Editing Sociotechnical system (section)

{{Short description|Organizational work design recognizes interaction between people & technology in workplace}}
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{{Overly detailed|date=November 2020}}
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'''Sociotechnical systems''' ('''STS''') in [[organizational development]] is an approach to complex organizational [[work design]] that recognizes the interaction between [[people]] and [[technology]] in [[wiktionary:Workplace|workplace]]s. The term also refers to coherent systems of human relations, technical objects, and [[Cybernetics|cybernetic]] processes that inhere to large, complex infrastructures. Social society, and its constituent substructures, qualify as complex sociotechnical systems.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stranks |first=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1WhNFgb5nAC&dq=society+itself,+and+most+of+its+substructures,+are+complex+sociotechnical+system&pg=PA100 |title=Human Factors and Behavioural Safety |date=2007-06-07 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-39751-6 |language=en}}</ref>

The term sociotechnical systems was coined by [[Eric Trist]], Ken Bamforth and [[Fred Emery]], in the World War II era, based on their work with workers in English coal mines at the [[Tavistock Institute]] in [[London]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Susan Long|title=Socioanalytic Methods: Discovering the Hidden in Organisations and Social Systems|isbn=978-1780491325|date=January 2013|publisher=Karnac Books Limited }}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}</ref> Sociotechnical systems pertains to theory regarding the social aspects of [[people]] and [[society]] and technical aspects of organizational structure and processes. Here, technical does not necessarily imply material technology. The focus is on procedures and related knowledge, i.e. it refers to the ancient Greek term ''[[techne]]''. "Technical" is a term used to refer to structure and a broader sense of technicalities. Sociotechnical refers to the interrelatedness of ''social'' and ''technical'' aspects of an [[organization]] or the [[society]] as a whole.<ref>For the latter, see the use of ''sociotechnical'' in the works of sociologist [[Niklas Luhmann]] and philosopher [[Günter Ropohl]].</ref>

Sociotechnical theory is about ''joint optimization'', with a shared emphasis on achievement of both excellence in technical performance and quality in people's work lives. Sociotechnical theory, as distinct from sociotechnical systems, proposes a number of different ways of achieving joint optimization. They are usually based on designing different kinds of organization, according to which the functional output of different sociotechnical elements leads to system efficiency, productive sustainability, user satisfaction, and change management.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stranks |first=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1WhNFgb5nAC&dq=society+itself,+and+most+of+its+substructures,+are+complex+sociotechnical+system&pg=PA100 |title=Human Factors and Behavioural Safety |date=2007-06-07 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-39751-6 |pages=100–104 |language=en}}</ref>