This document discusses several socio-organizational issues and stakeholder requirements that must be considered when designing new computer systems. It describes organizational issues like power relationships, who benefits from systems, and ensuring all stakeholders can use systems. It also discusses capturing requirements through stakeholder analysis, socio-technical models, soft systems methodology, participatory design, and ethnographic methods. These aim to understand work contexts and stakeholder perspectives to develop systems that can be successfully adopted.

1. SOCIO-ORGANIZATIONAL
ISSUES AND
STAKEHOLDER
REQUIREMENTS
By
Tamizharasi A
Assistant Professor
RMDEC

2. socio-organizational issues
organizational issues that affect the acceptance of
technology by users and that must therefore be
considered in system design:
– systems may not take into account conflict and
power relationships
– those who benefit may not do the work
– not everyone may use systems.

3. Organisational issues
Organisational factors can make or break a system
Studying the work group is not sufficient
– any system is used within a wider context
– and the crucial people need not be direct users
Before installing a new system must understand:
– who benefits
– who puts in effort
– the balance of power in the organisation
… and how it will be affected
Even when a system is successful
… it may be difficult to measure that success

4. Organizational issues
1. Cooperation or conflict?
2. Changing power structures
3. The invisible worker
4. Who benefits?
5. Free rider problem
6. Critical mass
7. Automating processes – workflow and BPR
8. Evaluating the benefits

5. Cooperation or conflict?
 CSCW computer supported cooperative work-
groups will be acting in a cooperative manner
 people and groups have conflicting goals. So
systems assumes that cooperation will fail!
e.g. computerise stock control
stockman looses control of information
 subverts the system
identify stakeholders – not just the users

6. Changing power structures
 The identification of stakeholders will uncover information
transfer and power relationships that cut across the
organizational structure
 the official lines of authority and information tend to flow up
and down through line management
 The physical layout of an organization often reflects the
formal hierarchy. supervisors can monitor the contact.
 An email system has no such barriers; it is as easy to ‘chat’ to
someone in another department as in your own.
 This challenges the mediating and controlling role of the line
managers.
 In face-to-face conversation, the manager can easily exert
influence over a subordinate: both know their relative
positions and this is reflected in the patterns of conversation
and in other non-verbal cues
 Email messages lose much of this sense of presence and it is
more difficult for a manager to exercise authority

7. The invisible worker
 The ability to work and collaborate at a
distance can allow functional groups to be
distributed over different sites
 workers from different departments do
their jobs in electronic contact with their
functional colleagues
 barriers to such working are not
technological but managerial.
 ‘management by presence’- no way a
remote worker is going to be trusted.
 ‘management by objectives’- remote
working is not so problematical

8. Who benefits?
 failure of information systems is that the people
who get the benefits from the system are not the
same as those who do the work
 Example : shared calendars.
 The beneficiary of the system is a manager who
uses the system to arrange meeting times, but
whose personal secretary does the work of
keeping the calendar up to date.
 chaos results when a meeting is automatically
arranged and the subordinates may have to
rearrange commitments that have not been
recorded on the system
 aim for some level of symmetry

9. Free rider problem
 The free rider problem is nothing but possiblity to get benefit without
doing work
 the number of free riders gradually increase and the system slide into
disuse.
 Eg: electronic conferencing system.
 If there is plenty of discussion of relevant topics then there are obvious
advantages to subscribing and reading the contributions. However,
when considering writing a contribution, the effort of doing so may
outweigh any benefits.
 The total benefit of the system for each user outweighs the costs, but
for any particular decision the balance is overturned.
 solutions:
◦ strict protocols (e.g., round robin)
◦ increase visibility – rely on social pressure

10. Critical mass
 In early telephone system the interpersonal communication was
limited.
 Once a large number of people have telephones it becomes
worthwhile paying to have a telephone installed.
 In cost/benefit terms, the early subscribers probably have a
smaller benefit than the cost.
 Only when the number of subscribers increases beyond the
critical mass does the benefit for all dominate the cost
 In case of email, If an organization consists of widening circles
of highly connected subgroups, then take-up can grow from the
core to the wider group.

11. Critical mass
strong benefit when
lots of users
.. but little benefit
for early users
solution – increase
zero point benefit

12. Automating processes – workflow and
BPR
 Organizations many processes, and
workflow systems aiming to automate the
process using electronic forms, which are
forwarded to the relevant person based on
pre-coded rules.
 Some workflow systems are built using
special purpose groupware, often based on
a notation for describing the desired
workflow.
 Eg for workflow system:
◦ global structuring - conflict with or inhibit more informal and
less structured patterns of activity which also contribute to the
organization’s free running

13. business process re-engineering
(BPR).
 Traditionally, organizations have been structured
around functions: sales, accounts, stores,
manufacturing.
 purpose of an organization can be seen in terms of
key business processes.
 In BPR processes are recorded and analyzed.
 Problems in the current process are noted and the
whole process may be redesigned in order to make
the path of the process more efficient.

14. Evaluating the benefits
 Success can be measured by job satisfaction
and information flow
 hard to measure economic benefit
 Eg: Computer technology
 The benefits are difficult to quantify, but, over
time, it has become clear that the competitive
edge of information technology is necessary
for survival in the modern world.

15. CAPTURING REQUIREMENTS
Approaches used:
1. Who are the stakeholders?
2. Socio-technical models
3. Soft systems methodology
4. Participatory design
5. Ethnographic methods
 All are aimed at understanding the reality of work
contexts and the perspectives of different
stakeholders.
 All recognize that technology can be successfully
deployed only if it is done with an understanding of
the context of use, but each takes a slightly different

16. Who are the stakeholders?
 Understanding stakeholders is key to
requirements capture, it is not simply
the end-user who is affected by the
introduction of new technology.
 A stakeholder is anyone who is affected
by the success or failure of the system.
 It can be useful to distinguish different
categories of stakeholder,

17. categorization from the CUSTOM approach
 Primary stakeholders - people who actually use
the system – the end-users
 Secondary stakeholders - people who do not
directly use the system, but receive output from it or
provide input to it (for example, someone who
receives a report produced by the system).
 Tertiary stakeholders - who are directly affected by
the success or failure of the system (for example, a
director whose profits increase or decrease
depending on the success of the system).
 Facilitating stakeholders - people who are involved
with the design, development and maintenance of the
system.

18.  Aim is to meet the needs of as many stakeholders as
possible.
 usually stakeholder needs are in conflict with each
other.
 Example:
 airline booking system must be usable by travel
agency staff but must also fulfill the customer need to
find an appropriate ticket at the right price. If itfails in
this, the whole system will fail, as the customer will
go elsewhere and business will be lost.
 primary stakeholders usually take priority over the

19. Socio-technical models
 Concerned with technical, social,
organizational and human aspects of
design.
 They recognize the fact that technology
is not developed in isolation but as part
of a wider organizational environment.
 key focus is to describe and document
the impact of the introduction of a
specific technology into an organization.

20. Capture the following common elements:
 problem being addressed: there is a need to understand
why the technology is being proposed and what problem it
is intended to solve.
 stakeholders affected, including primary, secondary,
tertiary and facilitating, together with their objectives,
goals and tasks.
 workgroups within the organization, both formal and
informal.
 changes or transformations that will be supported.
 proposed technology and how it will work within the
organization.

21.  Information is gathered using methods
such as
 interviews,
 observation,
 focus groups and
 document analysis
 socio-technical approaches aim to
provide a detailed view of the role
technology will play and the
requirements of successful
deployment.
 2 approaches:
◦ CUSTOM methodology
◦ Open System Task Analysis (OSTA)

22. CUSTOM methodology
 used in small organizations
 based on the User Skills and Task Match (USTM)
approach, developed to allow design teams to
understand and fully document user requirements
 focuses on establishing stakeholder requirements: all
stakeholders are considered, not just the end-users.
 applied at the initial stage of design so the emphasis is
on capturing requirements.
 It is a forms-based methodology, providing a set of
questions to apply at each of its stages.

23. 6 key stages in CUSTOM analysis:
– describe organizational context, including primary goals, physical
characteristics, political and economic background
– identify and describe stakeholders including personal
issues, role in the organization and job
– identify and describe work-groups whether formally
constituted or not
– identify and describe task–object pairs i.e. tasks to be
performed and objects used
– identify stakeholder needs: stages 2–4 described in terms of
both current and proposed system - stakeholder needs are
identified from the differences between the two
– consolidate and check stakeholder requirements against
earlier criteria

24. Open System Task Analysis
(OSTA)
 Describes what happens when a
technical system is introduced into an
organizational work environment.
 specifies both social and technical
aspects of the system
 In OSTA requirements are captured
through a focus on tasks.

25. OST
A• Eight stage model - focus on task
– primary task identified in terms of users’ goals
– task inputs to system identified
– external environment into which the system will be introduced
is described, including physical, economic and political aspects
– transformation processes within the system are described in
terms of actions performed on or with objects
– social system is analyzed, considering existing internal and
external work-groups and relationships
– technical system is described in terms of configuration and
integration with other systems
– performance satisfaction criteria are established, indicating social
and technical requirements of system
– new technical system is specified

26. Soft systems methodology
 Views the organization as a system of
which technology and people are
components.
 There is no assumption of a particular
solution:
 Emphasis is rather on understanding the
situation fully.
 developed by Checkland to help
designers reach an understanding of the
context of technological developments
and the influences and concerns that

27. seven stages
– recognition of problem
and initiation of
analysis
– detailed description of
problem situation
 rich picture
– generate root
definitions of system
 CATWOE
– conceptual model -
identifying
transformations
– compare real world to
conceptual model
– identify necessary
changes
– determine actions to
effect changes

28. CATWOE
• Clients: those who receive output or benefit from the system
• Actors: those who perform activities within the system
• Transformations: the changes that are affected by the system
• Weltanschauung: (from the German) or World View - how the
system is perceived in a particular root definition
• Owner: those to whom the system belongs, to whom it is
answerable and who can authorize changes to it
• Environment: the world in which the system operates and by
which it is influenced

29. Participatory design
 encompasses the whole design cycle.
 design in the workplace, where the user is involved
not only as an experimental subject or as someone
to be consulted when necessary but as a member of
the design team.
 Users are active collaborators in the design
 Participatory design therefore aims to refine system
requirements iteratively through a design process in
which the user is actively involved.

30. three specific characteristics
 context and work oriented rather than
system oriented - improve the work environment and
task by the introduction of the design
 Collaborative -user is included in the design team
 Iterative - design is subject to evaluation and revision at
each stage

31. Methods
o Brain-storming - involves all participants in the design
pooling ideas
 Storyboarding -means of describing the user’s day-to-
day activities as well as the potential designs and the
impact they will have.
 Workshops -to fill in the missing knowledge of both
user and designer and provide a more focussed view
of the design
 pencil and paper exercises- allow designs to be talked
through and evaluated. Users can ‘walk through’
typical tasks using paper mock-ups of the system
design. This is intended to show up discrepancies
between the user’s requirements and the actual
design as proposed

32. Effective Technical and Human Implementation of
Computer-based Systems (ETHICS)
 participatory socio-technical approach devised
by Mumford
– system development is about managing change
– non-participants more likely to be dissatisfied
 three levels of participation
 Consultative – the weakest form of participation
where participants are asked for their opinions but are
not decision makers.
 Representative – a representative of the participant
group is involved in the decisionmaking process.
 Consensus – all stakeholders are included in the
decision-making process.

33.  The usual practice is that design groups are
set up to include representatives from each
stakeholder group and these groups make the
design decisions.
 address the following issues and activities:
1. Make the case for change.
2. Identify system boundaries.
3. Describe the existing system
4. Define key objectives
5. Define key tasks: what tasks need to be performed to
meet these objectives?
6. Define key information needs
7. Diagnose efficiency needs
8. Diagnose job satisfaction needs
9. Analyze likely future
10. Specify and prioritize objectives

34. Ethnographic methods
 Ethnography is based on very detailed recording
of the interactions between people and between
people and their environment.
 It has a special focus on social relationships and
how they affect the nature of work
 Aim is to understand the situation from within its
own cultural framework.
 Ethnographers try to take an unbiased and open-
ended view of the situation.
 They report and do not like to speculate, so it is
often unclear how well their approach can
contribute to the design of new systems.

35. Contextual inquiry
 Studies the user in context, trying to capture the
reality of his work culture and practice
 intention is to understand and to interpret the data
gathered, and rather than attempting to take an open-
ended view, the investigator acknowledges and
challenges her particular focus
 model of investigator being apprenticed to user to
learn about work

36.  2–3 hour interview with the user in the
workplace.
 Capture and record as much detail as possible,
including what the user says and does (step by
step), how he communicates and coordinates
with others, his feelings and responses to the
situation, and a shared understanding of the
meaning of actions and artifacts.
 objects, examples and artifacts of work are
collected and annotated, and the physical work
environment is sketched and annotated to show

37. Models used
 Sequence model elaborates the steps required to complete a specific task,
as well as the triggers that initiate that sequence of steps.
 physical model maps the physical work environment and how it impacts
 upon work practice, for example, an office plan showing where different
work activities happen.
 Flow model shows the lines of coordination and communication between
the user and other participants within and outside the workplace.
 Cultural model reflects the influences of work culture and policy and shows
the scope of these influences.
 Artifact model describes the structure and use of a particular artifact within
the work process.

38.  The team comes together to consider the
interview data and to identify commonalities
across stakeholders.
 Affinity diagrams are used to group related
information by posting notes on the wall
representing a particular comment or
observation and grouping these into a hierarchy
of related themes.
 The result is a representation of the required
task sequences, artifacts and communication
channels that must be supported in the new

39. Thank You