Forwarded message from [volker@uran.informatik.uni-bonn.de] sent originally on Thu, 28 Oct 1999 09:08:53 +0200 (MET DST): : SELF-ORGANISING SOCIAL SYSTEMS: A CHALLENGE TO CSCW : : A Special Issue of the Journal Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Vol. 6, No. 3, : 1999 (http://www.imprint.co.uk/cyber.html) : : GUEST-EDITORS: Darek M. Eriksson & Volker Wulf : : CONTRIBUTIONS : : Christiane Floyd: : Software Development Process: Some Reflections on its Cultural, Political : and Ethical Aspects from a Constructivist Epistemology Point of View : : Katharina Just-Hahn and Thomas Herrmann: : Step-by-Step: A method to support self-organised co-ordination within : workflow management systems : : Michael Paetau: : Can Virtual Enterprises build up an own Identity? : : Volker Wulf: : Evolving Cooperation when Introducing Groupware: A Self-Organization : Perspective : : Kurt Dauer Keller: : Sociotechnics and the structuring of meaning: Beyond the idea of : autopoietic social systems : : INTRODUCTION : : This special issue of Cybernetics & Human Knowing presents a selection of : revised papers delivered at the workshop "Groupware for Self-Organizing : Units" on the Fifth European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative : Work (ECSCW'95). The theme in focus is the intersection of Self-Organizing : Social Systems and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (SOSS & CSCW). : SOSS is a particular conception of the social phenomena driven by the more : recent developments in experimental epistemology, often associated with : constructivism and the biological theory of living called autopoiesis. : Their argument on the nature of human reality has shown an increasing : impact on the understanding of the social, which differs in some aspects : radically with the more established conceptions. The German sociologist N. : Luhmann is probably the foremost ambassador of such a conception. The ideas : of self-organising working units have been successfully implemented in : industry, on more pragmatical grounds, for example in the Swedish car : manufacturing company Volvo. One of the arguments for their use has been : that participatory work-design promotes both democracy and the ability of : adaptation to new and not forecasted conditions, which would therefore lead : to an improved work-quality. : On the other hand, the recent emergence of the intellectual domain : associated with the label CSCW have been driven by the developments within : the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In a broad : sense, the idea is that various ICT artefacts (groupware) are employed in : order to support co-operation between individuals, groups, and : organizations. Such tools allow treating aspects of working time and space, : as well as the transformation of information, in ways that is not always : possible to do without them. The introduction of these artefacts almost : always questions the existing work processes. : While the two domains of intellectual inquiry, SOSS and CSCW, are rather : recent and still elaborating their respective foundations, their : cross-fertilisation is in the very front-line of research. We cannot and do : not want to provide any stable definition of this cross-fertilisation. We : would just like to assure that the analysis and design of CSCW may take on : a new dimension when conceived in terms SOSS, and the reverse. We are very : glad to present for the readership of this journal some results of the : emergence of this new and pertinent area of inquiry. This also shows the : importance of the intellectual domain that the journal of Cybernetics & : Human Knowing covers. : The selected papers present a blend of theoretical analysis, empirical : investigations and methodological contributions. The first paper of : Christiane Floyd aims to contribute to epistemology of software system : design founded in the constructivist epistemology. It discusses four main : issues: the design process as an insight building process with choices made : in the design about choices available in the use of a system; the concept : of operational form aimed to clarify the interaction between software : systems and human actions; the conception of methods as recourses in a : situated and self-organising design process; and finally the inherent : ethics of the design process. : In the second paper, Kurt Keller provides a critical investigation of N. : Luhmann's theory of social systems and argues that the theory has : limitations in regard to its potentiality to guide the conception of CSCW; : this because of its treatment of human meaning. Instead, he presents an : alternative founded in the phenomenological tradition. : The development of groupware has been fundamental for the emergence of the : so-called virtual enterprises. In the third paper, Michael Paetau's : empirically driven investigation asks whether such enterprises should be : considered as a special form of social networks or if they may be seen as : social organisations with its own identity. Among others, the study : discusses the tension between an organisation's differentiation and : integration, which seems to be particularly pertinent for the behaviour of : virtual enterprises. The latter will come to a crossroad, the study shows : where it must decide between maintaining its virtual character at the : expense of losing its unity, or becoming a non-virtual organisation with : its own unity and identity, however loosing the properties of a virtual : organisation. : In the fourth paper Katharina Just-Hahn and Thomas Herrman proposes a : method for design and re-design of business processes. While : self-organisation promotes autonomy of a human agent, workflow management : systems can serve management as a means to control business processes. The : proposed method called Step-by-Step aims to support self-design of business : processes and therefore to overcome the mentioned tension between the : autonomy of an employee and its control by the management. Further, this : method, it is argued, makes it possible for a business organisation to : adapt rapidly to the challenges that today's business organisations : constantly meet. : A transition from the more traditional conception of social : organisations that builds on prescription of its behaviour towards a : self-organisational conception which self-scribes its behaviour is issued : in the fifth and final paper by Volker Wulf. A question of investigation is : which role can CSCW play to initiate and promote such a transition. In : order to find the answers, two case studies of CSCW-systems are interpreted : with the theory of self-organising social systems. The result suggests that : self-organization approach is more suitable for conception of social : organisations then prescriptive approaches. The study also identifies some : design guidelines and theoretical problems that need further studies. : : _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ : Dr. Volker Wulf : Roemerstr. 164 : ProSEC - 53117 Bonn : Research Group for HCI and CSCW Germany : Institute for Computer Science III Tel.:49 - (0)228 - 734 - 276 : Fax :49 - (0)228 - 734 - 382 : University of Bonn http://www.cs.uni-bonn.de/~volker/ : _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ : :

-- Wirtschaftsinformatik, FB5, Universitaet GH Essen Gustaf.Neumann@uni-essen.de, neumann@computer.org http://nestroy.wi-inf.uni-essen.de/Neumann.html