Reference:Evolution of socio-technical systems/Foreword
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The evolution of socio-technical systems was originally published in 1980 by the Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre. Copyright was held by Eric Trist, now by his surviving family. Reproduced here with permission.
| Introduction | Foreword | The Historical Background | Primary work system | Whole organization systems | Macroscial level | References |
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About the author
(NOTE: Despite Eric Trist's death in 1993, we have chosen to keep this section 'about the author' in the present tense as it was originally written.)
Eric Trist is uniquely qualified to write this review of the evolution of the socio-technical concept. The following paper represents a scanning of both the chief theoretical underpinnings of the concept and its practical development in the field, which parallels and, in some instances, coincides with the development of the thinking and practice of Trist and his colleagues.
Eric Trist's career, which spans almost five decades, has advanced the state of the art of QWL both conceptually and in application. He has been involved in 'action research' with many organizations beginning with his pioneering work in the British coal mining industry in the early 1950's - work which laid the foundations for the field now known as the 'quality of working life'.
He is currently an Associate of the Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre, Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Social Ecology
at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, and Professor Emeritus and Chairman of the Management and Behavioural Science Centre, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. At Wharton, he recently completed a two-year study of labour management cooperation and work innovation in the public sector in ten American cities.
Eric Trist was a founding member, and later chairman, of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London. He worked with
the Tavistock for twenty years during a time when some of the major advances in the socio-technical field were being made. In 1966 he went to the School of Management at UCLA where, with Louis E. Davis, he developed the first graduate program in sociotechnical systems in a university. In 1969 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania to work with Russell Ackoff in creating a new interdisciplinary doctoral degree in Social Systems Studies.
About this paper
This paper consists of a first-ever overview of the evolution of sociotechnical systems from its original formulation in the early Tavistock mining studies until the present.
Socio-technical analysis is made at three levels - the primary work system; the whole organization; and macrosocial phenomena. Trist examines the relations between these levels in the historical context which influenced both the type and scope of the projects which were feasible.
Section One of the paper traces the development of concepts and action research between 1950 and 1970 - a period which until now has not been fully understood or described.
Section Two focuses on the theme of socio-technical studies at the level of the primary work system. It outlines the principles or work design and analysis, and describes the structures of autonomous work groups, matrices and networks - the new building blocks for organizational design.
Section Three is concerned with the implications of socio-technical studies for the organization as a whole in relation to its changing environment. The difficulties experienced in transforming established organizations are discussed and a change strategy is outlined.
Section Four is a look at the future from a macrosocial perspective, with the central issue of the microprocessor revolution and its implications for the meaning of work.
Trist concludes his paper with some lessons from past experience and some directions for the future which may serve to stabilize and sustain QWL developments currently in the embryonic stages, and to aid in the process of diffusion. He suggests that 'the study of networks, processes which are fluid and unbounded, seems to offer one of the most promising ways of increasing our understanding of the diffusion, process.' In his own words:
- 'Now that the salient environment is becoming that of a turbulent field, a greater emphasis on collaboration is mandatory, and relevant changes need to be fostered in large-scale social systems as well as within organizations.'
