspecting, rewarding, or punishing of the groups as the need may be.

The need for this would be for enhancing the optimization of the technical/social-subsystems in the general interest of a superior system. Management has the responsibility of ensuring the coordination of groups in accordance with requirements of work as well as those required by a task-environment. The fundamental functions including monitoring of environmental factors then affect interior functions and coordination of the two(2) sub-systems.

There are several merits to this team-based designing. Even though each organization is looked upon as been socio-technically a system, in the view of Lawrence & Lorsch:

“…not every organization is designed according to its principles, methods, processes, and philosophies. The economic performances of companies based on a STS design have been significantly better than comparable organizations using conventional designs” (Lawrence & Lorsch, 2001, p.46).

A fundamental design-goal of STS is that of producing systems which would be able to adopt to changes and as well make the most out of a person’s ability to be creative. Returning to Socio-technical-values, principles, and objectives could be very helpful in simplifying an entire complexity with system productions as well as make available solutions to confronting issues which may occur presently; these may include challenges like corporate-values reinforcement. This has been appropriately clarified by Blake & Mouton as follow:

The problem of value arises only when men try to fit together their need to be social animals with their need to be free men. There is no problem, and there are no values, until men want to do both… The concepts of value are profound and difficult exactly because they do two things at once: they join into societies, and yet they preserve for them a freedom which makes them single men. It is thus assumed that the parallelism between societal and individual goals leads to a parallelism between institutional and individual values (Blake & Mouton, 1978).

Most of the times, in IT based projects, valued demand is for significance and worthiness where as acquiring skills and experiences is automatically the most desiring forces in shaping the projects (See Appendix A). Values in the setting of an organization have to do with persons working in ties for actualizing the achievement of unified goals as well as enable the creation of standards for conducts which keep business decisions on the go.

Organizations have to set up shared values-sets as well as beliefs which are aligned with social/technical project-management aspects in order to actualized the achievement of business organizational targets. The values make provisions for links that connect members of an organization, its structures, process, and system as made use in adopting managerial project-methods (French & Bell, 1978).

Conclusion

The need to effectively utilize the fundamentals of STSs has been noted in this study as necessitating socio-technical-analysis and has made readily available a facility for the integration of social-values and ethics in the management of IT-based projects. The paper has therefore presented studies utilizing STS tools in preparing a briefing paper for early presentation to a number of concerned executives about a forthcoming IT project.

Reference List

Albrecht, K. (1983). Organization Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Bennis, W. (1969). Organization Development: Its Nature, Origins, and Prospects. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Berne, E. (1966). Principles of Group Treatment. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Blake, R.R., & Mouton, J.S. (1978). The New Managerial Grid. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.

Burke, W. (1982). Organization Development. Boston, MA: Little Brown.

Cummings, T. (1976). Socio-technical systems: an intervention strategy. in: Burke, W. Current Issues and Strategies in Organization Development. New York, NY: Human Science Press.

French, W.L., & Bell, C.H. (1978). Organization Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lawrence, P.R., & Lorsch, J.W. (2001). Organization and Environment. Boston, MA: Harvard University.

Lewin, K. (1981). Field Theory in Social Science. New York, NY: Harper and Row.

Pasmore, W. (1988). Designing Effective Organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley.

Taylor, J., & Bowers, D.G. (1972). Survey of Organizations: A Machine-Scored Standardized Questionnaire Instrument. Ann Arbor, MI: Univ. Michigan.

Appendix A

Adoptive leadership tool for IT based Projects (Lewin,1981).

There are several principles leaders can follow to design a socio-technical system based on organizational values:

1. Express the needs and hopes of workers in design criteria and values to insure greater worker investment in organizational purposes. Participants share expectations while working to achieve agreement on the goals and objectives of a design team. The outcome is a set of shared values and assumptions that reflect the process.
2. Express values in the language of the organization and refer to the experiences of its members.
3. Clarify Values. Value clarification is a process of making explicit the premises that inform design choices.
4. Guide and test design decisions against explicit values.
5. Fit the workgroup to the technology. Technology should not determine work organization or design.

A supportive climate must exist between employees and leaders to strengthen organizational values. Management has a social responsibility to employees to ensure technology-based changes are introduced properly. Here are a few recommendations:

1. Let everyone know about the new technology changes through “selling and telling”.
2. Introduce the system to management first (to gain support), then to employees.
3. Make sure the technology works as promised.
4. Get rid of the old system once the new system is working.
5. Provide hands-on training.