Functional Decomposition of a Socio-Technical System: What is Missing?

The paper discusses the needs of new expressive means for modeling a socio-technical system as consisting of functional components that are connected to each-other through the output-input relationships. The discussion is based on an example of depicting so-called feedback connections between the functional components of a system. The need to introduce a feedback connection arises when two connected components are heavily dependent on the intellectual activity of people who man the components. In such a situation, there is a risk that the output from one component could be misinterpreted by the component which takes it as an input. Using a simplified example of a software development project, the paper introduces the notion of a feedback connection and discusses the ways it could be realized in a socio-technical system.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2015
• Where: CAISE
• Authors: Ilia Bider
• Keywords: CAISE 2015, Information Technology