Assessing the Impact of New Technology on Complex Sociotechnical Systems

Oosthuizen, Rudolph; Pretorius, Leon

doi:10.7166/27-2-1144

Cited by 28 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…This is in line with Martinez-Moyano and Richardson [20], and Sterman [12]. Using a combination of existing literature, mental models of contemporary clients' and engineering consultant's project managers, and System Dynamics' Systems Thinking tools in the formulation of the dynamic hypotheses and System Dynamics conceptual model helps to strengthen their validity, as recommended by Barlas [30], Luna-Reyes and Andersen [23], Martinez-Moyano and Richardson [20], Sterman [12], and Oosthuizen [31].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Client Project Time Schedule Controls — An Empirically-Based System Dynamics Conceptual Model

Chitongo

Pretorius

2018

SAJIE

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Different project participants often have different objectives and expectations, and implement different controls aimed at advancing their interests. This article investigates project controls taken by the client during the project design stage to improve project time schedule performance. Dynamic hypotheses and a System Dynamics conceptual model of client controls and their ripple effects are formulated in this article from a combination of the existing literature, mental models of project managers gathered through an embedded multiple-case study, and Systems Thinking. The results suggest that client controls that are aimed at improving project time schedule performance generate ripple effects that worsen the performance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Client Project Time Schedule Controls — An Empirically-Based System Dynamics Conceptual Model

Chitongo

Pretorius

2018

SAJIE

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“…Regardless of the complexity of organisations as complex technical and social systems, the STS theory provides a robust framework for analysis (Troyer, 2017). Oosthuizen and Pretorius (2016) agree that the STS theory can provide a good framework for modelling organisations as complex systems. Bostrom and Heinen (1977) argue that, on the one hand, the social dimension consists of: organisational structure; and actors (including people). …”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In this regard, improving one dimension of a socio-technical system requires an improvement of the other for maintaining the best performance (Trist, 1981). As previously alluded to, this is called joint optimisation (Bostrom and Heinen, 1977; Appelbaum, 1997; Walker et al , 2007; Carayon et al , 2015; Oosthuizen and Pretorius, 2016). Joint optimisation is the cornerstone and foundation of the socio-technical systems theory (Chen and Redar, 2014).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework

Malatji

Solms

2019

ICS

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Purpose This paper aims to identify and appropriately respond to any socio-technical gaps within organisational information and cybersecurity practices. This culminates in the equal emphasis of both the social, technical and environmental factors affecting security practices. Design/methodology/approach The socio-technical systems theory was used to develop a conceptual process model for analysing organisational practices in terms of their social, technical and environmental influence. The conceptual process model was then applied to specifically analyse some selected information and cybersecurity frameworks. The outcome of this exercise culminated in the design of a socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework that can be applied to any new or existing information and cybersecurity solutions in the organisation. A framework parameter to help continuously monitor the mutual alignment of the social, technical and environmental dimensions of the socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework was also introduced. Findings The results indicate a positive application of the socio-technical systems theory to the information and cybersecurity domain. In particular, the application of the conceptual process model is able to successfully categorise the selected information and cybersecurity practices into either social, technical or environmental practices. However, the validation of the socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework requires time and continuous monitoring in a real-life environment. Practical implications This research is beneficial to chief security officers, risk managers, information technology managers, security professionals and academics. They will gain more knowledge and understanding about the need to highlight the equal importance of both the social, technical and environmental dimensions of information and cybersecurity. Further, the less emphasised dimension is posited to open an equal but mutual security vulnerability gap as the more emphasised dimension. Both dimensions must, therefore, equally and jointly be emphasised for optimal security performance in the organisation. Originality/value The application of socio-technical systems theory to the information and cybersecurity domain has not received much attention. In this regard, the research adds value to the information and cybersecurity studies where too much emphasis is placed on security software and hardware capabilities.

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“…People Tasks Figure 1: Socio-technical system (Bostrom & Heinen, 1977a) STS has been used to model and explain complex work systems (Oosthuizen & Pretorius, 2016). An issue identified in the application of STS theory in IS is the lack of clear definitions of the components of the system (Alter, 2015).…”

Section: Structure Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a framework for online information security applications development: A socio-technical approach

Mujinga¹,

Eloff²,

Kroeze³

2019

SACJ

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The paper presents a validated socio-technical information security (STInfoSec) framework for the development of online information security (InfoSec) applications. The framework addresses both social and technical aspects of InfoSec design. The preliminary framework was developed using a mixed methods research design that collected data from 540 surveys by online banking users and six interviews with online banking personnel. The preliminary framework was presented in another publication and it is beyond the scope of this paper. The scope of this paper is limited to the validation findings of the evaluation process that involves seven evaluators. In the socio-technical context, the STInfoSec framework facilitates acceptance and usability of online applications based on online banking as a case study. The authors argue that usability of online InfoSec applications such as online banking significantly affects the adoption and continued use of such applications. As such, the paper investigates design principles for usable security and proposes a validated STInfoSec framework that consists of 12 usable security design principles. The design principles have been validated through heuristic evaluation by seven field experts for inclusion in the final STInfoSec framework. The development of InfoSec applications can be improved by applying these design principles.

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Assessing the Impact of New Technology on Complex Sociotechnical Systems

Cited by 28 publications

References 30 publications

Client Project Time Schedule Controls — An Empirically-Based System Dynamics Conceptual Model

Client Project Time Schedule Controls — An Empirically-Based System Dynamics Conceptual Model

Socio-technical systems cybersecurity framework

Towards a framework for online information security applications development: A socio-technical approach

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