Socio Technical Systems of a Company: The Dimensionality of Socio Technical Systems

Abstract

Socio technical systems (STS) are to be designed as agile work systems that respond to environmental challenges and at the same time institutionalize organizational core functions that enable to create and sustain value in an organization. STS should spread its wings to institutionalize these functions/dimensions and provide cohesiveness among them to become adaptable to the demands of organization and environment simultaneously. The four dimensions of STS uncovered based on 'Human Goals Based Theory of the Firm (HGBTF)' are knowledge management, competitiveness, corporate entrepreneurship and HRM Practices. The exploratory research suggests that companies should develop and deploy STS to institutionalize these four dimensions for continuous learning, enhanced value proposition, consistent innovation, and employee development. Hence, all the successful companies consider STS as an organizational goal for holistic development, sustainability, and transformational change of organization. This article is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled 'Socio Technical Systems of a Company: The Dimensionality of Socio Technical Systems', presentedatFifteenth Global Conference on Flexible Systems Management, Symbiosis Institute of Technology (SIT), Pune, India, Oct 23-25, 2015