Editing Sociotechnical system (section)

===Adaptability===
Carvajal states that "the rate at which uncertainty overwhelms an organisation is related more to its internal structure than to the amount of environmental uncertainty".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carvajal |first1=Raul |title=Systemic-Netfields: The Systems' Paradigm Crisis. Part I |journal=Human Relations |date=22 April 2016 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=227–245 |doi=10.1177/001872678303600302 |s2cid=145457622 }}</ref> Sitter in 1997 offered two solutions for organisations confronted, like the military, with an environment of increased (and increasing) complexity:
"The first option is to restore the fit with the external complexity by an increasing internal complexity. ...This usually means the creation of more staff functions or the enlargement of staff-functions and/or the investment in vertical information systems".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Sitter |first1=L. Ulbo |last2=den Hertog |first2=J. Friso |last3=Dankbaarl |first3=Ben |title=From Complex Organizations with Simple Jobs to Simple Organizations with Complex Jobs |journal=Human Relations |date=May 1997 |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=497–534 |doi=10.1177/001872679705000503 |hdl=2066/25883 |s2cid=220642374 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Vertical information systems are often confused for "network enabled capability" systems (NEC) but an important distinction needs to be made, which Sitter et al. propose as their second option:
"...the organisation tries to deal with the external complexity by 'reducing' the internal control and coordination needs. ...This option might be called the strategy of 'simple organisations and complex jobs'". This all contributes to a number of unique advantages.
Firstly is the issue of "human redundancy"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=David M. |title=Human redundancy in complex, hazardous systems: A theoretical framework |journal=Safety Science |date=November 2005 |volume=43 |issue=9 |pages=655–677 |doi=10.1016/j.ssci.2005.05.003 }}</ref> in which "groups of this kind were free to set their own targets, so that aspiration levels with respect to production could be adjusted to the age and stamina of the individuals concerned".<ref name="Trist & Bamforth 1951"/> Human redundancy speaks towards the flexibility, ubiquity and pervasiveness of resources within NEC.

The second issue is that of [[complexity]]. Complexity lies at the heart of many organisational contexts (there are numerous organizational paradigms that struggle to cope with it).  Trist and Bamforth (1951) could have been writing about these with the following passage: "A very large variety of unfavourable and changing environmental conditions is encountered ... many of which are impossible to predict.  Others, though predictable, are impossible to alter."<ref name="Trist & Bamforth 1951"/>

Many type of organisations are clearly motivated by the appealing "industrial age", rational principles of "factory production", a particular approach to dealing with complexity: "In the factory a comparatively high degree of control can be exercised over the complex and moving "figure" of a production sequence, since it is possible to maintain the "ground" in a comparatively passive and constant state".<ref name="Trist & Bamforth 1951"/> On the other hand, many activities are constantly faced with the possibility of "untoward activity in the 'ground'" of the 'figure-ground' relationship"<ref name="Trist & Bamforth 1951"/> The central problem, one that appears to be at the nub of many problems that "classic" organisations have with complexity, is that "The instability of the 'ground' limits the applicability ... of methods derived from the factory".<ref name="Trist & Bamforth 1951"/>

In Classic organisations, problems with the moving "figure" and moving "ground" often become magnified through a much larger social space, one in which there is a far greater extent of hierarchical task interdependence.<ref name="Trist & Bamforth 1951"/>  For this reason, the semi-autonomous group, and its ability to make a much more fine grained response to the "ground" situation, can be regarded as "agile".  Added to which, local problems that do arise need not propagate throughout the entire system (to affect the workload and quality of work of many others) because a complex organization doing simple tasks has been replaced by a simpler organization doing more complex tasks.  The agility and internal regulation of the group allows problems to be solved locally without propagation through a larger social space, thus increasing tempo.