Socio-Technical Systems

 What are Socio -Technical Systems?

A socio-technical system (STS) is one that considers requirements spanning hardware, software, personal, and community aspects.

 It applies an understanding of the social structures, roles and rights (the social sciences) to inform the design of systems that involve communities of people and technology. Examples of socio-technical systems include emails, blogs, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

The basis of socio-technical systems is general systems theory, which describes what the disciplines of science have in common—i.e., that they all refer to systems: sociologists see social systems, psychologists cognitive systems, computer scientists information systems, and engineers hardware systems. In general systems theory, no discipline has a monopoly on science—all are valid.

These disciplinary perspectives on computing allow us to view computing through distinct levels and trace its evolution. Computing began at the mechanical level (hardware devices), evolved an information level (devices + software), then acquired a human level (IT + human-computer interaction), and finally a community level (socio-technical systems). A community works through people using technology, as people work through software using hardware. Consequently, social requirements are now an important part of computing design.

While sociologists study the social level alone as if it were apart from physicality, and technologists study technology as if it were not part of society, socio-technology is a distinct field of inquiry on how personal and social requirements can be met by IT system design. As such, socio-technical systems seek to merge people and technology, viewing the integration of computers into societal systems as the next evolutionary step of humanity. An socio-technical systems approach to design raises the cost of development but results in complex systems, like social networks, that have far more performance potential. Exploring a design problem by rising to an socio-technical systems mindset can reveal further dimensions of a design’s use potential and inspire development.

                            SOCIO - TECHNICAL SYSTEM INCLUDE

 

SOCIO - TECHNICAL SYSTEM INCLUDE

• People 
• Hardware
• Software
• Data
• Law and Regulations

People:- People can be individuals or in groups. We also need to consider their roles and agencies. An organization  employs the people.who build and make use of hardware and software, operate within law and regulations and share and maintain the data.

Hardware:- The classical meaning if the technology is hardware. It involves mainframe work stations. peripheral connecting devices. There is no way for a socio-Technical system to be without any kind of hardware component.

Software:- Software is nothing but an excutable code. software include operating system utilities application programs. Software is an integral part of the Socio-Technical system. software often incorporates social rules and procedures as a part of the design.i.e. Optimize these parameters store the data in these format ask for these data. etc....  

Law and Regulations:- There might be laws about the protection of privacy or regulations of chips testing in military use etc. Laws and regulations set by organization and government need to be followed. They carry special societal sanctions if the violators are caught.

Data:- The design of the Socio-Technical systems design involve what data are collected to whom the data should be available, and in which formats the data should be stored.

STS Layers Diagram

STS Layers

These systems can be impossible to understand. So, we refer to these 7 layers. These layers make up the Socio-technical systems stack.

1. The equipment layer: It contains set of hardware devices some of which may be computer, laptops, phones, etc. Most of the devices include embedded system of some kind.
2. The operating system layer: This layer provides a set of common facilities for higher software layers in the system. This layer acts as an bridge to the hardware as it allows interaction between software and hardware.
3. The communications and data management layer: This layer extends the operating system facilities and provides an interface that allows interaction with more extensive functionality, such as access to remote systems, access to a system database, etc. This is sometimes called middleware, as it is in between the application and the operating system.
4. The application layer: This layer provides more specific functionality to meet some organization requirements. There may be many different application programs in this layer.
5. The business process layer: This layer consists a set of processes involving people and computer systems that support the activities of the business. The use of software system, are defined and enacted.
6. The organizational layer: At this level, the business rules, regulations, policies along with high-level strategic processes are defined and are to be followed when using the system.
7. The social layer: Laws, regulations and culture that govern the operation of the system are defined.

Benefits of Socio - technical system

1. Easy Management of Sophisticated human challenger

2. Self-regulation and error detection

3. Trust and responsibility

  

Obstacles with socio - technical system

1. Limited systems understanding and blind spots.

2. Wrong or inaccurate information

3. Human machine challenges

4. Complexity that outgrows organizational design

5. Less control

How to address Socio - Technical System challenges

1. See each layer as a unique strength

2. Focus on reliability

3. Have good information 

Socio Technical System Explain Videos

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