=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1374/paper5
|storemode=property
|title=Sociotechnical Systems (STS) in Coordination of Virtual Innovation Work
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1374/paper4.pdf
|volume=Vol-1374
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/caise/PainterPATBM15
}}
==Sociotechnical Systems (STS) in Coordination of Virtual Innovation Work==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1374/paper4.pdf
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
Sociotechnical Systems (STS) Coordination of Virtual
Innovation Work
Bert Painter1, Pamela Posey1, Betty Barrett1, Betsy Merck1
Ramkrishnan Tenkasi2, and Douglas Austrom3
1
STS Roundtable, Mableton, GA, United States
gpainter@telus.net, pamposey@att.net, barrettb@mit.edu,
betsy@merckconsulting.com
2
Benedictine University, Lisle, IL, United States
RTenkasi@ben.edu
3
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
daustrom@indiana.edu
Abstract. This paper reports on a comparative case study of 3 ongoing
research and development (R&D) projects, each conducted virtually
across multiple worksites, involving varying degrees of task uncertainty
at differing stages on an innovation continuum. This NSF-funded study
applied Pava’s methodology of sociotechnical systems (STS) analysis to
assess the influence of virtuality and task uncertainty on the quality of de-
liberations. Building on theory of organizations as information processing
systems, different technical and social coordination mechanisms were
then studied for their impact in mitigating knowledge development barri-
ers at differing levels of task uncertainty. Technical elements, many based
in information systems (IS), appeared to be most significant for coordina-
tion where task uncertainty and ambiguity were low. On the other hand,
in the context of high task uncertainty, the most significant mechanisms
were closely tied to the formal and informal social systems of virtual or-
ganizations. Using these findings, a trial application of a 4-step ‘STS’
methodology for design and use of IS and other coordination mechanisms
has now been successfully completed in support of virtual knowledge
work at a prominent North American research laboratory. In summary,
these findings put into perspective the value of cross-organizational in-
formation systems, as a valuable part of the solution of virtual organiza-
tion for innovation, but only within a larger sociotechnical systems
framework that is the basis for a robust ‘STS’ collaboration platform.
Keywords: research and development, innovation continuum, sociotech-
nical systems, information systems, deliberation, knowledge development
barrier, coordination mechanism, virtual organization.
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 40
Proceedings of STPIS'15
1 Introduction
Cross-industry, cross-discipline, network-based organization has become central to
the emerging practice of science and engineering [1,2]. Hence, countries like the UK
have created an ‘eScience Programme’ to support distributed global collaborations,
and in the USA, the National Science Foundation has funded research to improve
design of work systems for innovation work that is interdependent yet not co-located.
In global software development, coordination has been described as “the major
challenge” [3]. There is a perceived “cost to overcome” with global projects and
multi-university research, and a key cost driver is coordination [4,5].
It is within this context, that this comparative study of ongoing research and devel-
opment (R&D) conducted in virtual, geographically dispersed organizations aims to
shed new light on the coordination of knowledge work and innovation across time and
space. The organizations and projects studied here represent different stages in an
innovation process continuum ranging from basic research to scale-up and commer-
cial development. Using sociotechnical systems (STS) analysis as a methodological
approach, the research has focused on understanding the influence of virtuality on
deliberations and knowledge development at various stages of the innovation contin-
uum. Then, the research question has been about how coordination enables actual
achievement of innovation in such distributed, multi-organizational collaborations.
2 Research Sites and Methodological Approach
Three ongoing virtual R&D projects have been included in this study; each project is
in a different industry and each deals with different challenges based on the type of
virtual work being done. R&D has been characterized as an intrinsic learning system
[6] with multiple stages. Each stage is defined by the degree to which participants do
or do not know the “what” (objective) or the “how” (method or means) of their
knowledge development and synthesizing activities. These stages form an innovation
continuum1 that ranges from high uncertainty tasks in which participants don’t know
‘what’ is the objective in concrete terms and don’t know ‘how’ to operationalize it –
to projects with low uncertainty in which participants know ‘what’ they need to
achieve and also know ‘how’ to achieve it operationally (see Figure 1).
Each project in this study is located at a different stage on the continuum of the in-
novation process, and each displays a different level of uncertainty in the project
work. The “Orchid Project” was a pure research project (R1) on the innovation con-
tinuum; The “Uniform Data Set Project” was initially studied in the early develop-
ment stage (D1), and more substantially at the advanced development stage (D2) on
the continuum; and the “Large Video Game (LVG) Project” was primarily positioned
in the scale-up stage (D4), although the systems engineering aspects of this project
more closely aligned with the start-up stage (D3) of development.
1
Carolyn Ordowich (personal communication, March 26, 2009) outlined an Innovation Contin-
uum adapted from a research portfolio model developed and used at Bell Laboratories [7].
©Copyright held by the author(s) 41
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
R R D D D D
1 2 1 2 3 4
Pure% Applied% Exploratory% Advanced% StartBUp%%% ScaleBUp%
Research% Research% Development% Development% (pilot&plants,&& (volume&&&
Work% Work%% Work% Work% beta&tes?ng)& costs)&
Development% Development%
Work&! Work%&
DON’T&KNOW& DON’T&KNOW&& KNOW& &KNOW& KNOW&& KNOW&&
%WHAT%% WHAT% %WHAT%% WHAT% WHAT% WHAT%
we&are& (i.e.&end&state&
looking&for& or&objec?ve)&
DON’T&KNOW&& KNOW& DON’T&KNOW& DON’T&KNOW&& KNOW&& KNOW&&
HOW%% %HOW%% &HOW% HOW%IN% HOW% HOW%
DETAIL%% CONCEPTUALLY% OPERATIONALLY%
to&carry&out& to&carry&out& &to&achieve&it&
the&research& the&research& to&achieve&it& to&achieve&it&& to&achieve&it&
HIGH%Uncertainty% LOWER%Uncertainty%
‘Orchid’'Project! ‘Uniform'Data'Set’'Project! ‘Large'Video'Game’'Project!
Figure 1: Six-Stage Continuum of the Innovation Process with Case Study Projects
Each project in this study is located at a different stage on the continuum of the in-
novation process, and each displays a different level of uncertainty in the project
work. The “Orchid Project” was a pure research project (R1) on the innovation con-
tinuum; The “Uniform Data Set Project” was initially studied in the early develop-
ment stage (D1), and more substantially at the advanced development stage (D2) on
the continuum; and the “Large Video Game (LVG) Project” was primarily positioned
in the scale-up stage (D4), although the systems engineering aspects of this project
more closely aligned with the start-up stage (D3) of development.
In addition to being clearly identified as R&D projects, each of the projects has
been conducted in its own virtual organizational setting. In each case, the work is
comprised of interdependent knowledge-based tasks conducted by participants who
are dispersed across space and time and are unable to collaborate face-to-face all or
most of the time. Thus, each case exemplifies the primary characteristics identified in
prior studies of “virtuality” in work processes [8,9,10,11].
2.1 The Research Sites
The “Orchid” Project represents the field of fundamental, basic research and appears
at position R1 on the innovation continuum; it is a collaborative project among theo-
retical and experimental physicists from research universities around the world. The
project, funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is
led by scientists from Caltech and includes physicists from universities in the U.S.A.,
Canada, Austria, and Germany. It is a pure research study in which the researchers
don’t know what they are going to find and therefore, don’t know how to design a
research project that will actually be effective. The degree of virtuality is quite high in
the patterns of interaction between faculty and students or post-doc staff.
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 42
Proceedings of STPIS'15
The “Uniform Data Set” Project (UDS) is a joint project of the National Institute of
Health and 29 Alzheimer's Disease Centers across the United States. At the outset, in
the development of the “minimal data set” the project was positioned at D1 on the
innovation continuum – the parties knew what their goal was but didn’t know how to
accomplish it. Based on this experience, this has evolved to a mature development
project (D2) that is expanding its investigation based on earlier accomplishments.
The chief participants have worked together for a number of years under overall guid-
ance of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center. In addition, there are substan-
tial professional ties within and across the centers as the membership consists of a
majority of the world’s experts in Alzheimer’s Disease treatment.
The “Large Video Game” Project (LVG) involved some Start-Up Development
(D3) and mostly Scale-Up Development (D4) activities; it incorporates art asset pro-
duction, website and systems engineering, and testing activities shared among the
game developer and vendors around the world. Clarity of purpose and outcome is
crucial in the D4 positioning of LVG, and though uncertainty about the ‘what’ and, to
a somewhat lesser extent, the ‘how’ of the process is low, there is a high degree of
virtuality and relatively low face-to-face collaboration in this project.
2.2 Theoretical Background and Methodological Approach
In virtual organizations that involve innovation, work is non-linear and knowledge
based. This means much of the work is conducted through discussions and choice-
making interactions that are often not face-to-face; these are referred to as delibera-
tions in sociotechnical systems theory. Deliberations are “patterns of exchange and
communication…to reduce the equivocality of a problematic issue” [12,13]. They are
not discrete decisions—they are a more continuous context for decisions. They have
three aspects: topics, forums, and participants. Finally, a deliberation is a unit of
analysis (like ‘unit operations’ in linear processes)—the input, conversion, and output
at these ‘choice points’ is what moves knowledge work forward.
The value of deliberation analysis to identify sources of failure and delays in new
product development has been demonstrated [14], [6], [15]. These studies were early
applications of Pava’s theory for managing information technologies and non-routine
knowledge work processes—a ‘second generation’ of STS theory based upon the
original British-North American tradition of STS developed in the manufacturing and
process industry era [16,17,18,19]. In his groundbreaking study of office work, Pava
[12] also identified that deliberations often go awry in non-routine knowledge work
due to “information gaps”.
Building on Pava’s work, others have identified the source of such information and
knowledge “gaps”. In two product development projects co-located within one major
consumer products company, Purser et al. [6] identified four main categories of “bar-
riers” obstructing and delaying collaborative knowledge development: (1) knowledge
sharing and planning barriers, such as lack of cooperation, missing parties, or unreal-
istic timeframes; (2) cognitive frame of reference barriers, associated with differences
in language, values, disciplines, etc.; (3) knowledge retention and procedural barriers,
such as lack of technical documentation or lack of external consulting; and, (4)
knowledge acquisition barriers resulting in a lack of available knowledge.
©Copyright held by the author(s) 43
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
Now, for this comparative case study, concepts of ‘deliberations’ and knowledge
development ‘barriers’ have been extended to the analysis of knowledge work includ-
ing exploratory development and fundamental research where “equivocality” and task
uncertainty are greater than in most product development, and potentially more so in
the context of virtual organization.
Therefore, to help frame the focal questions of our study, an extensive review was
conducted of the literature on virtual organization. Then, scoping interviews were
conducted in each organization to gain understanding of the projects and teams in-
volved in virtual innovation work. Through structured interviews and observation, key
deliberations were identified and tracked in each worksite to gather core data about
the emergence of barriers and the extent to which they were addressed in each real-
world innovation process. Finally, follow-up interviews and documentation verified
the project outcomes. Indeed, STS analysis provided a powerful lens through which to
view knowledge generation and sharing, eventually yielding insight into both social
and technical forms of coordination in these virtual work environments.
2.3. Coordination Mechanisms
From an organizational studies’ perspective, coordination mechanisms are developed
or emerge because of the need for “managing dependencies between activities” of
distributed actors [20,21]. Similarly, from an information systems’ perspective, a
coordination mechanism consists of “a coordinative protocol…(of procedures and
conventions stipulating the articulation of interdependent distributed activities)…and
on the other hand an artifact in which the protocol is objectified” [22].
A connection between coordination mechanisms and the possibility of mitigating
knowledge development barriers is based upon theory of organizational information
processing [23,24]. This theory postulates that structural mechanisms for coordination
must provide the means to handle the amount and richness of information processing
required by the uncertainty and equivocality of an organization’s task and environ-
ment. In other words, coordination mechanisms make a major difference in how well
deliberations in non-routine work incorporate the right information and knowledge,
and the right participants at the right time.
Specific mechanisms to permit coordination have been proposed using an informa-
tion processing view of organization design. However, more specific to global soft-
ware projects, and most relevant for our study of R&D, Sabherwal [25] condensed
many classifications identified in the information systems literature into a typology of
four major coordination mechanisms: (1) standards; (2) plans; (3) formal mutual ad-
justment; and (4) informal mutual adjustment.
Coordination through “standards” relies upon pre-specification of rules, routines,
techniques, and targets. Coordination through “plans” is another approach that is
mostly impersonal in nature once implemented. Both of these forms of coordination
are often built into the structure of information systems. By contrast, in both forms of
“mutual adjustment”, coordination is made possible through interpersonal communi-
cation, feedback and interaction. In formal mutual adjustment, coordination is “more
structured” in design review meetings, supervisory or liaison roles versus informal
mechanisms of impromptu or face-to-face communication.
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 44
Proceedings of STPIS'15
In addition to defining key modes of coordination, theory and empirical research
[21], [23], [26,27] have identified the level of task uncertainty and the degree of task
equivocality (or ambiguity) as key determinants of the requirements for specific coor-
dination mechanisms. In broad terms, the proposition has been that “more informal,
communications-oriented” mechanisms are more suitable “when uncertainty is greater
[for example] during the requirements analysis phase”. On the other hand, “more
formal, control-oriented” mechanisms are “most suitable when uncertainty is less [for
example] during the design, implementation, and testing phases of a project” [25].
In summary, there is considerable prior literature suggesting that task uncertainty is
an important factor influencing coordination mechanisms. The intent of this compara-
tive case study has been to take a ‘grounded theory’ approach to extend these findings
to a virtual context, and to encompass the full range of the innovation continuum.
3 Findings
3.1 The LVG Project
The Large Video Game project is a critically time-bound commercial product devel-
opment process based in the USA with a virtual organization of contractors dispersed
across the globe. There is limited economic viability for face-to-face interaction
among members of the virtual project teams. Production includes 3D animation art
assets, systems engineering, website design, and quality assurance. In addition to
LVG home-based staff, the virtual organization includes external art asset vendors as
well as engineering and website development vendors.
Key deliberations at LVG often occur at the front end of the production process in-
volving ‘choice points’ such as vendor selection. Examples of other key deliberations
are defining and estimating outsourced project work and specifying documentation
and production requirements.
During the period of this case study, it appeared that knowledge sharing and devel-
opment barriers were less prevalent in virtual art production than for virtual organiza-
tion of software engineering and web systems development where barriers included
unclear expectations, unrealistic timeframes, and lack of documentation. Delayed data
transfer resulted sometimes from incompatible IT systems and/or security issues.
Intellectual property issues could also prevent LVG core operations from sharing vital
source code with vendors.
In the relatively routine and mature work processes of virtual art production for
LVG, information systems have provided vital support for clear expectations about
task deliverables. Agreements on acceptable output are coordinated using screen
shots, visual targets, emails, extensive digital documentation, and in some cases, web-
based project management software.
For engineering and web/online game development, however, a key factor limiting
the clarity of expectations is that LVG staff will most often not know the fine details
of ‘how’ the outputs are to be achieved. In-house staff may do preliminary design of
new website features but detailed technical design is outsourced to a vendor. How-
ever, quick feedback that is possible in-house, standing over each other’s computers
©Copyright held by the author(s) 45
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
and making ‘live’ corrections to any misunderstandings has generally been unavail-
able with engineering vendors in this virtual organization. Another disruptive but
unintended factor was that the otherwise very successful ‘agile’ development process
used by LVG staff caused expectations to change mid-course several times for the
work of at least one major website contractor. Both of these factors resulted in delay
and cost overruns particularly for the first product version of game development ob-
served in this study.
Fortunately, in the time period between the two product development runs, LVG
staff made important changes in their coordination mechanisms. Engineering projects
are now “chunked” into phases, and vendors must provide schedules for specific de-
liverables. And, supplementing all of the regular project management tools and sys-
tems, LVG made a structural role change to designate a single “product owner” con-
tact person to resolve issues with each vendor for a specific engineering assignment.
New technical arrangements have also helped overcome the intellectual property is-
sues that previously constrained the sharing of game source code--a “cloud-based
desktop” solution provides vendors access to source code and the ability to integrate
new code, while preserving LVG proprietary control. And, selection of any vendor is
now dependent upon verification of IT compatibility and an on-site security check. To
close yet another gap in knowledge coordination, quality assurance staff in a remote
test center can now videoconference into production meetings and ‘scrums’ at LVG
core operations, and thereby increase their tacit knowledge of game architecture. The
overall effect of such changes was that the second product run was completed on-
time, on-spec, with few quality issues, and on-budget.
3.2 The UDS Project
The Uniform Data Set (UDS) is a longitudinal database of clinical and neuropa-
thological information gathered from Alzheimer’s patients in the United States. From
1984 to 1999, the initial development of this database (D1) was the Minimum Data
Set that suffered a missing data rate of 20-30%. By 1999, the sponsor agency, the
National Institute of Aging (NIA) recognized a need for a reliable, more robust data
set as a resource for Alzheimer’s research, and established a National Alzheimer’s
Coordinating Center (NACC) at the University of Washington-Seattle. The Center’s
mandate was to support more effective collaboration among 29 Alzheimer’s Disease
Centers across the United States in development (D2) and utilization of a Uniform
Data Set. Since then, the NACC has worked with clinical task forces of Alzheimer’s
Disease Center directors and clinical core directors to develop and update the stan-
dardized content of the UDS.
Key deliberations in this project (conducted via videoconferences, teleconferences,
email, and sometimes, in person) have selected the 725 data points to include in the
data set, an important issue because it determines what longitudinal information will
be available for researchers. Another key deliberation has revolved around how to
collect the UDS data: as many as 18 standardized forms developed by clinical task
forces are now used to collect patient data on socio-demographics, family history,
dementia history, neurological exam findings, functional status, neuropsychological
test results, clinical diagnosis, and imaging tests. Data managers at each of 29 Centers
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 46
Proceedings of STPIS'15
monitor the quality of the local data before submitting it electronically to the NACC
each month, creating a reliable, large-scale pool of data for scientists to analyze.
The move to the UDS from the original data set raised a number of issues: ini-
tially, many of the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers resisted the concept of a “coordinat-
ing center” and viewed the requirement to use standardized data collection systems as
an imposition on being able to collect data best suited to their particular research in-
terests. This created major barriers to knowledge sharing in the early deliberations
about what elements to include in the UDS. Other barriers arose from the different
frames of reference associated with researchers’ diverse disciplines.
The NACC was a purposefully designed coordination mechanism to address the
barriers. It has provided an infrastructure, a neutral “referent organization” [28],
guiding stakeholder participation for effective deliberations on the design and ongoing
refinement of the UDS. This coordination mechanism is activated by the skill of spe-
cific individuals in the NIA and NACC in key “network builder” [29] roles: they
have built relationships across organizations and disciplines, often through multi-
disciplinary, multi-center, technical steering committees.
Furthermore, on an ongoing basis, the NACC coordinates bi-annual face-to-face
meetings of the ADC directors and staff. Although infrequent, these face-to-face
meetings are one key part of a dense set of relationships among participants in the
ADC network. This collaborative ‘spirit’ has been further strengthened by the larger
shared ‘mission’ to reduce or solve Alzheimer’s disease. Overall, the outcome has
been that NACC is now instrumental in Alzheimer’s research and the UDS has re-
ceived acclaim as an exemplar of research collaboration [30].
3.3 The Orchid Project
The Orchid project was an international multi-university collaboration by a team of 20
physicists and graduate students led by faculty at the California Institute of Technol-
ogy (Caltech) who partnered with scientists at universities in Europe and North Amer-
ica. The project involved experimental scientists and theoretical physicists, many of
them physically dispersed. The distributed collaboration most closely studied by our
research involved one Caltech lab that fabricated devices for experiments run both on
its own equipment and also on different equipment in an Austrian laboratory. There
was thus strong interdependence between these laboratories. However, until the Or-
chid project, staff from these two scientific groups had never collaborated. It was their
brief meetings at international conferences that brought them together with a mission
to achieve a “scientific breakthrough” in a new field of science, opto-mechanics (i.e.
use of light to manipulate mechanical devices at nano-scale).
Key deliberations within this project focused on the selection of experiments to
run, design of the actual experimentation, and interpretation and refinement of data
gathered. Knowledge barriers associated with these deliberations were significant.
Varied disciplinary roots of the research groups led them to use different language to
describe the same data, and each group had its own unique problem-solving approach.
A significant challenge was the wide geographic dispersion combined with the high
degree of reciprocal and team interdependence between their laboratory facilities.
There was a constant threat of failure to utilize knowledge if the diversity of scientific
©Copyright held by the author(s) 47
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
perspectives could not be accessed and integrated for creative problem solving in the
experimental process. Another major barrier to the acquisition of knowledge resulted
from some incompatibility in the equipment used by the different laboratories.
For coordination, Orchid project scientists made extensive use of shared databases
and annotated document repositories. Whenever experiments picked up intensity,
digital communication such as skype conversations, sometimes with screen-sharing,
or use of electronic whiteboards, texting and email could occur almost constantly
during a long, multi time zone work day.
However, the project’s greatest collaboration challenges were overcome quite ser-
endipitously. The need to invent a methodology so that devices created at Caltech
could run on different experimental equipment in Europe required a detailed under-
standing by each party of the other’s technical capabilities and limitations. The
mechanism in this virtual organization that most helped bridge the different frames of
reference was what the scientists came to refer to as the role of an “embedded re-
searcher”. A European graduate student came to Caltech for a short visit by chance
and was able to see differences in methods and technology between the two experi-
mental groups and facilitated solutions to merge their approaches. Another graduate
student, from the theoretical school, was also unexpectedly sent to Caltech—he was
able to give real-time suggestions to help interpret data for the experimentalists. This
liaison or “straddler” role was an ongoing help to coordinate knowledge exchange
between project theorists and experimentalists.
Both of these temporary roles proved to be vital coordination mechanisms for this
project that over four years yielded a series of internationally recognized publications
[31] and produced a “milestone” demonstration of opto-mechanical capabilities.
4. Discussion and Conclusions
All the virtual R&D projects in this comparative case study encountered substantial
knowledge development barriers, and utilized coordination mechanisms to overcome
barriers. Of the four main categories of coordination mechanisms (standards, plans,
formal mutual adjustment, informal mutual adjustment), all types were utilized to
some degree in specific examples developed in each project. However, the type of
mechanisms that project participants indicated were most significant in mitigating
knowledge barriers varied noticeably according to the project task (see Figure 2).
One theme in these findings is an apparent correlation between most impactful
types of coordination mechanisms and differing levels of innovation task uncertainty.
For those activities and projects with the lower degree of uncertainty, the more im-
pactful mechanisms were technical, impersonal, relying on an a priori specification of
action or targets-- for example, the screen shots, visual targets, and project manage-
ment software that provided ‘standards’ and ‘plans’ to coordinate expectations be-
tween LVG and its art production vendors. However, the social, or mutual adjustment
mechanisms that are more indeterminate and rely on extensive ad hoc human interac-
tion had more impact in mitigating barriers in those activities and projects where there
was higher uncertainty about outcomes and process: for example, the “embedded
researchers” who contributed vital liaison across disciplines and institutions in the
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 48
Proceedings of STPIS'15
Orchid project, and functioned much like the “straddler” role described as a conduit
for “transfer of tacit knowledge” in global software engineering projects [32,33].
Coordina(on)Category) Case)Examples)) ‘Orchid’)) ‘UDS’) ‘LVG’)
R1) D2)))))D3ID4) D3))))))))))D4)
•Output)Standardiza(on—prototype,) +)
screen)shots,)visual)targets)
Coordina(on)by) •Skills)Standardiza(on/training) +) +) +)
•Standardiza(on)of)Processes) +)
STANDARDS) •Diagnos(c)instruments) +)
•Data)formats) +) +)
•ErrorKtracking)procedures) +)
•Delivery)schedules) +) +)
•Project)milestones) +) +)
Coordina(on)by) •Requirement)specifica(ons) +) +)
PLANS) •SignKoffs) +)
•Financial)incen(ves) +)
•Compelling)‘mission’/goal) +) +)
•Site)inspec(on/verifica(on) +) +)
Coordina(on)by) •Hierarchy/ver(cal)communica(on) +)
•Shared)database/repository)
FORMAL)) •Formal)mee(ngs/status)review) +) +) +)
MUTUAL) •Steering)commi=ees/task)force) +)
ADJUSTMENT) •Referent)organiza(on) +)
•Facilitator/‘Network)Builder’)role) +) +)
•Liaison/’Straddler’)role) +) +)
Coordina(on)by) •Impromptu)communica(on) +) +)
•Informal)mee(ngs) +) +)
INFORMAL)) •Conferences,)workshops) +) +)
MUTUAL) •Site)visits) +)
ADJUSTMENT) •Temporary)coKloca(on) +)
Key:))+)Designates,Ac/ve,&,Significant,Coordina/on,Mechanism,in,a,specific,virtual,R&D,Project,
Figure 2: Most Significant Coordination Mechanisms in Sample Virtual R&D Projects
In sociotechnical terms, the social or mutual adjustment mechanisms are based
primarily in the social sub-system of a work organization, while standards and plans
are based primarily in the technical sub-system (see Figure 3). For example, a project
status review meeting (as a formal mutual adjustment mechanism) may rely upon a
teleconferencing technology application, but the primary contributions to the review
meeting as a coordination mechanism are located in the leadership and other roles,
mutual task expectations, and relationships within the virtual team or groups perform-
ing the work [34]. On the other hand, a standard such as a format for reporting clinical
data in the UDS project is indeed a ‘resource for situated action’ [35] and does rely
upon interpretations made by people gathering data such as neurologists, but the data
format is essentially a technical artifact that embodies the general stipulations of a
protocol organizing tasks for reporting valid and useful research data.
Indeed, the ‘technical’ and ‘socio’ dimensions of coordination appear to comple-
ment one another. Neither is entirely sufficient for overall coordination, but each
tends to be more impactful, depending upon the stage of innovation or nature of
knowledge work. How different types of coordination mechanisms are complemen-
tary is exemplified by the experience in the LVG project for systems engineering and
©Copyright held by the author(s) 49
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
website development. At this (D3) stage of innovation, effective coordination required
a combination of important ‘technical’ elements of web-based project management
software and short time frame “chunking” of project plans, along with a formal mu-
tual adjustment mechanism in the form of a new “product owner” role within the so-
cial system of relations between LVG and its vendors. Conversely, what made the
informal mutual adjustment mechanism of the Orchid project scientists’ infrequent
face-to-face discussions most effective were detailed plans and data-sharing done
prior to their meetings.
Figure 3: Differing Impact of ‘Technical’ & ‘Socio’ Forms of Coordination in Innovation
Another form of interaction between the ‘socio’ and ‘technical’ dimensions of co-
ordination is the significance of how these mechanisms are used, quite aside from the
process of their design or selection. For example, as suggested by prior studies [36],
frequent annotation of documents in web-based repositories made the sharing of in-
formation and the interpretation of experimental data much more understandable and
productive for the theorists and experimental scientists scattered across the globe in
the various Orchid project teams.
Such use of data repositories enabled dispersed scientists to experience a form of
collaboration awareness: “an understanding of the activities of others, which provides
a context for your own activity” [37]. This functioned like an implicit coordination
mechanism providing “task knowledge awareness” [38] about how colleagues’ per-
spectives on particular research data were evolving during the life of the project.
Targeted use of this form of ‘awareness’ has been found to be especially valuable in
non-routine work. Also observed in our study was the use of instant messaging tech-
nology that provided “presence awareness”--the feeling that physically distant col-
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 50
Proceedings of STPIS'15
leagues were available to each other and could provide immediate feedback on impor-
tant topics [39], thereby supporting informal mutual adjustment that was particularly
helpful in coordination across diverse knowledge and organizational boundaries as
existed in the Orchid and UDS projects.
The case of the UDS project with its challenges of effective data collection high-
lights another critical aspect of coordination mechanisms, namely, “malleability” [22].
In this respect, the various clinical task forces involving UDS project stakeholders
have played a key role in continuous modifications of data formats and clinical in-
struments to ensure that these mechanisms meet the needs of diverse users as well as
maintaining the vital integrity of the Uniform Data Set for ‘downstream’ Alzheimer’s
research.
Taking further this notion of ‘fit’ between a coordination mechanism and its ‘field
of work’, the case of quality assurance testing in our study of the LVG project pro-
vides some indication of the importance to distinguish “different modes (i.e. alpha
levels) in which a protocol-based system…can support [coordination]…from the
more constraining mode to the less constraining”, in terms of whether or nor there is
affordance for users to skip or defer any action within the intended process [40]. In
one key change between an early and later production run of the LVG project, in or-
der to address knowledge and skill gaps among high turnover student testers em-
ployed by the QA contractor, more prescriptive “scripts” were given to testers, which
helped greatly to improve the ratio of ‘bugs’ solved per work hours.
In summary, many of these effects occur in co-located work as well as in virtual
organizations. However, participants in this study reported that, compared to their
experience of co-located work, barriers to the development of knowledge (e.g. intel-
lectual property issues, divergent priorities) were more difficult to manage in the vir-
tual context of innovation. And, although scientists and their graduate students used
virtual workspace IT tools for task coordination [41], (such as instant messaging,
electronic whiteboards, video conferencing, and network databases), difficulties of
communicating tacit knowledge and the data interpretation challenge of “sense-
making” [42] were accentuated in these case study projects of fundamental research
and advanced development in a virtual context.
Even though there is “a common notion that collaboration technology and band-
width will allow a virtual team to perform as if co-located, evidence shows this notion
to be a naïve myth” [43]. One implication for practitioners from this comparative
study is that effective coordination of virtual innovation work can benefit from a so-
ciotechnical systems approach. Modern STS methodology (updated for non-routine
work) provides a way to utilize elements of both social and technical sub-systems to
assess and overcome “coordination costs”.
As an indication, a recent trial application of these research findings in a major
North American research laboratory was viewed very favorably by scientists and staff
challenged with coordination of teamwork across time, space, and changing environ-
ments in the laboratory and its network of related universities, and private sector
stakeholders. The work of these scientific teams covered a wide variety of topics, at
differing stages across the innovation continuum.
©Copyright held by the author(s) 51
Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development
A series of workshops were held periodically over several months at the laboratory
to share the findings of this research study. During and between workshops, scientists
and their fellow team members applied the concepts to analyze the process of their
teamwork, and then, select or develop and evaluate new coordination mechanisms,
using a four-step STS design methodology.
• First, locate the project or specific knowledge work on the Innovation Con-
tinuum (see Figure 1). Awareness of the positioning of a team’s work on the
continuum, (and this positioning may well move during the life of a project),
helps anticipate the types of ‘technical’ and/or ‘socio’ mechanisms that are
likely to be most significant in mitigating knowledge development barriers
(see Figures 2 and 3).
• Secondly, identify the key deliberations or ‘choice points’ that are essential
to move the team’s work forward. Deliberations are defined by a topic (e.g.
what experiment to run, what software feature to develop), and they require
specific information and knowledge, with the involvement of specific par-
ticipants with differing perspectives and interests.
• Thirdly, analyze the most significant knowledge development barriers that
potentially or actually impede the quality of these key deliberations. To help
maintain alertness to such barriers, utilize the typology of (1) knowledge
sharing and planning barriers, (2) cognitive frame of reference barriers, (3)
knowledge retention and procedural barriers, and (4) knowledge acquisition
barriers.
• Fourthly, select, design, and/or utilize appropriately the specific coordination
mechanism(s) that seem most capable of mitigating the identified knowledge
development barriers. This aspect of “designing” [44] for effective collabora-
tion needs to be understood and practiced as a continual, unfolding process
in order to address both the evolution in the type or stage of innova-
tion/knowledge work and the ever-changing context of virtual teamwork.
At the conclusion of the trial application, over 90% of the scientists and staff re-
ported in a feedback survey that these concepts and methodology “will improve how
we work together” and “address [distributed teamwork] issues we were trying to
solve”. The coordination mechanisms developed by the scientific teams included a
combination of new standards and procedures, new systems for information sharing
and storage, and redesigned team roles.
The findings of the research reported here and the recent application experience put
into perspective the value of ‘technical’ elements of cross-organizational information
systems (IS) and web-based collaboration technology. They are a valuable part of the
solution for coordination of “virtuality in teams” [8], but only within a larger socio-
technical systems framework that is the basis for robust ‘STS’ collaboration platforms
with both ‘socio’ and ‘technical’ components to support effective virtual innovation.
Indeed, further development of such an integrated approach could be a new “practical
scientific collaboration” [45] across the disciplines and communities of information
systems and sociotechnical systems design.
Edited by S. Kowalski, P. Bednar and I. Bider 52
Proceedings of STPIS'15
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Acknowledgements. The authors wish to acknowledge the support for this research
provided by the National Science Foundation grant number NSF OCI 09-43237. Any
opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations in this material are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect views of the National Science Foundation.
©Copyright held by the author(s) 55