Reference:Glossary of terms
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This glossary of Socio-technical systems terms was published by, and is copyright of, Eli Berniker, May 1983
| Introduction | Systems and Organization | The Means | The Human System | Getting Something Done | The Analysis | Design | Design Concepts | Design Structure and Process | Design Principles |
Traditionally, the term "organization design" has referred to studying structure, just as one might study a bridge after it is built. As a consequence, managers have often "redesigned" their organizations by copying others without being aware of the design implications and the impact of their decisions upon the organization.
The emergence of quality of work life philosophies, which recognize that all of an organization's members have a stake in its goals and purposes, has fostered a new approach to organization design. This approach attempts to meet both organizational and individual objectives through effective design.
Organization design is being viewed as a more active process. It is not an engineering process because organizations cannot be manufactured like automobiles. They are, instead, living systems. Like children, they need help to get started and growing, but they develop according to an internal logic in accordance with the real and changing environments they face.
Sociotechnical systems analysis and organization design are two labels for a common set of techniques and tools that are useful in improving quality of work life and productivity. These approaches have spawned an entire lexicon of terms which is a shorthand for sociotechnical practitioners. But the typical manager is likely to find such jargon confusing, annoying or even threatening. To make use of these techniques and to be able to work effectively with practitioners, managers need to develop a general understanding of the jargon.
The glossary which follows is purposefully non-academic. It is designed to promote understanding and communication. It is a collection of terms frequently used in sociotechnical systems analysis and organization design.
It is, however, more than a collection of new terminologies. The definitions themselves reveal a new way of looking at the workplace and the relationships of people and tools. Implicit in the lexicon is a basic principle of sociotechnical systems design: people are solutions, not problems.
