Social Systems Design in Organizational Change

Abstract

The pressing need for the continuous redesign of organizational operating models increases the demand for new approaches to conducting design. To manage this, a new approach must created that embeds the capability to redesign the organization at all levels, not just the in the offices of executives or process experts. Social Systems Design provides important underpinnings for how to architect such collaborations. Inherent to this approach is the realization that designing complex social systems is not just a construction or specification process, but rather a human knowledge development process. This paper outlines a design approach based on social systems design for constructing participatory design on a large scale. The approach shows how interweaving knowledge development, knowledge capture, and the appropriate levels of design can facilitate an evolutionary methodology. A brief case study of how the approach was applied in a major high tech corporation is give to illustrate the approach.