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Work system has been used loosely in many areas. This article concerns its use in understanding IT-reliant systems in organizations. A notable use of the term occurred in 1977 in the first volume of MIS Quarterly in two articles by Bostrom and Heinen (1977). Later Sumner and Ryan (1994) used it to explain problems in the adoption of CASE (computer-aided software engineering). A number of socio-technical systems researchers such as Trist and Mumford also used the term occasionally, but seemed not to define it in detail. In contrast, the work system approach defines work system carefully and uses it as a basic analytical concept. A work system is a system in which human participants and/or machines perform work (processes and activities) using information, technology, and other resources to produce products/services for internal or external customers. Typical business organizations contain work systems that procure materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver products to customers, find customers, create financial reports, hire employees, coordinate work across departments, and perform many other functions. The work system concept is like a common denominator for many of the types of systems that operate within or across organizations. Operational information systems, service systems, projects, supply chains, and ecommerce web sites can all be viewed as special cases of work systems. * An information system is a work system whose processes and activities are devoted to processing information. * A service system is a work system that produces services for its customers. * A project is a work system designed to produce a product and then go out of existence. * A supply chain is an interorganizational work system devoted to procuring materials and other inputs required to produce a firm’s products. * An ecommerce web site can be viewed as a work system in which a buyer uses a seller’s web site to obtain product information and perform purchase transactions. The relationship between work systems in general and the special cases implies that the same basic concepts apply to all of the special cases, which also have their own specialized vocabulary. In turn, this implies that much of the body of knowledge for the current information systems discipline can be organized around a work system core. Specific information systems exist to support (other) work systems. Many different degrees of overlap are possible between an information system and a work system that it supports. For example, an information system might provide information for a non-overlapping work system, as happens when a commercial marketing survey provides information to a firm’s marketing managers In other cases, an information system may be an integral part of a work system, as happens in highly automated manufacturing and in ecommerce web sites. In these situations, participants in the work system are also participants in the information system, the work system cannot operate properly without the information system, and the information system has little significance outside of the work system. == Work system framework == The work system approach for understanding systems includes both a static view of a current (or proposed) system in operation and a dynamic view of how a system evolves over time through planned change and unplanned adaptations. The static view is summarized by the work system framework, which identifies the basic elements for understanding and evaluating a work system. An easily recognized triangular representation of the work system framework has appeared in Alter (2002, 2003, 2008, 2013) and elsewhere. The work system itself consists of four elements: the processes and activities, participants, information, and technologies. Five other elements must be included in even a rudimentary understanding of a work system’s operation, context, and significance. Those elements are the products/services produced, customers, environment, infrastructure, and strategies. Customers may also be participants in a work system, as happens when a doctor examines a patient. This framework is prescriptive enough to be useful in describing the system being studied, identifying problems and opportunities, describing possible changes, and tracing how those changes might affect other parts of the work system. The definitions of the 9 elements of the work system framework are as follows: Processes and activities include everything that happens within the work system. The term processes and activities is used instead of the term business process because many work systems do not contain highly structured business processes involving a prescribed sequence of steps, each of which is triggered in a pre-defined manner. Such processes are sometimes described as “artful processes” whose sequence and content “depend on the skills, experience, and judgment of the primary actors.” (Hill et al., 2006) In effect, business process is but one of a number of different perspectives for analyzing the activities within a work system. Other perspectives with their own valuable concepts and terminology include decision-making, communication, coordination, control, and information processing. Participants are people who perform the work. Some may use computers and IT extensively, whereas others may use little or no technology. When analyzing a work system the more encompassing role of work system participant is more important than the more limited role of technology user (whether or not particular participants happen to be technology users). In work systems that are viewed as service systems, it is especially important to identify activities in which customers are participants. Information includes codified and non-codified information used and created as participants perform their work. Information may or may not be computerized. Data not related to the work system is not directly relevant, making the distinction between data and information secondary when describing or analyzing a work system. Knowledge can be viewed as a special case of information. Technologies include tools (such as cell phones, projectors, spreadsheet software, and automobiles) and techniques (such as management by objectives, optimization, and remote tracking) that work system participants use while doing their work. Products/services are the combination of physical things, information, and services that the work system produces for its customers' benefit and use. This may include physical products, information products, services, intangibles such as enjoyment and peace of mind, and social products such as arrangements, agreements, and organizations. The term "products/services” is used because the distinction between products and services in marketing and service science (Chesbrough and Spohrer, 2006) is not important for understanding work systems even though product-like vs. service-like is the basis of a series of design dimensions for characterizing and designing the things that a work system produces (Alter, 2012). Customers are people who receive direct benefit from products/services the work system produces. Since work systems exist to produce products/services for their customers, an analysis of a work system should consider who the customers are, what they want, and how they use whatever the work system produces. Customers may include external customers who receive an enterprise's products/services and internal customers who are employed by the enterprise, such as customers of a payroll work system. Customers of a work system often are participants in the work system (e.g., patients in a medical exam, students in an educational setting, and clients in a consulting engagement). Environment includes the organizational, cultural, competitive, technical, and regulatory environment within which the work system operates. These factors affect system performance even though the system does not rely on them directly in order to operate. The organization’s general norms of behavior are part of its culture, whereas more specific behavioral norms and expectations about specific activities within the work system are considered part of its processes and activities. Infrastructure includes human, informational, and technical resources that the work system relies on even though these resources exist and are managed outside of it and are shared with other work systems. Technical infrastructure includes computer networks, programming languages, and other technologies shared by other work systems and often hidden or invisible to work system participants. From an organizational viewpoint such as that expressed in Star and Bowker (2002) rather than a purely technical viewpoint, infrastructure includes human infrastructure, informational infrastructure, and technical infrastructure, all of which can be essential to a work system’s operation and therefore should be considered in any analysis of a work system. Strategies include the strategies of the work system and of the department(s) and enterprise(s) within which the work system exists. Strategies at the department and enterprise level may help in explaining why the work system operates as it does and whether it is operating properly. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Work systems」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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