IS research aims at tackling questions related to how IT (technical
systems) can support organizations (social systems). Researchers like
Claudio Ciborra and Jonathan Grudin have (among many others) discussed
the enormous challenges of developing theories that address both social
and technological issues in this design problem in depth. Or should we
say, that address socio-technical design issues? Is a socio-technical
system something different than “interaction between technology and
organization”? Does 1+1 make something different than 2, is it 3?
Re-reading Orlikowski’s work from the early 1990s (a structuration
perspective) and her recent contributions on socio-materiality it
appeared to me: Did we come any further in this discussion during those
20 years, or is the message the same? What is a socio-technical system
anyway? What consequences would an innovative answer on that question
have for socio-technical systems designers in our society (and where do
they work)? An attempt is done to create a new answer by mixing insights
from Weick, Orlikowski, Ciborra, Argyris, Quinn and Heidegger and see
what an interaction of their contributions leads to. This presentation
is based on work in progress and does thus contain provocative questions
and preliminary answers, but no final conclusions. Be prepared to enter
the debate.