Designing Effective Organizations

In this book, the author demonstrates how to design effective organizations using sociotechnical systems. The sociotechnical perspective considers every organization to be made up of people (the social system) using tools, techniques and knowledge (the technical system) to produce goods or services valued by customers (who are part of the organization's external environment). How well the social and technical systems are designed - with respect to one another and with respect to the demands of the external environment - determines to a large extent how effective the organization will be. This guide explains how to redesign organizations in light of the changing business environment. It considers organizations as open systems, outlining important propositions concerning the influence of the environment on organization design, and reviews the principles of sociotechnical systems design which guide the integration of social and technical systems in the context of the environment. The book focuses on the sociotechnical systems change process, and includes a discussion of the unique role of leaders in innovative sociotechnical systems.