Introduction
Each chapter contains a Research Analysis assignment based on some of the theory presented in that chapter. One of your assignments each unit (1 through 8) will be to review related research as
directed and write an interpretation of your results. After completing your write up, please submit it by 11:59 p.m. Sunday CT.
Directions
Using the cited research from the textbook as a starting point, you are to find a current (as recent as possible) related journal article, preferably on the same topic. You should then read the current article and compare its’ results and findings to those summarized in the text. After determining whether the results and findings are the same or different from those cited in the textbook, you then need to explain what those similarities or differences mean, in plain English.
All cited material must include both internal citations and a complete reference list at the end of the paper. A cover sheet should minimally indicate the name of the Research Report, the name of the course, the student’s name and the date.
Article Specific Directions
Chapter 18, Research Report 18.1 – Sociotechnical systems
The Trist and Bamforth (1951) article is a foundation article, so it should be possible to find something more recent than this article. The point of the exercise is to find another article dealing with sociotechnical systems.
To that end it may be helpful to:
- Use the library databases to search on “sociotechnical systems” as well as the authors’ names to find related articles. “Social systems” and “technical systems” might also be used, but “sociotechnical systems” is the term usually used in the literature.
- Use Research report 18.1 to generate search terms, as previously suggested. The narrative has useful phrases that can be used for a literature search.
- You do not want to merely summarize the article. You want to indicate whether the article you found is consistent or inconsistent with the Trist and Bamforth (1951) findings. Then you want to discuss what these results, as a whole (both articles together), mean to leaders and managers in terms of being able to consider sociotechnical systems successfully when planning change
