In a socio-technical approach, particular attention could be devoted to understanding the relationship between the social side (for instance the organizational charts, the processes) and the technical side (for instance the software applications and the hardware network) of the organizations. In this activity the role of maps and mapping for describing the relationships between social and technical environment could be useful for exploring, recoding, fixing relationships and modifying social behaviour. These topics are described through a cluster of experiences of my practitioner activities developed in large sized companies where exploring the context could be difficult and time consuming and maps could be a useful support. The paper focuses on the organizational structures and/or the role of people with reference to IT technologies and on the maps that described these relationships. For instance the relationship: user-application-support (hardware and people) described through an effective map has been useful for updating and for integrating the topics of the quality management in IT applications. Two experiences are presented: a success and a failure. In the first experience the integration of quality management requirements was successfully performed in an application already conceived for health and safety management systems. The second one, planned with a social approach in the design of an ERP was a failure. The lessons learned by both experiences are presented.
This paper describes the role of mapping to understand the organizations and in
particular the relationships between people and Information Technologies. These topics
are challenging in my practitioner activities that deal with the development of
Management Systems, in compliance with the requirements of ISO (International Standard
Organization) Standard on Management systems, in particular ISO 9001 [
The methodological toolkits exploited in my activity encompass Conceptual
Modeling, Socio-technical Perspective and an Ethnological Approach, that are described
in [
I find some suggestions coming from different contexts helpful. In Section 2, I
briefly discuss the role of maps not only to describe the environment but also as an
effective way of communication, presenting the history Beck’s map of London
Underground [
The experiences, described in Section 3, are a cluster of projects developed in the last two years in large sized companies. These projects have several common points: the commitment and the organization features, in terms of size, ownership and management approach. In these experiences several maps have been exploited to explore and to communicate. The focus is on maps applied to define the relationships between people and Information Technologies. Reflecting on these relationships, a success and a failure of these projects are described.
In Section 4, comparing results and lessons learned, I suggest that, even if the maps are an effective tool, the issues that influence a socio-technical approach could be several. I suggest that to increase its effectiveness, the approach requires also a set of iconic tools (including maps) which can be used as Beck’s map even to change behaviors and to improve communication. Future actions are briefly proposed in Section 5. 2
The methodological framework that supports my practice encompasses several topics
that I summarize as Process Analysis, Socio-technical Design and Ethnographic
Approach. They have been progressively introduced in my methodological toolkits and
applied in the experiences presented in [
In paper [
To introduce this topic I briefly present two examples: Beck’s mapping of London Underground and Christian Nold’s experiential mapping.
Henry Beck created the present map of the London Underground Tube in 1931
(Figure. 1). As described in [
The map, published by The London Passenger Transport Board (now Transport For London) in 1933, was a success: after two months more than 850,000 copies circulated and it became a model for urban transportation.
But the interesting point was that this map modified the inhabitant’s perception of London territory, presenting an ‘increasing chaotic city as an object of coherence’. It was an effective way of communication with the underground users, influencing their sensibility and behavior. In this sense the map could be considered as an artefact.
Maps could be conceived as windows for viewing the world, as artefacts to modify
the world, as an art form for visualizing people’s reactions to the external world. In
the ‘emotion maps’ of Christian Nold, described in [
These maps are helpful tools to explore and to understand the environment. Figure 2 is a patchwork of some of the graphical tools that could support my practice and that are often the basis to explore the organizations and to define the relationships in my projects. In the paper I consider any type of graphical descriptions as ‘map’ to underline their role in an ethnographic approach.
In the following a non-exhaustive set of these maps is described: • Organization Charts • Business model • Process flows • Hardware network • Software application network • Plant layouts • Data representation • Risk analysis tools
Maps could be useful for exploring (for instance by means of conceptual maps), for recording (for instance the hardware network), for fixing relationships (organizational charts and processes), for tracking and modifying behaviour.
Particular attention, in a socio-technical approach could be devoted to the relationship between the social maps (for instance the organizational charts), the process maps, and the technical maps, in term of IT systems. To perform contextual inquiries of large sized companies these maps are always in my hand during meetings, workshops, interviews, audits.
Some maps have an iconic appeal. For instance the square of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis or the for process flows are immediately recognized by the participants. In some sense they are, as Beck’s map, an effective way of communication.
The described experiences are a synthesis of the projects I developed in seven large sized companies in 2017 and 2018.
I summarize the methodological approach that has been presented in [
The cluster of large sized companies I worked with share several common features that are described in the following. • The ownership is based on shareholders and the governance on board of directors (CEO, CFO, COO, etc.). • The distribution of sites and markets is worldwide. My practice is in Italy, mainly with operation sites. • The organizational structures are complex and often subject to changes through corporate projects that redesign the management approach. • The complexity and the frequent changes of the organization make it difficult, even for the employees, to understand their ‘positions in the field’. • ICT management could be very far from my point of observation. My interfaces are often end-users or local functions, not involved in the strategic development of new applications. 3.2
The projects, for the design and implementation of Management Systems have been developed in companies where I have never practiced before. For these reasons, understanding the social environment at a first glance has been very challenging and the support of maps helpful.
With reference to the methodological features, previously described, in the
following the relationships between project steps and maps are briefly presented.
• Planning the project with the Management System function. Practitioner:
‘observer’. The maps in my hands could be high level descriptions of the
governance and/or business model with the related organizational charts and process
descriptions (diagrams, flows). With these maps, for instance, I could understand if
the company is structured by market segments, by geographic area, by technology,
by product and what are the relationships with staff functions and operations, with
corporate and local structure, etc. The results of this phase are a plan of interviews
with managers and/or of workshops with a project team.
• Performing interviews and/or attending meetings. Practitioner:
‘observer-asparticipant’. The map’s inventory increase step-by-step because often the
involved functions present their own map toolkit. For instance top management
could describe the structure of the Business plan or of strategic risk tools by means
of SWOT Analysis, Operation managers by means of plant layouts or
manufacturing process flows. Progressively a network of relationships is sketched. The results
of this phase are text notes and maps.
• Defining a documented framework that connects the requirement of ISO
standards with the company identity. Practitioner: ‘participant-as-observer’.
Several maps could be linked together and with management system tools. For
instance the manufacturing process flows presented by operation functions could be
exploited to develop an operating risks analysis and documented with operating
risk techniques such as Ishikawa Diagram or FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect
Analysis). (A detailed list of risk analysis techniques and related maps can be
found in [
In all the steps of the project I have to deal with IT systems and ICT functions, for several reasons.
The value chain processes, i.e. sales, supply chain processes, operation, logistics are fully supported and integrated with software applications. For instance the customer order process flows could be common in an ERP application and in a quality control plan.
Specific software applications could support the risk evaluations in the field of environment (for instance the measure of pollution impacts) and health and safety (for instance risk injury due to equipment misuse).
Furthermore, file systems, data warehouse, social network are repositories of information related to systems management, for instance procedures, instructions, guidelines.
In performing this analysis, several maps of relationships between IT and the functional areas have been presented and discussed. Among them, I describe a table (Fig. 3), shared with one of my customers, where a synthesis of these relationship has been effectively described. I collected similar descriptions in several other projects.
The map was presented by a software local support function during a meeting, when the project team was discussing the integration between software application (CRM, ERP) and ISO Standard requirements.
In the team the map was perceived as an effective way for communication (as Beck’s map) and it was part of the success of the project.
In the map the Socio-technical relationships inside (and outside) the company are described in many directions through the link among Users, IT tools and IT supports.
The column ‘WHO’ identifies the users of the application. They could be external (Customer), internal as specific function (Sales, HR,) or generically identified as employees (All).
The column APPLICATION lists the types of the Information and Communications Technologies exploited in the company.
The rows WHO and APPLICATION are strictly linked. They could be related to the processes of a specific functional area (CRM for sales, E-Learning for human resources management, etc.), or exploited by all the functions (ALL).
The row with ‘ERP’ highlights a weakness: ‘WHO’ are not functional areas but two ERP applications. It is difficult to identify ‘people’ (managers/employees) as the actual ‘WHO’.
The third set considers ‘users’ as ’all’ and defines links with applications
(DATAWAREHOUSE, Extranet, WEB). It highlights the increasing role of Social
media in several organization processes. For instance Social media are implicated in
Human Resources processes for recruitment, communication, training, on-boarding
and team building [
The column SUPPORT, split in five sub-columns, identifies the resources that support the users. They are classified as internal (local and global) and external (supplier). A similar map, discussed in another company, linked the support to different types of users (end users, key users, business process experts).
In the following I present, among the set of experiences, a success (Company A) and a failure (Company B).
In Company A, where the previously described map was presented and shared, my interface and the project leader was the Manager of Health and Safety function, who had the role of IT internal support for the EHS Applications (ESI, ESI App, GPS Man-down), as well.
During the context analysis and risk evaluation, the project team met all the functional area (Marketing, Sales, Finance, HR, Technical service, etc.) and observed activities and processes.
Through this social approach several degrees of interaction with the IT applications were exploited taking into account the requirement of the project. For instance users interface and data structure were modified to record customer complaint management in CRM.
Due to the role of my interface, the team could suggest updating of EHS systems (ESI). This application was initially exploited only for Health and Safety Management, but through the project it was updated to encompass the new topics. The content and the exploitation of the application become fruitful for a larger set of endusers, who deal with quality management system. For instance the process analysis finalized to employee safety was enlarged to take into account customer oriented processes and then including the points of view of different stakeholders.
This updating was possible because the project team, the application developer and I could interact and cooperate to re-design a specific software tool.
In Company B the project was developed with the same features in term of objectives and methodological approach, as in Company A. This new customer operates in a high technological field (testing equipment for microelectronics) with a complex and integrated management system, that include ethics, quality, environment, health and safety requirements. I had little time to plan and perform my activities (three months). In this project my interface was a manager with a high level of experience on management systems and with a deep knowledge on the company, but not directly involved in the IT area.
Even in this project the process maps were a useful tool. They helped me to quickly merge in the new context. My internal interface presented process/organization/IT maps that I used to explore, to learn and to share concepts with the involved employees. I sketched a framework of relationships among the management system and the processes.
The role of the IT applications that support the front-end and back-end processes was, as usual, a key point for the implementation of the management systems (CRM, design tools, customer order process etc.) and the analysis of that systems highlighted several (well known) weak points.
In the same period the company started a project to implement a new ERP application and the analysis phase almost overlapped with the context analysis of my project. The internal project leader proposed to top management an integration of the two projects and a common activity with two different suppliers. I found this opportunity very challenging and I accepted to share my methods and approach with competitors. A common activity plan was defined and a kick-off meeting defined, as well.
In this crucial phase, my customer interface and I were not able to quickly update the framework of relationships to include the IT requirements that we have defined during the project.
A few days before the kick-off meeting, the top management and the IT application supplier refused. Due to the priority of new ERP implementation, my project was stopped and I had no further feedback. 4
My methodological approach, based on several toolkits was enriched by new mapping tools. In particular the table previously described is a good framework to describe the possible relationships among organizational areas, users, ICT specialists and IT systems.
The results of my projects are described focusing on the influence of my activities on Information Technologies and on role of maps.
The degrees of influence/modification of the projects I am following on IT systems could be classified as described in the following. • Low level. The team takes the IT systems into account as reference for the management system but no modifications are produced by the project on them. For instance an E-learning application which records employee’s courses produces documented information on job profiles that is an ISO 9001 requirement. • Medium level. The project suggests/requires the updating of the IT systems. For instance a link between customer complaints and corrective actions management tools could be inserted in an existing CRM systems. • High level. The project supports the development of a new IT system or the updating of an existing one. The IT system could be a specific application, such as a health and safety risk management tool or a system involving many processes and functions, such as an ERP.
But the use of the same methodological approach not necessarily could produce positive socio-technical results.
The described experiences are a synthesis of opposite results.
The experience in Company A was a success due to the possibility of sharing contents, methods and languages in a project team where all the ‘social’ side was composed by Management Systems and IT systems manager and users. This possibility was based on the cooperation with my customer interface and with the IT system suppliers. All the previously described degrees of interaction have been experienced.
Experience in Company B was a failure. Even in this case, the management system project was developed with a social approach. But the goal (I failed) was very challenging: in a short space of time I had to move from observer to participant position in a team where the project leader was a competitor and where the IT system involved several functions (ERP). The social design of a new Information system required a strong commitment and a broad vision of the top management that could also overcome the possible conflicts among practitioners of different areas.
Both the experience has been developed with the same methodological approach. Then: why so many different results?
I propose these points of discussion.
From the Ethnographic point of view maps could play an important role in exploring the context and to improve the communication inside and outside the project team. In some sense, maps are similar to icons: people catch their meaning without verbal descriptions. In the described experiences they played a crucial role even for a Socio-technical approach. If maps are able to cross-reference the different company identities, for instance business models, processes and IT systems, their support towards a social design could be effective.
The Socio-technical Perspective and the Ethnographic approach could be considered as necessary conditions to develop effective Management and IT systems. But the success of the approach is subjected to highly variable constraints.
If, as in case A, the practitioner finds the ‘right’ interface, that means a function that has competence and role to design and/or to update an application, the approach could be successfully applied.
If, as in case B, the constraints are less favorable the method shows some weaknesses that could be related to the lack of a defined and strong identity, easily recognized in the market scenario. This specific identity should include proper maps, acting as an iconic reference. In these cases, the ‘traditional’ approach for the IT analyst is evaluated by the company as more effective and then less expensive. 5
In paper [
In this paper I propose to add mapping as a useful way to understand the organization’s environment, to modify social behavior and to improve communication, suggesting that specific Socio-technical mapping could be a strong reference as well.