Work System Theory as a Platform: Response to a Research Perspective Article by Niederman and March

Alter, Steven

doi:10.17705/1jais.00398

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…All of those versions share a common feature of treating a work system as the unit of analysis, describing the ‘as is’ work system, analyzing it and proposing an improved, ‘to be’ work system along with reasons why the changes would be beneficial. As explained in Alter (, ), the development of WSM starting in the 1990s, long before the articulation of WST as a theory in 2013. Alter (, pp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Different versions of a work system metamodel (e.g. Alter, , , , ) are extensions of WST that provide more detailed representations of work system components. Analogous to an online map with zooming capabilities, the less detailed work system framework and the more detailed metamodel are related to each other and can be used for some of the same purposes, but are designed to be especially useful for their own particular purposes.…”

Section: An Example: Different Types Of Conceptual Artifacts In Theormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Almost a decade later, reviewers of an early draft of Alter (), the paper that first articulated WST clearly, expressed serious concerns that the paper did not follow an established research paradigm. As explained in Alter (, pp. 497–498) a subsequent draft tried to establish a ‘journal‐strength justification or packaging’ of WST by claiming that in effect it was developed using the paradigm of design science research (DSR).…”

Section: An Example: Different Types Of Conceptual Artifacts In Theormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Nothing is more practical than a good conceptual artifact… which may be a theory, framework, model, metaphor, paradigm or perhaps some other abstraction

Alter

2016

Information Systems Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research commentary proposes a way to make progress in the IS discipline's inconclusive discussion about the nature and role of theory. In some ways, the creation and testing of theory seems to be the primary goal of IS research. Despite that, there are persistent questions whether theory has become a fetish in the IS discipline and whether the routinized production and testing of mid‐range theories is little more than an uninspired script that reduces the value and interest of IS research. This paper reframes the discussion around the idea of ‘conceptual artifact’ that has been discussed widely in educational psychology for over a decade. Conceptual artifacts are abstract knowledge objects that can be produced, tested and improved. This paper recognizes the value of both abstract knowledge (conceptual artifacts) and non‐abstract knowledge. It explains that theorizing produces, evaluates or improves useful conceptual artifacts that may or may not be theories. It validates four premises related to conceptual artifacts by showing that theorizing related to work system theory created or used many different types of conceptual artifacts. It identifies nine criteria for evaluating conceptual artifacts and shows that some of them differ from typical criteria for evaluating Gregor Type IV theories. As a whole, it argues that that privileging theory over other types of conceptual artifacts may not be beneficial in pursuing the research questions that the IS discipline needs to study.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Example: Different Types Of Conceptual Artifacts In Theormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Example: Different Types Of Conceptual Artifacts In Theormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Nothing is more practical than a good conceptual artifact… which may be a theory, framework, model, metaphor, paradigm or perhaps some other abstraction

Alter

2016

Information Systems Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This paper uses a work system lens based on [3,4] to provide that type of integrated perspective. Aspects of that approach appeared previously in [2], which proposed a set of work system-inspired design spaces for OD/EE.…”

Section: Extending the Main Ideas In The Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A work system is a system in which human participants and/or machines perform processes and activities using information, technology, and other resources to produce product/services for internal or external customers. Enterprises that grow beyond a largely improvised start-up phase can be viewed as consisting of multiple work systems, e.g., work systems that procure materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver products, find customers, and so on [3,4]. OD/EE can be viewed as one of those work systems in organizations that perform some combination of organizational design and organizational engineering.…”

Section: How Is Organizational Design/engineering Performed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A work system perspective on organizational design and enterprise engineering

Alter

2017

Organ Des Enterp Eng

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explains how organizational design/ enterprise engineering can be viewed as an operational work system that produces designs, models, and/or specifications along with the related understandings, discussions, and commitments. It applies a work system lens to visualize a typical work system that performs organizational design/ enterprise engineering. It uses the same lens to identify possibilities for research on the related topics.

show abstract

Design principles for establishing a multi-sided open innovation platform: lessons learned from an action research study in the medical technology industry

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Innovation in the medical technology (med tech) industry has a major impact on well-being in society. Open innovation has the potential to accelerate the development of new or improved healthcare solutions. Building on work system theory (WST), this paper explores how a multi-sided open innovation platform can systematically be established in a German med tech industry cluster in situations where firms had no prior experience with this approach. We aim to uncover problems that may arise and identify opportunities for overcoming them. We performed an action research study in which we implemented and evaluated a multi-sided web-based open innovation platform in four real-world innovation challenges. Analyzing the four different challenges fostered a deeper understanding of the conceptual and organizational aspects of establishing the multi-sided open innovation platform as part of a larger work system. Reflecting on the findings, we developed five design principles that shall support the establishment of multi-sided open innovation platforms in other contexts. Thus, this paper contributes to both theory and practice.

show abstract

Work System Theory as a Platform: Response to a Research Perspective Article by Niederman and March

Cited by 20 publications

References 59 publications

Nothing is more practical than a good conceptual artifact… which may be a theory, framework, model, metaphor, paradigm or perhaps some other abstraction

Nothing is more practical than a good conceptual artifact… which may be a theory, framework, model, metaphor, paradigm or perhaps some other abstraction

A work system perspective on organizational design and enterprise engineering

Design principles for establishing a multi-sided open innovation platform: lessons learned from an action research study in the medical technology industry

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About