Exploring sociotechnical interaction with Rob Kling: five “big” ideas

Abstract

Purpose -To provide a view of Rob Kling's contribution to socio-technical studies of work. Design/methodology/approach -The five "big ideas" discussed are signature themes in Kling's own work in the informatics domain, and of his intellectual legacy. Findings -This paper conveys something of Kling's presence in social informatics (SI) thinking by focusing on a number of "big" ideas -"multiple points of view", "social choices", "the production lattice" (and its corollary, the problematization of the user), "socio-technical interaction networks", and "institutional truth regimes". Research limitations/implications -A growing research community has demonstrated the power of SI techniques. It is essential that this body of work is sustained and developed, demonstrating how to undertake investigation and observation, that is not driven by instrumentalism but is informed by and leads to "technological realism". Practical implications -The SI corpus, exposing the dangers of naïve instrumentalism as an approach to information systems design and management, can guide practitioners on how to unpack the history of what is in view. This may be a specific technology, a social formation, or a sociotechnical circumstance. Practitioners may draw on the concepts presented, not as a prescriptive toolkit, but rather as a sensitizing frame to assist those who wish to re-vision the workplace. Originality/value -Central to the successful utilisation of computers in work, we argue, is the continuing development of a portfolio of interpretive concepts (such as STINs, regimes of truth, production lattices) that can consolidate Rob Kling's "big" ideas that are the core of this paper.

Social Informatics: Principles, Theory, and Practice

“…Indeed, the progress of social informatics must be based both on the constant presentation of these common findings and, more importantly, the additional detailing that reflects how these common findings are suppressed or magnified through particular actions, events or arrangements, the temporal sequencing of engagements, and the contextual differences (and measures) between better and worse computerization efforts. To do this, we and others have argued for analytic approaches that are grounded in social informatics principles [Horton, Davenport, & Wood-Harper, 2005;Lamb & Sawyer, 2005;Sawyer & Crowston, 2004;.…”

The Production of Service in the Digital City: A Social Informatics Inquiry

“…The basis format for this 'web of computing' approach is provided in Kling & Scacchi, 1982. And see Horton et al" 2005. …”

The Socio-technical Balanced Scorecard for Assessing a Public University

“…Also, it is believed that motivated workforce is more likely to learn and improve internal operations and make the organization more competitive in the industry. Hence, employee perspective is linked with firm's major functions and it is important that the organization focus on improving its employees' work environment (Horton, Davenport, & Wood-Harper, 2005;Land, 2000). Moreover, the socio-technical balanced scorecard can be used to define goals that are important from both managerial as well as the employees social welfare.…”