Alla människor är egna individer och dessa individuella skillnader påverkar hur vi upplever sociotekniska system. Det finns en problematik bland system inom organisationer nämligen att systemen inte lever upp till organisationers förväntningar. Sett ur ett perspektiv av välmående anställda innebär det att systemen inte uppfyller de psykologiska grundbehoven tillhörighet, kompetens och autonomi. Det finns ett flertal färdiga sociotekniska system på marknaden vars syften är att bidra till ökat välmående bland anställda inom organisationer. Problematiken med färdiga sociotekniska system är att de inte innehar samma grad av flexibilitet till organisationers specifika behov som ett nytt sociotekniskt system. Samtidigt finns en problematik i designprocesser av nya sociotekniska system där den sociala och tekniska kontexten inte anammas som en helhet på grund av att metoder inom sociotekniska system inte har tillräcklig sammanhållning. System som inte designas med hänsyn till anställdas välmående kan orsaka arbetsrelaterad stress. För att motverka den här problematiken har det här examensarbetet gjort en litteratursökning med perspektiv ur informatik, psykologi och Human Resources. Utifrån litteratursökningen har kriterier för sociotekniska system formulerats och applicerats på färdiga sociotekniska system. Jämförelsen resulterar i en djupare diskussion av två sociotekniska system som uppfyller flertalet kriterier men samtidigt visar på en problematik som främst berör att tillräcklig hänsyn inte har tagits till personliga möten och individuella skillnader. Resultatet av diskussionen mynnar ut i ett antal designprinciper som lägger grund för vidare forskning och belyser utvecklingsmöjligheter inom sociotekniska system i relation till välmående anställda inom organisationer. / All people are own individuals and our individual differences affect how we experience a sociotechnical system. There is a problematic situation among systems where they cannot live up to the expectations of organizations. From a wellbeing perspective it implies that the systems do not fulfill our fundamental psychological needs which are competence, autonomy and relatedness. There are some finished sociotechnical systems whose purpose are to contribute to increased wellbeing among employees in organizations. The issue regarding finished sociotechnical systems is that it cannot adopt to organizations needs the same way a new sociotechnical system could. Also, there is another problematic situation with processes of design among new sociotechnical systems where not enough consideration is taken to the social and technical context as a unit because there is a disconnection between methods regarding socio technical systems. When systems are not designed with enough consideration to wellbeing among employees it can cause stress related to work. This examination has taken the perspectives of informatics, psychology and Human Resources to counteract this problem. Criterias have been formulated from the results of the literature search to be applied to finished sociotechnical systems. Two of the finished sociotechnical systems fulfilled most of the criterias but a problem was still highlighted since not enough consideration have been taken to personal meetings and individual differences. The result of the discussion ends up in design principles which build a ground for further research and opportunities of development among sociotechnical systems in relationship to wellbeing among employees in organizations.

Submitted by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2016-02-16T14:19:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3167295 bytes, checksum: 34dcd049f9a42299f52a581ab2f3ac6d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-16T14:19:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3167295 bytes, checksum: 34dcd049f9a42299f52a581ab2f3ac6d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-01 / Technological developments have provided a variety of integrated tools that favor the emergence of information technology solutions and hence the arising of new infrastructures, although there is an increase in the complexity of these solutions. Teleradiology and local solutions for distribution of medical images are evidences of such technological developments. However, it is not known the existence of an infrastructure for teleradiology with characteristics of the so called Information Infrastructures (II), such as: capacity for dynamic organization, built by a growing and heterogeneous technical and social elements with high levels of adaptation and variation, and also holding decentralized and episodic control, that can evolve unbounded and under various conditions. Such infrastructure, if applied to local and global solutions for teleradiology, favors the emergence of a public social space for radiology practices, breaking down the boundaries between the local and the global. This work aims to understand what obstacles hinder the formation of such an information infrastructure. For this, we used the design theory for dynamic complexity (DTDC) in information infrastructure, based on the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS), as the main reference in the investigation of a series of case studies in teleradiology. To achieve this goal, a study was conducted based on empirical descriptions of solutions for teleradiology, seeking for evidence in each case, resulting in a compiled set of knowledge qualities, shortcomings and obstacles mapped to a set of design rules of the DTDC. The result of this investigation shows the technical and social disability around the adaptability as a major factor to hinder the expansion of teleradiology and hence the formation of an information infrastructure. Finally, it was concluded that despite the growing number of solutions for teleradiology, it was not observed an II for teleradiology; and that the key to the formation of such an II is designing to enable the maximum sociotechnical flexibility, i.e., the ability to adapt continuously with high level of independence between the elements and able to deal with diverse social and technical contexts. / A evolução tecnológica tem fornecido uma variedade de ferramentas que quando integradas favorecem o surgimento de soluções de tecnologia da informação e, consequentemente, o aparecimento de novas infraestruturas, embora haja um crescimento na complexidade dessas soluções. A telerradiologia e as soluções locais para distribuição de imagens médicas são evidências dessa evolução tecnológica. Apesar disso, ainda não se observou uma infraestrutura para teleradiologia com características das denominadas infraestruturas de informação (II), a saber: capacidade de organização dinâmica, constituída por uma quantidade crescente e heterogênea de elementos técnicos e sociais, com elevados níveis de adaptação e variação de componentes, possuindo ainda controle descentralizado e episódico e que evolui de forma não limitada e sob condições diversas. Tais infraestruturas, se aplicadas a soluções locais e globais para telerradiologia, favoreceriam o aparecimento de um espaço social público para práticas radiológicas, derrubando as fronteiras entre o local e o global. O objetivo desse trabalho é buscar compreender quais obstáculos dificultam a formação de tal II. Para isso, utilizou-se a teoria de projeto para complexidade dinâmica (TPCD) em infraestrutura de informação, baseada na teoria dos sistemas adaptativos complexos (SAC), como referência principal na investigação de uma série de estudos de caso em telerradiologia. Para alcançar tal objetivo, foi realizada uma pesquisa baseada em descrições empíricas de soluções para telerradiologia, buscando evidências em cada caso, resultando em um conjunto compilado de conhecimento acerca de qualidades, deficiências e obstáculos mapeados para o conjunto de regras de projeto da TPCD. O resultado dessa investigação evidencia a deficiência técnica e social em torno da capacidade de adaptação como um importante fator para dificultar a expansão da telerradiologia e, consequentemente, a formação de uma infraestrutura de informação. Finalmente, concluiu-se que, apesar da crescente quantidade de soluções para telerradiologia, não foi possível observar tal II; e que a chave para a formação desta II está em projetar visando a máxima flexibilidade sociotécnica, isto é, a capacidade de adaptação, de modo contínuo, com alto nível de independência entre os elementos constituintes e a capacidade de lidar com contextos sociais e técnicos diversificados.

The introduction of new information technology (IT) in an organisation is one way of changing the conditions for how tasks and work processes can be designed and performed, as well as how people in the organisation interact with each other. Today, many Swedish workers rely completely on IT to be able to perform their jobs, while experiencing a combination of continuous and intermittent IT-related changes that affect this ability. The introduction of new or updated IT systems in an organisation is an example of what is referred to as an IT-related change process in this thesis. Because IT has become such an integral part of modern organisations, many change processes in organisations are simultaneously enabled and constrained by the IT systems involved in a change process. In this thesis, I introduce the concept of inertia in sociotechnical systems to analyse IT-related change processes in organisations, and how achieving the goals of these processes is complicated by organisational, social, and physical aspects in addition to technology. The context of this thesis is the Swedish public sector domains of health-care and higher education, and the result of research studies and experiences from four action research projects in these settings. The contribution of this thesis adds to the contributions of the included papers through the definition of inertia in sociotechnical systems and its subsequent application. The thesis shows that the concept of inertia in sociotechnical systems can be used to understand IT-related change processes as changes to the characteristics of a sociotechnical system, and, in the context of organisations, how these processes affect and are affected by an organisation’s characteristics. This is illustrated in the thesis through the application of the concept on examples of IT-related change processes from the included papers and research projects. In addition, the thesis shows that the use of vision seminar methods can benefit Swedish organisations, since new IT is often introduced without clearly defined, expressed, understood, and accepted goals.

Du fait du développement de nouveaux produits (NPD) dans l’industrie, l’organisation devient de plus en plus complexe, ceci est dû notamment à la complexité même des produits. Dans ce contexte, le MBSE (Model Based Systems Engineering) et les approches collaboratives, qui adressent ces complexités, ont été reconnus pour leurs facultés à améliorer le NPD. Une implémentation réussie d’une conception collaborative du type MBSE, doit permettre de gérer ces deux complexités. Cette thèse de doctorat a pour objet l’étude de projets de conception collaborative MBSE au sein des équipes françaises chez des équipementiers automobiles et aéronautiques, afin de mettre en avant l’amélioration du développement des produits. La conception collaborative du type MBSE est assimilable à un système organisationnel complexe, impliquant des vues ou dimensions différentes. Ainsi, l’identification de ces dimensions, leur définition et l’étude de leurs interactions constituent le premier objectif de cette recherche. La compréhension de chacune d’entre elles pour améliorer la collaboration entre les différents membres du projet, est le deuxième objectif.Le troisième et dernier objectif de cette thèse est de proposer des systèmes socio-techniques (STS), assistant la collaboration. Les résultats de cette recherche, fournissent une méthodologie pour manager la complexité organisationnelle dans des projets collaboratifs du type MBSE. Elle est le produit d’une combinaison de quatre méthodes permettant la caractérisation de ses dimensions (processus, acteurs, objets et outils), tout en définissant leurs interactions. Ces méthodes assistent respectivement : 1) La description et l’évaluation de ces projets avec une perspective systémique 2) l’établissement d’une vision partagée du travail 3) l’analyse des coopérations entre les acteurs, et 4) le développement de STS tels quels des environnements collaboratifs et des supports collaboratif de capitalisation. L’implémentation en industrie des méthodes proposées, processus et recommandations, a montré comment la mise en avant de la collaboration dans les projets de design MBSE, permet d’améliorer l’ensemble du développement de produit. / The organisational complexity implied by New Product Development (NPD) within the industry, is often induced by the complex nature of the products themselves. In this context, MBSE (Model Based Systems Engineering) and collaborative approaches address those complexities and have been recognised by their contribution to improve the NPD processes. A successful implementation of a collaborative MBSE design would allow to manage both complexities. This PhD thesis describes an investigation on collaborative MBSE design projects within French teams in automotive and aeronautics companies, with the purpose of enhancing them to improve product development. We understand collaborative MBSE design as a complex organisational system which implies different views or dimensions. The identification of those dimensions, their definition and the study of their interactions constitute the first objective of this research. Understanding each dimension in order to improve collaboration between the project members is the second objectivedeuxième objectif.The third and last objective of this research is to propose Socio Technical Systems (STS) supporting this collaboration. The results of the thesis provide a methodology to manage organisational complexity in collaborative MBSE design projects. The methodology is a combination of four methods assisting the characterisation of the MBSE dimensions (people, process, information objects and tools), while defining their interactions. These methods support respectively: 1) The assessment and description of collaborative MBSE design projects from a systemic perspective 2) The establishment of a shared vision of the work 3) The analysis of the cooperation among the actors 4) The development of STS such as collaborative environment and a collaborative capitalisation support. The implementation of the proposed methods, process and guidelines in the industry has shown how the enhancement of collaboration in MBSE design projects can improve the overall product development.

Sociotechnical systems (STSs) rely on the collaboration between humans and autonomous decision-making units to fulfill their objectives. Highly intertwined social and technical contextual factors influence the collaboration between these human and engineered elements, and consequently the performance characteristics of the STS. In the next two decades, the role allocated to STSs in our society will drastically increase. Thus, the effective design of STSs requires an improved understanding of the human-autonomy interdependency. This dissertation brings together management science along with systems thinking and uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the interdependencies between people and the autonomous systems they collaborate within complex socio-technical enterprises. The dissertation is organized in three mutually exclusive essays, each investigating a distinct facet of STSs: safe management, collaboration, and efficiency measurement. The first essay investigates the amount of work allocated to safety-critical decision makers and quantifies Rasmussen's workload boundary that represents the limit of attainable workload. The major contribution of this study is to quantify the qualitative theoretical construct of the workload boundary through a Pareto-Koopmans frontier. This frontier allows one to capture the aggregate impact of the social and technical factors that originate from operational conditions on workload. The second essay studies how teams of humans and their autonomous partners share work, given their subjective preferences and contextual operational conditions. This study presents a novel integration of machine learning algorithms in an efficiency measurement framework to understand the influence of contextual factors. The results demonstrate that autonomous units successfully handle relatively simple operational conditions, while complex operational conditions require both workers and their autonomous counterparts to collaborate towards common objectives. The third essay explores the complementary and contrasting roles of efficiency measurement approaches that deal with the influence of contextual factors and their sensitivity to sample size. The results are organized in a structured taxonomy of their fundamental assumptions, limitations, mathematical structure, sensitivity to sample size, and their practical usefulness. To summarize, this dissertation provides an interdisciplinary and pragmatic research approach that benefits from the strengths of both theoretical and data-driven empirical approaches. Broader impacts of this dissertation are disseminated among the literatures of systems engineering, operations research, management science, and mechanical design. / Doctor of Philosophy / A system is an integrated set of elements that achieve a purpose or goal. An autonomous system (ADS) is an engineered element that often substitutes for a human decision-maker, such as in the case of an autonomous vehicle. Sociotechnical systems (STSs) are systems that involve the collaboration of a human decision-maker with an ADS to fulfill their objectives. Historically, STSs have been used primarily for handling safety critical tasks, such as management of nuclear power plants. By design, STSs rely heavily on a collaboration between humans and ADS decision-makers. Therefore, the overall characteristics of a STS, such as system safety, performance, or reliability; is fully dependent on human decisions. The problem with that is that people are independent entities, who can be influenced by operational conditions. Unlike their engineered counterparts, people can be cognitively challenged, tired, or distracted, and consequently make mistakes. The current dependency on human decisions, incentivize business owners and engineers alike to increase the level of automation in engineered systems. This allows them to reduce operational costs, increase performance, and minimize human errors. However, the recent commercial aircraft accidents (e.g., Boeing 737-MAX) have indicated that increasing the level of automation is not always the best strategy. Given that increasing technological capabilities will spread the adoption of STSs, vast majority of existing jobs will either be fully replaced by an ADS or will change from a manual set-up into a STS. Therefore, we need a better understanding of the relationships between social (human) and engineered elements. This dissertation, brings together management science with systems thinking to investigate the dependencies between people and the autonomous systems they collaborate within complex socio-technical enterprises. The dissertation is organized in three mutually exclusive essays, each investigating a distinct facet of STSs: safe management, collaboration, and efficiency measurement. The first essay investigates the amount of work handled by safety-critical decision makers in STSs. Primary contribution of this study is to use an analytic method to quantify the amount of work a person could safely handle within a STSs. This method also allows to capture the aggregate impact of the social and technical factors that originate from operational conditions on workload. The second essay studies how teams of humans and their autonomous partners share work, given their preferences and operational conditions. This study presents a novel integration of machine learning algorithms to understand operational influences that propel a human-decision maker to handle the work manually or delegate it to ADSs. The results demonstrate that autonomous units successfully handle simple operational conditions. More complex conditions require both workers and their autonomous counterparts to collaborate towards common objectives. The third essay explores the complementary and contrasting roles of data-driven analytical management approaches that deal with the operational factors and investigates their sensitivity to sample size. The results are organized based on their fundamental assumptions, limitations, mathematical structure, sensitivity to sample size, and their practical usefulness. To summarize, this dissertation provides an interdisciplinary and pragmatic research approach that benefits from the strengths of both theoretical and data-driven empirical approaches. Broader impacts of this dissertation are disseminated among the literatures of systems engineering, operations research, management science, and mechanical design.

Blue Force Tracking (BFT) är en term för system som lokaliserar och övervakar egna militära förband inom operationsområdet. Ett potentiellt användningsområde för BFT är som hjälpmedel för förbättrad förmåga till eld och rörelse. Innan ett sådant användningsområde undersöks vidare är det dock nödvändigt att studera hur BFT påverkar tillämpandet av uppdragstaktik och manöverkrigföring.      Syftet med detta arbete är att skapa en förståelse för hur teknik och doktrin förhåller sig till varandra, för att besvara om användandet av BFT för eld och rörelse är möjligt inom Försvarsmakten med tanke på rådande doktrin. För att studera detta genomfördes en fallstudie där det undersöktes hur teknik och doktrin påverkar varandra, kopplat mot användandet av ledningssystem med BFT inom Försvarsmakten. För analys av empirin användes ett sociotekniskt synsätt för att förstå förhållandet mellan teknik och doktrin.   Resultatet visade på att användningen av BFT inte påverkade tillämpandet av uppdragstaktik. Däremot försvårar BFT-användningen tillämpandet av manöverkrigföring, främst genom att röja det egna handlandet. Diskussionen berörde skillnader i nyttjande av BFT mellan Flygvapnet och Armén. Diskussionen ledde också fram till rekommendationen, att om BFT ska implementeras på manöverbataljonerna så bör det till förändringar i rådande doktrin för att skapa ett fungerande sociotekniskt system / Blue Force Tracking (BFT) refers to systems for monitor and location of friendly military forces in a particular area of operation. A possible use for BFT is as an aid to improve fire and movement skills. Before such use is investigated further, it is necessary to examine the impact of BFT on the application of mission command and manoeuvre warfare. The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of what effects technology and doctrine have on each other. The aim is to be able to answer the question whether or not BFT can be used to improve fire and movement in the Swedish Armed Forces. To do this, a case study of the relationship between technology and doctrine in the Swedish Armed Forces was carried out. For analysis of the empirical data, a socio-technical approach was used to understand the relationship between technology and doctrine.  The results showed that the use of BFT had no effect on the application of mission command. However, the use of BFT had a negative effect on the ability to carry out manoeuvre warfare, mainly on the ability to hide our own actions from the enemy. The discussion concerned differences in the use of BFT between the Air Force and the Army. The discussion also concluded with the recommendation that a change in doctrine is necessary, if BFT is to be introduced to battalions, in order to create a functioning sociotechnical system.

The proliferation of the internet and associated online activities exposes users to numerous information security (InfoSec) threats. Such online activities attract a variety of online users who include novice computer users with no basic InfoSec awareness knowledge. Information systems that collect and use sensitive and confidential personal information of users need to provide reliable protection mechanisms to safeguard this information. Given the constant user involvement in these systems and the notion of users being the weakest link in the InfoSec chain, technical solutions alone are insufficient. The usability of online InfoSec systems can play an integral role in making sure that users use the applications effectively, thereby improving the overall security of the applications. The development of online InfoSec systems calls for addressing the InfoSec problem as a social problem, and such development must seek to find a balance between technical and social aspects. The research addressed the problem of usable security in online InfoSec applications by using an approach that enabled the consideration of both InfoSec and usability in viewing the system as a socio-technical system with technical and social sub-systems. Therefore, the research proposed a socio-technical framework that promotes the development of usable security for online information systems using online banking as a case study. Using a convergent mixed methods research (MMR) design, the research collected data from online banking users through a survey and obtained the views of online banking developers through unstructured interviews. The findings from the two research methods contributed to the selection of 12 usable security design principles proposed in the sociotechnical information security (STInfoSec) framework. The research contributed to online InfoSec systems theory by developing a validated STInfoSec framework that went through an evaluation process by seven field experts. Although intended for online banking, the framework can be applied to other similar online InfoSec applications, with minimum adaptation. The STInfoSec framework provides checklist items that allow for easy application during the development process. The checklist items can also be used to evaluate existing online banking websites to identify possible usable security problems. / Computer Science / D. Phil. (Computer Science)

In the fall of 1996, the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech initiated a joint project with a local school district, to determine how ready access to networked computing in the fifth grade would affect students. Called the PCs for Families (PCF) project, its goal was to learn what could be achieved if technology access, support, and curriculum integration could be eliminated as obstacles or constraints in the classroom and at home. A technology-rich classroom was created, with the classroom teacher trained in constructivist teaching practices and technology integration by a master teacher. Network computers were found on every desktop, with scanners, digital cameras, and other technologies scattered throughout the room. A computer was sent home with each child and teacher, and as much support as necessary was provided to all program participants, including parents. As part of this research, a yearlong field experiment was undertaken to explore the effects of the PCF intervention on the third cohort of students participating in the project. Macroergonomics served as the theoretical framework for the experiment, which focused on the in-depth, systematic assessment of those quantitative changes that resulted from exposure to the PCF fifth-grade network classroom. Students participating in the field research were randomly selected from the larger pool of students eligible for the PCF project at the school. Selected students were randomly assigned to either to the PCF fifth-grade classroom or the standard fifth-grade classroom, which served as a control group. To first-time visitors walking into the PCF network classroom, the classroom bore little resemblance to its more traditional counterparts. However, the functioning of the PCF classroom was in many ways indistinguishable from that of its traditional counterparts. The yearly average for computer use in the PCF classroom was 4.275 hours, with computer use in the PCF classroom exceeding the three hours of computer laboratory time allotted to the control class only during the last 12 weeks of school. When used, the technology functioned as an electronic replacement for materials commonly found in traditional settings. Observers reported the pedagogy remained steadfastly teacher-centered and didactic. Despite limited utilization of the computer during classroom hours, analysis of individual, academic measures indicated PCF students made significantly greater gains than control students only on standardized writing tests. PCF students also performed significantly better than control students on measures related to technology skills. Boys in the PCF classroom also made greater improvements in their attitudes towards school than boys in the control classroom. At home, PCF students were found to interact with computer technology more often than their control counterparts. Despite lower overall home use, control students reported spending more time playing computer games than PCF students. Correlational analyses indicated significant linear relationships between changes in student performance, student entry characteristics, and home computer use variables. Student previous achievement was by far the strongest predictor of student SOL test performance, with computer use only linked to student standardized test performance on the writing and mathematics sections. As the number of email messages sent by the student increased, their writing performance increased with email usage accounting for almost ten percent of the total variance in the writing score. The only other computer use measure significantly associated with test performance was student self-reports of computer use, which accounted for less than four percent of the total variance in mathematics test performance. Computer use was associated more strongly with changes in student motivation. Student self-reports of home computer use accounted for fully 30 percent of the variance in changes on the school motivation survey. Analyses of data from the PCF proxy server suggest that student web browsing overshadows other home Internet activities, with email taking precedence over chat. Further, unlike chat or email, family web usage was sustained long after students left the PCF classroom. Over 68 percent of family web usage each week was attributable to student, not family, characteristics suggesting students play a large role in determining family usage. Academic information finding provides a plausible explanation for these results, with family web usage declining somewhat during summer months when students were not in school. Stability of both web and email use was relatively high among students. In keeping with critical mass theory, student email use increased when other students used email. However, social variables were not found to have a significant effect on web usage. Girls were found to make greater use of email than boys, with this research suggesting highly visual students used email more often. The field research also found a significant increase in student self-reports of musculoskeletal problems among the PCF students. A year-end examination of workstation fit found seat and monitor heights an average of two inches higher than the corresponding student dimensions. A participatory design study was used to elicit conceptions of computer workstations from PCF students, teachers, and parents. Children were interested in gaining greater control over the workstation, both in terms of individual technology and adjustability of furniture. Parents, however, focused on improving the richness of an individual student's workspace and de-emphasized collaborative work. Teacher opinions diverged more than other groups with designs strongly influenced by pedagogic beliefs. Results from the field study provide evidence that macroergonomic methodologies for analysis and design of work systems are extensible to classroom systems, and provide a systematic framework for examining issues related to the introduction of classroom computing technology. A critical element of any successful effort to integrate technology into the curriculum is access to adequate classroom technology and support; however, as this research illustrates, they are not sufficient to ensure successful integration. This research demonstrates other forces are at work, and in keeping with macroergonomic theory, key to the success of such an effort is the "fit" between the new technology and the characteristics of the classroom system, especially those of the teacher who effectively functions as the gatekeeper for the technology. / Ph. D.

Denna avhandling belyser forskarstött förändringsarbete, inom ”Servicenätet Posten”, den division inom Posten Sverige AB som ansvarar för postdistribution till kunderna. Förändringsarbetet har handlat om att förbättra arbetssituationen för 15 000 brevbärare. Den teoretiska grunden utgörs av ett systemtänkande där konceptet ”Människa-Teknik-Organisation” (MTO), används för att granska interventionsprocessen. Det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling är att bidra till kunskapsutveckling-en om forskarstött förändringsarbete utifrån följande delsyften: 1) att illustrera hur ett systemtänkande i förändringsarbete påverkar förståelsen för hur systemkomponenterna Människa, Teknik och Organisation (MTO) interagerar i praktiken, 2) att exemplifiera hur den kunskapen kan omsättas i praktiken genom utveckling och implementering av MTO-anpassade lösningar i samverkan mellan forskare och praktiker, 3) att empiriskt exemplifiera hur former för participation kan bidra till framgångsrikt förändringsarbete genom analys och syntes av process och resultat. Forskningsprojektet har bedrivits med en interaktiv ansats. Den interaktiva ansatsen har gjort det möjligt att belysa samverkan mellan forskare och praktiker på ett verklig-hetsnära och realistiskt sätt under fyra projektfaser fördelade över en femårsperiod. Den inledande projektfasen innebar en diagnostisering av problematiken. Ett antal åtgärdsförslag presenterades av forskargruppen och ledde vidare till ett forskarstött ut-vecklingsarbete under en andra projektfas då ett underlag till olika förbättringsåtgärder arbetades fram. Detta inbegrep utveckling av såväl teknisk som arbetsorganisatorisk ka-raktär för att åstadkomma effektiva och hälsosamma arbetsprocesser för brevbärare inom postutdelningsverksamheten. I en tredje projektfas testades och utvärderades hela åtgärdspaketet genom implementering på ett pilotkontor. I en fjärde och sista projektfas implementerades förbättringsåtgärderna på samtliga 602 postutdelningskontor i landet och forskarna gjorde en utvärdering. Resultaten visar hur man genom att anlägga ett MTO-perspektiv i förändringsarbete ökar möjligheterna att få klarhet i vilka faktorer som påverkar effektiviteten i ett pro-duktionssystem i sin helhet. Den tvärvetenskapliga forskningssatsningen i kombination med samverkan forskare/praktiker visade sig vara en förutsättning för att skapa förståel-se för interaktionen mellan M-T-O-komponenterna. Avhandlingen visar vidare hur olika former för participation i praktiken kan bidra till framgångsrikt förändringsarbete både vad gäller process och resultat. Den utförliga redogörelsen för interventionsprocessen, forskarrollens skiftande karaktär samt hindrande och främjande faktorer för forskarstött förändringsarbete, utgör andra viktiga kunskapsbidrag. / This dissertation illuminates researcher-supported work for change within the “Postal Service Network”, the division within Posten Sverige AB with responsibility for mail distribution to customers. The intervention has been concerned with improving the work situation of 15,000 postmen. The theoretical foundation consists in a form of systems thinking in which the con-cept of Man-Technology-Organisation (MTO) is employed to scrutinise the intervention process. The overall aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the development of know-ledge in the arena of researcher-supported work for change. It proceeds on the basis of the following objectives 1) to illustrate how systems thinking in the change process influences understanding of how the system’s Man-Technology-Organisation (MTO) components interact in practice, 2) to exemplify how this knowledge can be transformed in practice through the development and implementation of MTO-adapted solutions into collaboration between researchers and practitioners, 3) to exemplify empirically how forms for participation can contribute to a successful change process through the analy-sis and synthesis of both process and results. The research project has been conducted interactively. The interactive approach has made it possible to illuminate collaboration between researchers and practitioners in a down-to-earth and realistic manner during four project phases spread over a five-year period. The introductory project phase involved diagnosis of the problem. A number of proposals for action were presented by the research team, which led on to researcher-supported developmental work during a second project phase when a basis for various improvement measures was created. This involved development of both a technical and work-organisational nature to achieve efficient and healthy work processes for postmen in mail distribution. At a third project phase the entire package of measures was tested and evaluated through implementation in a pilot office. At the fourth and final phase of the project the improvements were implemented in all 602 postal distribution offices in Sweden, and the researchers performed an evaluation. The results show how adopting an MTO perspective on work for change increases opportunities to obtain clarity with regard to which factors influence efficiency in a pro-duction system as a whole. The cross-disciplinary research approach, in combination with researcher/practitioner collaboration, proved to be a prerequisite for creating un-derstanding of the interaction between the MTO components. Further, the dissertation shows how different forms of participation in practice can contribute to successful work for change with regard to both process and results. The extensive reporting of the inter-vention process and accounts of the shifting nature of the researcher’s role and of hin-dering and promoting factors in researcher-supported work for change constitute other important contributions to knowledge.

The usage of autonomous vehicles is starting to appear in several different domains and the domain of public safety is no exception. Wallenberg Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) has created a research arena for public safety (WARA-PS) to explore experimental features, usages, and implementation of autonomous vehicles within the domain of public safety. Collaborating in the arena are several companies, universities, and researchers. This thesis examines, in collaboration with Combitech, a company partnered in WARA-PS, how the implementation of autonomous vehicles affects the sociotechnical system of a search and rescue operation during a drifting boat with potential castaways. This is done by creating a case together with domain experts, analyzing the sociotechnical system within the case using cognitive work analysis and then complementing the analyses with the unmanned autonomous vehicles of WARA-PS. This thesis has shown how the WARA-PS vehicles can be implemented in the case of a drifting boat with potential castaways and how the implementation affects the sociotechnical system. Based on the analyses and opinions of domain experts’ future guidelines has been derived to further the work with sociotechnical aspects in WARA-PS. / WARA-PS