Using Work System Theory to Link Managerial and Technical Perspectives on BPM

Work system theory (WST) provides a bridge between managerial and technical perspectives on BPM that often seem distant from each other. In combination, the work system framework, underlying work system metamodel, and the work system life cycle model provide a number of bridges between those perspectives. In relation to managerial BPM, the work system framework treats business process as one of nine elements in a basic understanding of a work system. The others are participants, information, technology, products/services, customers, environment, infrastructure, and strategies. The underlying metamodel outlines a precise structure for analysis and design of work systems and for links to technical aspects of BPM. It provides details that are omitted from the work system framework, which has proven useful for initial high level summaries but is not granular enough to support detailed design and documentation. The work system life cycle model combines planned and unplanned (emergent) change through which work systems evolve. This paper explains where WST fits in the general realm of BPM-related topics and how WST might help in developing BPM further. It also identifies challenges and next steps related to using WST to expand the scope of BPM

Knowledge-Supported Design Thinking about Systems in Organizations: An Application of Work System Theory

This paper explains a type of knowledge-supported design thinking related to systems in organizations. It shows how work system theory (WST) provides the basis for the work system method (WSM), various versions of which have been used by many hundreds of MBA and Executive MBA students. Design thinking occurs throughout WSM and is especially prominent at the point where WST/WSM users apply their analysis and develop recommendations for improving an existing work system or creating a new work system. Knowledge support for that design thinking has been provided through the knowledge built into WSM, and can be provided in a more complete form through extensions of WST/WSM that include a series of design spaces based on knowledge about work systems and also a work system metamodel that expands on ideas in the core of WST. In contrast to systems analysis and design methods for IT professionals, this approach to design thinking for systems in organizations is equally applicable regardless of whether IT plays an important role

Using a Work System Perspective to Expand BPM Use Cases for Research

Business Process Management (BPM) has developed as a research field centered within the computer and information systems sciences – but also touching other fields as well. Recently, van der Aalst (2013) analyzed the results of some of these research efforts and identified a set of research topics in the form of a series of BPM use cases that primarily emphasize technological and computational challenges and solutions in BPM academia. Ideally, however, BPM should also address managerial and organizational challenges that are not fully reflected in the existing use cases identified by van der Aalst (2013). We propose drawing on work system theory (WST) to expand van der Aalst’s use cases and to identify additional BPM use cases and new research directions. After comparing a WST perspective on basic BPM topics with the BPM perspective expressed in van der Aalst (2013), we present new research topics that extend existing BPM use cases. We also present new research directions that go beyond those use cases. Taken together, the extensions of the existing use cases and the new use cases lead to a more balanced BPM research agenda that blends technical and managerial challenges more fully

The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Self-Management of Chronic Diseases: An Empirical Investigation through Value Sensitive Design

This paper primarily investigates sensitivity towards patients’ values in the designs of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) that are capable of empowering them. We focus on the role of ICTs in self-management (SM) of diabetes, a chronic disease. Chronic diseases, declared an invisible epidemic by the World Health Organization, cause and perpetuate poverty and impede the economic development of many countries. As a means of informing the design of ICTs that facilitate self-management, we draw on value sensitive design (VSD) to conduct an in-depth interpretive field study to reveal the values that are important to diabetic patients. Specifically, we reveal twelve values shared by these patients: accessibility, accountability, autonomy, compliance, dignity, empathy, feedback, hope, joy, privacy, sense-making, and trust. A conceptual model emerged from analyzing interviews with diabetic patients; this model explains how these values, which are integrated into ICT features, afford or constrain patients’ abilities to self-manage their activities. This study makes multiple theoretical contributions: By granting ICT artifacts a clear theoretical status, it advances the field of SM that has nominally covered ICTs; it extends design research by extending the VSD literature and by introducing a valuecentric design perspective to examine a complex sociotechnical system; and it broadens work system theory by applying it in the healthcare space. The study’s findings have implications for design science researchers, healthcare providers, and policymakers

Work System Theory as a Platform: Response to a Research Perspective Article by Niederman and March

In this paper, I respond to “Moving the Work System Theory Forward” (Niederman & March, 2014), a JAIS research perspective paper about another paper on work system theory (Alter, 2013e). The research perspective paper recognizes value in the work system approach, suggests that WST is not a proper theory, and suggests areas for related theory development. After summarizing the main ideas in WST, I explain disagreements between Niederman and March (2014) and Alter (2013e)— (hereafter called N&M and the WST paper) about what WST is and what WST should become. I note that N&M interprets basic ideas in WST differently than the WST paper defines them. I note that N&M’s critique of WST is anchored in issues about the nature of theory, especially a preference for Gregor’s type 4 theory. I explain that WST is a special case of general system theory and, as such, should not and cannot take the form of a theory that expresses relationships between independent variables, moderating variables, and dependent variables. I also explain why the WST paper called WST a theory when it might have been called something else, and also why the WST paper does not treat the development of the work system method (WSM) as a design science research project. Lastly, I respond directly to N&M’s title, “Moving the Work System Theory Forward” by explaining that WST is becoming a platform for applications and extensions in IS and other disciplines, which I illustrate with examples under five categories