Work Systems - Work System Method

Work System Method

The work system method (Alter, 2002; 2006) is a method that business professionals (and/or IT professionals) can use for understanding and analyzing a work system at whatever level of depth is appropriate for their particular concerns. It has evolved iteratively starting in around 1997. At each stage, the then current version was tested by evaluating the areas of success and the difficulties experienced by MBA and EMBA students trying to use it for a practical purpose. A version called “work-centered analysis” that was presented in a textbook has been used by a number of universities as part of the basic explanation of systems in organizations, to help students focus on business issues, and to help student teams communicate. Ramiller (2002) reports on using a version of the work system framework within a method for “animating” the idea of business process within an undergraduate class. In a research setting, Petrie (2004) used the work system framework as a basic analytical tool in a Ph.D. thesis examining 13 ecommerce web sites. Petkov and Petkova (2006) demonstrated the usefulness of the work system framework by comparing grades of students who did and did not learn about the framework before trying to interpret the same ERP case study.

Results from analyses of real world systems by typical employed MBA and EMBA students indicate that a systems analysis method for business professionals must be much more prescriptive than soft systems methodology (Checkland, 1999). While not a straitjacket, it must be at least somewhat procedural and must provide vocabulary and analysis concepts while at the same time encouraging the user to perform the analysis at whatever level of detail is appropriate for the task at hand. The latest version of the work system method is organized around a general problem-solving outline that includes:

• Identify the problem or opportunity
• Identify the work system that has that problem or opportunity (plus relevant constraints and other considerations)
• Use the work system framework to summarize the work system
• Gather relevant data.
• Analyze using design characteristics, measures of performance, and work system principles.
• Identify possibilities for improvement.
• Decide what to recommend
• Justify the recommendation using relevant metrics and work system principles.

In contrast to systems analysis and design methods for IT professionals who need to produce a rigorous, totally consistent definition of a computerized system, the work system method:

• encourages the user to decide how deep to go
• makes explicit use of the work system framework and work system life cycle model
• makes explicit use of work system principles.
• makes explicit use of characteristics and metrics for the work system and its elements.
• includes work system participants as part of the system (not just users of the software)
• includes codified and non-codified information
• includes IT and non-IT technologies.
• suggests that recommendations specify which work system improvements rely on IS changes, which recommended work system changes don’t rely on IS changes, and which recommended IS changes won’t affect the work system’s operational form.