Sociotechnical specialist group: Publications

A Manifesto for a Socio-Technical Approach to NHS and Social Care IT-enabled business change

Authors: Chris Clegg, Beverley Ellis, Jeremy C. Wyatt, Bruce Elliott, Mike Sinclair and David Wastell
This manifesto describes how a sociotechnical approach towards IT enabled business change programmes is likely to be beneficial in delivering effective high quality health and social care.

International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development

Call for papers: The journal wishes to publish papers that offer a detailed analysis and discussion on sociotechnical philosophy and practices which underpin successful organisational change thus building a more promising future for today's societies and organisations.

Knowledge Management in the Sociotechnical World: the Graffiti Continues
Authors: Coakes E., Willis D., and Clarke S., (2002)
Publisher: London: Springer Verlag
ISBN: 1-85233-441-X

How a Sociotechnical approach can help NPfIT deliver better NHS patient care

Authors: Malcolm Peltu, Ken Eason and Chris Clegg
This paper seeks to show how sociotechnical thinking and practice can be of practical benefit within the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) - provided the programme adopts a more holistic overall strategy that places social and organisational issues alongside technology concerns at the heart of its work.

JIT special issue - Review of NPfIT 

Journal of Information Technology: Organization, Management, Information and Systems Vol.22, No. 3, September 2007 (A review of the NHS special edition by Barbara Farbey)

Sociotechnical Approaches to Information Systems Development

Publications about the soci-technical approach

The New Sociotech: Graffiti on the Long Wall
Authors: E. Coakes, D. Willis and R. E Lloyd-Jones(Eds.) (2000)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag, London.

This collection of papers reflects the aims of the BCS Sociotechnical Group. Sociotechnical principles are now widely used around the world in both information systems and organisational design.

First established in the 1940s to examine the effect of mechanised, mass-production systems on workers in the coal mining industry, they are now an important tool for ensuring that people and technology work together to optimal effect within an organisation.

One of their main aims is the development of organisations where small groups work independently, handling sets of varied tasks, and managing their own activities.

The main features of this book include: Practical experiences of applying sociotechnical approaches from around the world; Focus on future directions for the topic and modern applications of existing principles; Contributions from leading figures such as Enid Mumford; A Foreword by Frank Land.

Contents:

• Foreword - Graffiti on the long wall: a sociotechnical conversation 
• Tracing the roots
• Technology and freedom: a sociotechnical approach
• Searching for new grounds in STS
• Sociotechnical perspectives on emergence phenomena - From sociotechnical to critical complementarist
• Sociotechnical systems: technique or philosophy
• Sociotechnical design and economic objectives 
• The role of sociotechnical thinking in the IS curriculum in UK universities
• Balancing at the edge of chaos in a sociotechnical world
• Group dynamics meets cognition
• Enhancing IS quality through design-based documentation production
• Design: a better way for making systems
• IS implementation and organisational change
• Virtual dynamics and sociotechnical change
• Knowledge sharing in virtual organisations
• Adaptive processes for achieving sociotechnical fit in CSCW groups
• CoLeARN: collaborative learning and action research networkommunications
• Stop IT from undermining group autonomy
• A sociotechnical approach to social learning analysis in the Australian Defence Force
• Technology, organisation and qualifications in software development