Methodology for the Description of Socio-Technical Systems: A Case Study Approach

The ethical implications and regulatory requirements of AI applications and decision support systems are generally the subjects of interdisciplinary research. Case studies are a suitable means to prepare AI applications and clinical decision support systems for research. This paper proposes an approach that describes a procedure model and a categorization of the contents of cases for socio-technical systems. The developed methodology was applied to three cases and serve the researchers in the DESIREE research project as a basis for qualitative research and for ethical, social, and regulatory analyses.

Industrial Smart Working: a socio-technical model for enabling successful implementation

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have been pushed to re-think their traditional working models to comply with the need for social distancing. In this context, Smart Working practices have been proposed to re-arrange the workforce activities ensuring the minimization of risks as well as business continuity. Despite traditionally most of the smart working practices have been applied to white collars job profiles, the COVID-19 pandemic opened the way to the introduction of Smart Working practices also in the factory environments, introducing the concept of Industrial Smart Working (ISW). This paper aims at contributing to the development of the concept of ISW proposing a socio-technical model discussing the main enabling factors that can support the successful industrial implementation of time and space flexible working models.

Identifying Constraints on Everyday Clinical Practice: Applying Work Domain Analysis to Emergency Department Care

BACKGROUND

Emergency departments (EDs) are complex socio-technical work systems that require staff to manage patients in an environment of fluctuating resources and demands. To better understand the purpose, and pressures and constraints for designing new ED facilities, we developed an abstraction hierarchy model as part of a work domain analysis (WDA) from the cognitive work analysis (CWA) framework. The abstraction hierarchy provides a model of the structure of the ED, encompassing the core objects, processes, and functions relating to key values and the ED's overall purpose.

METHODS

Reviews of relevant national and state policy, guidelines, and protocol documents applicable to care delivery in the ED were used to construct a WDA. The model was validated through focus groups with ED clinicians and subsequently validated using a series of WDA prompts.

RESULTS

The model shows that the ED system exhibits extremely interconnected and complex features. Heavily connected functions introduce vulnerability into the system with function performance determined by resource availability and prioritization, leading to a trade-off between time and safety priorities.

CONCLUSIONS

While system processes (e.g., triage, fast-track) support care delivery in ED, this delivery manifests in complex ways due to the personal and disease characteristics of patients and the dynamic state of the ED system. The model identifies system constraints that create tension in care delivery processes (e.g., electronic data entry, computer availability) potentially compromising patient safety.

APPLICATION

The model identified aspects of the ED system that could be leveraged to improve ED performance through innovative ED system design.

Improving Construction Industrialization Practices from a Socio-Technical System Perspective: A Hong Kong Case

Construction Industrialization (CI) tends to improve industrial performance and contributes substantially towards global sustainability. Considering these merits, many countries and regions, including Hong Kong, have released policies to promote CI uptake. However, those policy interventions ignore the dynamic influence of stakeholders and technologies, which significantly influence the efficient management of CI. In response, this study aimed to objectively depict a real socio-technical system of CI uptake based on a representative case study in Hong Kong. Further, this study identified the critical issues associated with the CI uptake and proposed policy-related recommendations to overcome the key issues. In addition, this study proposed a novel approach based on two-mode social network analysis to facilitate the analysis from a socio-technical perspective. Theoretically, this depicts the interactions of construction industry stakeholders and artifacts within a dynamic, complex socio-technical environment, indicating a new stance for construction management. Finally, this research also provides valuable implications for the government to anticipate the impact of different CI policies on promoting its uptake within the complex socio-technical system.

The Moderating Role of Pro-Innovative Leadership and Gender as an Enabler for Future Drone Transports in Healthcare Systems

Drones have been suggested as an emerging technology that has the potential to disrupt and improve healthcare. The attitude among healthcare workers towards the use of drones is important for its successful implementation. Our aim was to examine individual and institutional variables among employees that may be relevant for the successful implementation of drones. This study used a self-administered questionnaire to investigate the expectations and beliefs among 400 employees at three Norwegian healthcare organizations regarding the future role of drones in the provision of healthcare. The results showed that the use of drones in healthcare is positively perceived across professional groups, age, and location. Working in an innovative environment, having experienced previous technological change in one's working environment, and having leadership that supports new ideas were identified as drivers of individual beliefs regarding the use of drones as an innovative solution in future healthcare services. Men had significantly higher scores than women, and this was associated with reporting innovative leadership. This may indicate that a future implementation of drone usage should focus on local system environments and may depend on the presence of innovative leadership. Our results are harvested from a developed health care system and should be applicable for similar technologically advanced systems where the full potential of drone solutions may benefit from the integration of drones into the overall socio-technical system.

Improving the Robustness of Online Social Networks: A Simulation Approach of Network Interventions

Online social networks (OSN) are prime examples of socio-technical systems in which individuals interact via a technical platform. OSN are very volatile because users enter and exit and frequently change their interactions. This makes the robustness of such systems difficult to measure and to control. To quantify robustness, we propose a coreness value obtained from the directed interaction network. We study the emergence of large drop-out cascades of users leaving the OSN by means of an agent-based model. For agents, we define a utility function that depends on their relative reputation and their costs for interactions. The decision of agents to leave the OSN depends on this utility. Our aim is to prevent drop-out cascades by influencing specific agents with low utility. We identify strategies to control agents in the core and the periphery of the OSN such that drop-out cascades are significantly reduced, and the robustness of the OSN is increased.

System-wide lean implementation in health care: A multiple case study

Background Lean practices have been widely used by health care organizations to meet efficiency, performance and quality improvement needs. The lean health care literature shows that the effective implementation of lean requires a holistic system-wide approach. However, there is still limited evidence on what drives effective system-wide lean implementation in health care. The existing literature suggests that a deeper understanding of how lean interventions interact with the organizational context is necessary to identify the critical variables to successfully sustain system-wide lean strategies. Purpose and methodology: A multiple case study of three Italian hospitals is conducted with the aim to explore the organizational conditions that are relevant for an effective system-wide lean implementation. A conceptual framework, built on socio-technical system schemas, is used to guide data collection and analysis.

FINDINGS

The analysis points out the importance to support lean implementation with an integrated and coordinated strategy involving the social, technical, and external components of the overall hospital system.