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Treating socio‐technical systems as engineering systems: some conceptual problems
Author(s) -
Kroes Peter,
Franssen Maarten,
Poel Ibo van de,
Ottens Maarten
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.703
Subject(s) - sociotechnical system , context (archaeology) , social system , function (biology) , computer science , system of systems , civil aviation , object (grammar) , complex system , systems engineering , management science , aviation , risk analysis (engineering) , systems design , engineering , knowledge management , artificial intelligence , business , paleontology , biology , aerospace engineering , evolutionary biology
Systems engineering has been plagued by the problem of how to separate a system from its environment or context, in particular from its social context. We propose to include anything in the system that is necessary for performing its intended function and that may be the object of design. For certain engineering systems, such as civil aviation systems, this implies that human agents and social institutions have to be taken as integral parts of these systems. These ‘socio‐technical’ systems are of a hybrid nature because they are constituted by different kinds of elements, intentional and non‐intentional: social institutions, human agents and technical artefacts. This paper analyses two different roles that human agents, as elements of socio‐technical systems, may play with regard to technical artefacts. Furthermore, it discusses some conceptual problems concerning the modelling of socio‐technical systems that are due to the hybrid nature of these systems. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.