Sociotechnical Plan and Common Disruptors


               Whether we like it or not, change is inevitable. Change can be good; change can be bad. From a technological perspective, new emerging technologies have the potential to reshape our future. The Industrial Revolution, for example, brought about large-scale industrial technologies that had a substantial impact on the people of the time. Changes are not limited to a technological perspective; change can be in the form of cultural, economical, social, etc. Unfortunately, many organizations over the years have been completely upended by circumstances beyond their control.

                Borders is a relatively recent example of a company that had a good plan, but eventually closed their doors due to circumstances beyond their control. The once beloved bookstore can trace its roots back to 1971 when two brothers, Thomas, and Louis Borders, opened their first bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Hooper & Rawls, 2014, p. 1). The company enjoyed over three decades of success. Their success was largely due to an innovative inventory management system that monitored sales trends and would replenish titles as they were sold (Hooper & Rawls, 2014, p. 1). Additionally, Borders had the advantage of large superstores that allowed them to stock more titles than their competitors.

                Things went awry when e-books and e-book readers entered the market. This technological force completely transformed the book industry. The large superstores of the past were now irrelevant as readers could snag their next title in a digital format from places like Amazon. After enjoying roughly three decades of success, Borders was reduced to nothing as they struggled to keep pace with this new technological disruptor. Ultimately, they were forced to close their doors forever.

The word “socio-technical” is the combination of two words: social and technical. Socio-technical theory presents the idea that the design and performance of any organizational system can only be understood and improved if both social and technical aspects are combined and treated as interdependent parts of a complex system (University of Leeds, n.d.). A socio-technical system is the resultant of applying the socio-technical theory; it is a complex organizational design that treats both the social and technical aspects of the design as interdependent parts of the puzzle. These complex systems or designs are prevalent in modern society. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a good example of a socio-technical system.

Although I have not started on the Unit 8 – Individual Project, I wish to use the extended reality innovation that I discussed in the Unit 1 – Discussion Board 2 assignment. Specifically, I discussed technological advances in increased haptics and eventually extending this technology to include smell, taste, and other sensations. Three forces that may have a direct impact on these innovation ideas are as follows:

1.       Limited technology – Extended reality requires serious computational power to provide a level of realism to the end user. These innovations would likely require a mainstream quantum computing solution that is widely available to consumers. The technology is not there yet.

2.       Ethical considerations – Keeping in line with a socio-technical system, the “socio” piece to this puzzle can inject some ethical considerations. There have been reported cases of harassment, to include sexual, on VR platforms. How should interactions in the metaverse be treated?

3.       Legal – Echoing the words above, how should crime be handled? Should a reported sexual abuser be held to the same standard as a traditional sexual abuser? Similar events like this will pose a significant legal and ethical force that may negatively impact the sociotechnical plan.

References

Hooper, W., & Rawls, M. (2014). Borders Group, Inc.’s final chapter: How a bookstore giant failed in the digital age. https://ir.law.utk.edu/utk_studlawbankruptcy/38/

University of Leeds. (n.d.). Socio-technical systems theory. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-stc/doc/socio-technical-systems-theory

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