Socio-technical analysis: a normative model for participatory planning

Abstract

Socio-technical consultation is often limited by a conceptualization that equates ‘social’ with open human systems and ‘technical’ with closed mechanistic ones. Such a conceptualization derives narrowly from the attributes of the components of an enterprise instead of from consideration of all components in toto. As such, intervention is skewed toward the social component, since the closed technical system is perceived as a ‘given’. Conceptualizing organizations in terms of ‘competing constituent objectives and conflicting value paradigms’ provides an alternative problem-solving approach for the socio-technical consultant. Development of organizational policy as a boundary function between ‘workers’ and ‘owners’ provides such an alternative, and must be fully embraced by both in order to be effective. It is here that the socio-technical consultant has the greatest opportunity to make a meaningful contribution.