Usability of complex systems in the organisational context

This paper describes research into contextual factors that appear to influence the successful implementation of a complex system in an organisation. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse data on the introduction, into a large educational institution, of a timetabling system that was already well established in another similar organisations. The results of the study show that the usability of a system which supports complex tasks can be critically determined by the organisational context but this can be overlooked with detrimental consequences

The Challenges of Introducing Off the Shelf Systems into Complex Work Organizations

This paper describes research into problems commonly experienced when implementing an off-theshelf information system into the complex work-practices of an organisation. Encountering such an occurrence, the authors employed a grounded theory approach to study the case though the collection, analysis and interpretation of a variety of data. The case concerned the troubled introduction, into a large educational institution, of a complex class timetabling system that was already well established in another similar organisations. Unanticipated problems encountered by various stakeholders in the system during and following the implementation of the system are documented and classified into three categories: knowledge issues, system issues, and organisational issues. Aspects of these categories are analysed for this particular case and then generalised to provide lessons for those in any similar situation

Implementing systems in complex work organisations

This paper describes research on a case of the introduction, into a large educational institution, of a complex timetabling system that was already well established in other similar organisations. The research has used a grounded theory approach to reveal details within complex phenomena in an organisation when a substantial new system was implemented. The study revealed three critical issues: Knowledge Transfer, System Capability, and Organisational Context that appeared to be related to the problems of implementing the new information system in the organisation. This research adds to the understanding of a common situation where management have an over simplified view of organisational work and assume that implementing a new computer based system can quite easily improve the performance of the organisation

The sensitivity of adaptive systems to users\u27 context

The belief that computer systems should be more sensitive to users, and their context, and hence reduce the many frustrations of using these systems, is a matter of concern. The Lumiere Project, which was established at Microsoft research to address this concern, provides the background to the current research. The Lumiere Project developed User Models based on Bayesian Reasoning. The researchers of the Lumiere Project claimed that Bayesian User Models are able to infer users\u27 needs and goals by capturing users\u27 activities and users\u27 queries. A system based on these models, therefore, should provide automated services at the right time when users are frustrated and need assistance from the system. Furthermore, users should be able to use common words in their queries to ask for help from the system. The current research is an exploratory study that aims to explore the effectiveness of computer systems that are sensitive to users\u27 context. This research uses an interpretive qualitative approach to analyse data collected using laboratory experiments. These involved Usability Testing, questionnaires, and interviews. The system, chosen to be tested, is the Help incorporated in the popular Microsoft Office 2000 products. This Help System implements the User Model developed in the Lumiere Project. The results indicate that adaptive systems have limited ability to support users\u27 goals and needs. Users will frequently ignore assistance offered by the system and can rarely find useful assistance when they seek it. Furthermore, users have difficulty using common words in help queries because the system misunderstands the words being used in the query. The research also found that some characteristics of users appear to have an influence on the effectiveness of adaptive systems. Expert users, in particular, prefer to explore menus and toolbars on their own rather than ask for assistance from the system

Complexity in systems and organisations: problems of new systems\u27 implementation

When an organisation is looking for a computer-based system to support part of their operation it is not uncommon for them to consider purchasing an application software that is already in use in an organisation similar to itself. Those responsible for the system\u27s acquisition are considerably influenced by any advice they receive on experiences with the proposed new system from those who have successfully used the application. Such communication between organisations may only occur at management level so that actual end-users are rarely involved. Issues of system usability are therefore assumed to be unproblematic, as the system has been used in a comparable real world situation. Even less of a consideration is whether the context of use in the receiving organisation is similar to those where the system is currently being used so that systems implementation can take place with ease. The study presented in this thesis confirms the importance of critical contextual factors that affect the capability of people in an organisation and the performance of the whole organisation when a complex new system is implemented. It also demonstrates the relationships between contextual factors and the importance of these factors. The research has used a grounded theory approach to reveal details within complex phenomena in an organisation when a substantial new system was implemented. This approach has been shown to be eminently suitable for the study which involved a new timetabling system in an educational institution. Furthermore, Activity Theory was seen as an appropriate framework to display and interpret large amounts of inter-related data in a holistic and comprehendible way. The study revealed three critical issues: Knowledge Transfer, System Capability, and Organisational Context that appeared to be related to the problems of implementing the new information system in the organisation. These three issues are the main categories emerging from the data analysis leading into the effect of \u27influencing capability and thereby organisational performance\u27 which was designated as the core category. From a holistic view, the Activity Theory interpretation revealed that the dominant activities of the organisation in the case, teaching and learning were distorted by the new system as people in the organisation put more effort on getting the system to work rather than doing their own job. This research adds to the understanding of a common situation where management have an over simplified view of organisational work and assume that implementing a new computer based system can quite easily improve the performance of the organisation. However the nature and the processes of most work are more complicated than they realise so that it is rarely simple to implement a system to support a job that is inherently complex. Traditional organisations, which rely on a \u27command and control\u27 approach to management, do not handle complexity well thereby restricting the ability of staff to use their knowledge of the real conditions to adapt their work to suit changing organisational systems

An activity theory analysis of a case of IT-driven organisational change

The paper describes unexpected problems encountered in the automation of a scheduling process using an IT application already in use in other similar organisations. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and categorise data on the case. Activity Theory was then used to analyse the attempt by management to implement organisational change through the introduction of the system. The findings suggest that it is inadvisable to impose organisational change through the introduction of a complex IT system, particularly when this disrupts entrenched decision-making processes of the organisation

The challenges of introducing off-the-shelf systems into complex work organisations

This paper describes research into problems commonly experienced when implementing an off-the-shelf information system into the complex work-practices of an organisation. Encountering such an occurrence, the authors employed a grounded theory approach to study the case though the collection, analysis and interpretation of a variety of data. The case concerned the troubled introduction, into a large educational institution, of a complex class timetabling system that was already well established in another similar organisations. Unanticipated problems encountered by various stakeholders in the system during and following the implementation of the system are documented and classified into three categories: knowledge issues, system issues, and organisational issues. Aspects of these categories are analysed for this particular case and then generalised to provide lessons for those in any similar situation