Social Dimensions of Software Design: Challenges of Effective Design for the Workplace

Software design is enmeshed in the social world of organizations. Software embodies characteristics of the organizations within which and for which it is created. This book has dealt with both of these dimensions; first, the social dimensions of the software design process and, second, the nature of work organizations that the user inhabits and the implications for software design. In this final chapter we develop some general propositions about social dimensions of software design and the implications of software adoption for organizational change. First we draw some concluding observations about two processes. Our research, coupled with related work of others, suggests that crucial to understanding software design (and technology design in general) are the role of history in the long life cycle of software design, especially the redesign of technology by its users, and the politics of software design. Technology design is a process with a life cycle of its own. During this process, design changes occur from the initial stage of determining user requirements through the design and development of the software and then continues during its implementation and use. In retrospect, it is possible to show how different aspects of any particular technology were established at various stages. However, it is not possible to deduce all the attributes of the technology without following the design process through implementation and ultimate use. Understanding the constraints that a technology will impose on the users’ (and the organization’s) “action space” thus requires an examination of the social as well as the technical history of its development. Organizational politics are crucial in the early phases of technology development and provide opportunities for those in positions of power in the user organization to exercise the most explicit influence. Furthermore, past technology and organizational choices form patterns that are institutionalized and form the structure shaping current technology choices (cf. Kling, 1987,1993; Thomas, 1993). Thus, the initial stages of technology definition provide partial constraints on the action of users when the technology is implemented. The late life cycle stages of design are the result of a continual process of actors interpreting and negotiating the technology design and use within structural bounds of hierarchical power, resources, authority and autonomy.