Socio-Technology System Essay

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How do organizations manage information overload? One way to manage all the information is with socio-technical systems. Socio-technical systems can be easily defined as a combination of technology and people but it is much more than that. This paper will define socio-technical systems more in-depth and describe why socio-technical systems are more productive in helping organizations manage information overload than either technical solutions or organizational solutions alone. As stated above, socio-technical systems are the interaction between technology and people. It is in fact much more than that. Socio-technical systems are made up of hardware and software, people, physical surroundings, procedures, and laws and regulations. (computercases.org) These five areas that make up socio-technical systems share a close intra-relationship. Now that we know what makes up this system, let’s take a closer look at each one. Hardware and software is what most people think of when they think about technology. Hardware is described as the mainframes, the computers, wires hubs, and routers that are used. Software is the operating system and application programs. Software will vary from organization to organization. Every software program is designed for a specific use. Social rules and organizational procedures make up the design for each company’s hardware and software. Peoples and their roles within the company, along with their physical surroundings are more factors that make up socio-technology. “People translate, transform and communicate within the system and between the system and its environment.” (Radziwill, 2008) The different roles that each individual has will affect the system. Some individuals may have more than one role in the company. The office environment affects the system. Each office set-up will affect the social rules and change the way

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