Transcript IMS 5024 - Monash University

IMS5024 Information Systems Modelling
Human Activity modelling
Information Technology
Content
• Soft Systems Methodology
School of Information Management & Systems
9.2
Why consider human behaviour?
• Started with participation
• History of participation - refer back to
Hirschheim et al.
• Early ISD payed lip service to participation
• System technically viable – but fails
because?
School of Information Management & Systems
9.3
History of ISD methodologies
Generation
Principle management and
organisational issues
Formal life-cycle
approaches
Control of SDLC; guidance through
standardization
Structured
approaches
Productivity, better maintainable
systems, control over
analyst/programmer
Prototyping and
evolutionary
approaches
Speed and Flexibility, overcome
communication gap, right kind of
system instead of getting system right
School of Information Management & Systems
9.4
History of ISD methodologies(2)
Generation
Principle management and
organisational issues
Socio-technical,
participatory
approaches
Control of ISD by users through
participation; conflict management;
joint optimisation
Sense-making and
problem formulation
approaches
Multiple perspectives in problem
framing; software development as
social reality construction
School of Information Management & Systems
9.5
History of ISD methodologies(3)
Generation
Principle management and
organisational issues
Trade-Union led
approaches
Labour/ management conflict; workers
rights; industrial democracy
Emancipator
approaches
Improve communication; furthering
emancipatory effects of ISD
School of Information Management & Systems
9.6
Answers to these problems:
•
•
•
•
•
More than interviews
HCI
End user computing
JAD and JRP
Prototyping
School of Information Management & Systems
9.7
Three levels of participation:
• Consultative – lowest level
• Representative – design group, equal
say
• Consensus- involve all user
department staff, user driven
School of Information Management & Systems
9.8
Human Activity modelling view of ISD:
Human-oriented
Conventional
after Fig 7.1 Avison & Fitzgerald
School of Information Management & Systems
9.9
Soft Systems Methodology
• (always abbreviated to SSM)
• came from the failure of systems
engineering to solve management problems
• applies systems thinking to messy
problems
• not a development methodology
School of Information Management & Systems
9.10
rationale for SSM
• humans attribute meaning to what they
experience and observe
• we form intentions and take action
based on the meanings we derive
• new experiences can change the
meaning we attribute
• this is called learning
School of Information Management & Systems
9.11
application of SSM
• people take purposeful action
• using Information Systems as tools
• if analysts understand their intentions
we can build better tools
• SSM brings rigour to the process of
understanding
School of Information Management & Systems
9.12
the basic shape
of SSM
Checkland and Scholes (1990) p29
the process of doing SSM
• a situation is interpreted by some as
being a problem which they want to fix
• the situation is a product of history
• it has a cultural dimension and a logicbased dimension
• the one informs the other so that agreed
action is both culturally feasible and
systemically desirable
School of Information Management & Systems
9.14
activities in an SSM study
•
•
•
•
•
•
identify and engage the problem situation
express the problem situation
define “systems” which might be relevant
model the relevant systems
compare them with the real world and discuss
identify changes agreed to be feasible and
desirable
• take action to change the situation
School of Information Management & Systems
9.15
the cultural enquiry
• understand the situation
• record your understanding
diagrammatically
• analyse the intervention
• identify the roles being played
• place the roles in their social context
• try to identify the political dimension in
the problem situation
School of Information Management & Systems
9.16
understanding the situation
• Rich Picture Diagram
•
•
•
•
•
•
interested parties
alliances
feuds
values
constraints
perceptions
• documents the people-related issues
School of Information Management & Systems
9.17
Rich Picture Diagrams
• you don’t have to be an artist!
• it would take too many words to express
• shows complexity better than linear
prose
• for the use of the analyst alone; not a
communication tool
• refer: Lewis, Avison & Wood-Harper,
Avison & Fitzgerald
School of Information Management & Systems
9.18
Rich Picture
Diagram
Checkland and Scholes (1990) p47
RPD examples
• Checkland and Scholes (1990) figures
2.13, 2.14 pp46-47
• Avison and Fitzgerald (1995) figure 4.2
p112
• Lewis P.J in EJIS 1,5 pp351-360
School of Information Management & Systems
9.20
Analysis One
•
•
•
•
analysis of the intervention itself
who is the client?
who is the would-be problem solver?
who is the problem owner?
School of Information Management & Systems
9.21
Analysis Two
•
•
•
•
roles
norms
values
the interaction of these three determines
the social fabric of the situation
School of Information Management & Systems
9.22
Analysis Two
Checkland and Scholes (1990) p49
Analysis Three
•
•
•
•
•
•
who has power in the situation?
how is it manifest?
who can you believe?
you can’t ask straight questions
what do you do when they wont tell you?
can the politics ruin the whole exercise?
School of Information Management & Systems
9.24
Content
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rich pictures
Root definitions
Conceptual models
SSM
Others (Multiview, Ethics)
Place in ISD
Evaluation of Human Activity modelling
School of Information Management & Systems
9.25
Reading for next week
Checkland and Scholes. 1999. Chapter 2,
pp 44-58
Lewis, P. 1992. European Journal of
Information Systems 1, 5, pp351-360
Davies, L. 1988. Journal of Applied
Systems Analysis 15, 1, pp31-36
School of Information Management & Systems
9.26
human activity systems
•
•
•
•
like natural systems and designed systems,
they are useful descriptors
different from the actions which people
undertake in life
a conceptual rather than a descriptive
model
but, a conceptual model from somebody’s
point of view
School of Information Management & Systems
9.27
Relevant Systems
a system to…
….perfectly perform some function
• each person involved will have a point of
view on what is the perfect performance
School of Information Management & Systems
9.28
selecting relevant systems
• no system is inherently relevant to a
given problem situation
• Primary Task system
• Issue-based systems
• metaphors can help conceptualise
systems
School of Information Management & Systems
9.29
Relevant system
• a system (in the philosophical sense) that
is helpful for understanding a real-world
situation
• scope / boundary
• defined purpose
• input - transformation - output
• consistent / dependable
• it is a human activity system
School of Information Management & Systems
9.30
naming relevant systems
• a Root Definition (the name) expresses the
essence of a particular relevant system
• It is a transformation from input to output
• “A system to do X by means of Y in order to
achieve Z”
• best done by considering the elements of
the CATWOE mnemonic
School of Information Management & Systems
9.31
CATWOE mnemonic
C ustomers
A ctors
T ransformation
W eltanschauung
O wners
E nvironment
The Core issues
School of Information Management & Systems
9.32
Relevant system / Root Definition
• There may be many for any one real
world situation
• One primary task Root Definition
• Many issue-based task Root Definitions
School of Information Management & Systems
9.33
conceptual models
•
•
•
•
•
the minimum set of activities necessary
to undertake the transformation
based on logical contingency
may be hierarchically decomposed
represented as process bubbles linked
by contingency arrows
includes monitoring and control
School of Information Management & Systems
9.34
conceptual model structure
Do this
activity first
1
Then you
can do this
activity
3
Must do this
before the last
activity
2
Only do
this after
the other
activities
4
Take control
action
Monitor
1-4
Define
performance
criteria
School of Information Management & Systems
9.35
what use is the model?
• it is an ideal type relevant to the problem
• it is neither valid nor invalid, only
defensible or indefensible in terms of the
problem
• Used to start a discussion about the
model and its relevance to the problem
• Does this model suggest some action for
improvement of the problem situation?
School of Information Management & Systems
9.36
achieving results
•
•
•
•
•
•
several methods of testing the models
search for agreement not compromise
the whole problem wont be “solved”
make the agreed changes
reflect on their outcome
do the whole process over again until
agreement to finish
School of Information Management & Systems
9.37
comparison matrix
from Checkland & Scholes (1990) p43
Advantages/ Benefits of Human Activity
modelling
• Include different perspectives on a
problem situation
• Compare reality with the conceptual
model
• Participation of affected people essential
• Change is a central element of the
process
• Others??
School of Information Management & Systems
9.39
Disadvantages of Human Activity modelling
•
•
•
•
•
Only useable in soft problems
Can take a long time to reach consensus
Some managers see this as silly
Not well used
Others??
School of Information Management & Systems
9.40
References
Checkland and Scholes (1990) Soft
Systems Methodology in Action. John
Wiley & Sons
Avison and Fitzgerald (2003) Information
Systems Development. 3rd edn. McGrawHill
Stowell (1995) Information Systems
Provision. McGraw-Hill.
School of Information Management & Systems
9.41