This study analyses the conditions under which socio-technical systems transition to more sustainable configurations. It does so through an exploration of the City of Cape Town’s electricity distribution arrangements. This investigation is situated within debates on sustainable socio-technical transitions in general and the multi-level perspective (MLP) in particular. This study considers four themes that are important for understanding the conditions under which socio-technical regimes change - regulation, organisations, geographical context and scale. These themes structure an empirical study of an energy transition in a city (scale) in the Global South (geographical context) and an examination of the role of regulatory and organisational conditions in shaping sustainable transitions. In turn, the implications of this case for transition theories is explored. The site of the study is a local government in an African city, Cape Town. This southern geography offers unique conditions, particularly related to the ways in which the technical interacts with the social, in conditions where poverty and inequality are prevalent. In exploring the City’s electricity system, field-work was undertaken using a participatory, engaged and grounded theory approach. Notably, research was conducted within a knowledge co-production setting that involved spending three years in the City, embedded in its Energy and Climate Change Unit. This provided invaluable access to the tacit knowledge of practitioners and a unique view into the internal workings of the City. The results of this field-work have implications for sustainable transition theory. In the City, systemic tensions and contestation were prominent in relation to the incumbent electricity system. Notably, it was found that reconfiguration agendas, represented in the City’s Energy and Climate Action Plan, are disrupting developmental values, such as cross-subsidisation, which underpin the incumbent electricity system. Accordingly, regime reconfiguration based on environmental values competes with developmental values embedded within incumbent regime structures. This provides the basis for conceptualising socio-technical transitions as conflicts related to contested values. These value tensions are repeated across scales, manifested by contestation between urban energy autonomy and security on the one hand and national developmental transitions on the other. The presence of systemic value tensions in the City also has a bearing on the conditions and pathways for socio-technical transitions. In this regard, this study applies a constructivist approach to exploring socio-technical reconfigurations through identifying two broad energy trajectories that the City is able to pursue; a centralised or distributed trajectory. This informs a heuristic to explore the socio-economic outcomes of reconfigurations. It further identifies potential reconfiguration processes present in the City that forms the basis of alternative theoretical reconfiguration typologies that are cognisant of value contestations. Through evaluating formal rules that regulate the City’s electricity system, this study finds that regulatory systems are used as a tool to assimilate, codify and stabilise dominant value sets into socio-technical regimes. Further, it was found that separate City departments are aligned to divergent socio-technical values. Thus, competing values create contestation within organisations in framing transition processes. Overall, the study offers an alternative conceptualisation of socio-technical regimes as systems produced and reproduced through value contestation. By drawing on the case of the City’s electricity system, the study provides evidence to show that value tensions related to socio-technical regimes are played out in regulatory, organisational and political landscapes. The study thus argues that these competing value systems are integral in the co-evolutionary process of regime configuration and reconfigurations.

The world we live in is increasingly complex, interconnected and unpredictable. We face social and technological challenges, which must be overcome through the maintenance and redesign of existing systems, as well as the design and integration of new systems. Each of these systems has stakeholders at different levels and across domains, from those governing societies, to technical experts working on well-defined tasks. These stakeholders generally want their system to survive, or even thrive, in the face of uncertainty and unexpected influences. To describe this desire, people, from politicians to CEOs, use the word resilience. Resilience is a term that is referred to across domains in academic and public discourse. However, the exact definition of resilience is elusive, and it is not clear how to apply resilience in the context of socio-technical systems. To design resilient systems, we must first be able to answer questions including: Does a resilient system change to accommodate influences or stay the same? If the system changes, where should this change take place? How do we decide which system, or sub-system, to make resilient and at what level of abstraction? In this research I show how we can answer these questions by eliciting, combining and contrasting the perspectives of multiple stakeholders of socio-technical systems. In order to talk to these stakeholders, in interviews and workshops, I had to overcome communication barriers. Communicating about resilience is challenging because the term means different things to different people, both within and across domains. In this research I use diagrams to develop our understanding of resilience as a concept, prompt discussions with stakeholders, represent examples of resilience, and compare stakeholder perspectives across domains. Using these diagrams, I present three characteristics of resilience that have emerged from the literature and empirical studies: resisting, recovering and changing in response to influences. I also show how resilience is framed by stakeholders’ perspectives and depends on how a system’s boundary, purpose and timescale is defined. The characteristics of resilience are related to system dimensions, structure and function, with a focus on the similarities and differences between social and technical sub-systems. This research contributes a new understanding of resilience in the context of design practice, which moves us closer towards being able to design resilient socio-technical systems.

Modern civilizations have evolved to be highly dependent on electrical energy. The exponentially growing renewables market has signaled transitions in electricity sectors that have traditionally been dominated by fossil fuel electricity. Various theoretical debates have recently emerged surrounding the processes of socio-technical transition, focusing on the pathways of transition, the levers for radical change and path-dependencies within these systems. The Multi-Level Perspective on Socio-technical Transitions is one such theory. This perspective views socio-technical change as a factor of interdependent shifts between three analytical levels observed within the system: the socio-technical regime, the socio-technical niche and the landscape. In accordance with this theory, radical change is generally observed as originating at niche level. Irregularities within the dominant regime and landscape pressures allow for niche innovations to break through into the dominant regime in processes of socio-technical transition. Toward understanding actor influences on energy transitions, considerable attention has been paid to actor's impact on governance processes through: patterns of consumption, the shaping of legislation and technical innovations, by socio-technical transitions theories. However less attention has been paid to the ways in which actors in renewable electricity markets are: forming networks toward the establishment of new regimes and governing processes at niche level, and consequently how actor governance has impacted the established perceptions and available pathways for realizing electric security. This thesis, builds on the Multi-Level Perspective, through an exploration of how actors govern socio-technical systems at niche level, paying careful attention to the modalities of power giving and power taking that allow for the development of networks of people and things toward the stabilization of novel socio-technical practices, innovations and developmental trajectories. It does this through a networked analysis of how different actors with different interests cooperate to open up innovative social and technological pathways.

Engineering Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for robust information sharing is the fundamental area of investigation in thesis. Robust workflow based information sharing systems have the potential to be part of robust information infrastructures providing positive effects for the individuals and teams as well as opportunities for societal and economical gains. Challenges in design and implementation of open socio-technical systems include identifying engineering principles empowering individual and team using the systems as well as supporting flexibility in design and maintenance. Of specific importance are principles supporting semantically correct information sharing. Information sharing in open socio-technical systems is given affordances due to coordination and exchange of services. Approaches ensuring robust semantically correct information sharing and user empowerments are key requirements especially since changes in context, roles and intentions are the rule and not the exception in socio-technical systems. Empirical observations of behaviours have been important for identifying critical patterns in workflow. A configuration of models and methods under the umbrella Participatory Design has been used including Ethnography and approaches based on Situation Theory, Knowledge Engineering, Interaction Design and Computer Supported Cooperative Work. The results of the configurations of methodologies are context sensitive since the methodologies are domain dependant. Three cases illustrating engineering support for empowerment of individuals and teams in open sociotechnical systems are presented. Two cases are based on studies performed in Sölvesborg and concerns engineering principles towards empowering individuals with cognitive impairments via ambient assistance. In the third case the focus is on hand-over situations and ontologies/abbreviations assuring semantically correct information sharing in distributed handling of critical emergency calls in Swedish Emergency Service Centres (SOS centres). The main contributions in this thesis, methodological contributions included, are engineering principles for open socio-technical systems from an empowerments perspective. The principles support understanding of workflows, information flows, interaction models, data models, semantics of information, trust, resilience, validation and training as well as assurance mechanisms in hand-over of critical operations. Identification and validation of key service qualities including mechanisms for improving performance critical tasks of semantics in information sharing are contributions. Service, Agent based and sensor approaches presented are final contributions.

This dissertation presents a study on project management and its effectiveness in a multinational pharmaceutical company (MPC). A mixed qualitative-quantitative method consisting of a case study (33 managers) and a follow-up survey (122 employees) was conducted. The cybernetics theory and its related concepts were used to formulate the social and technical components of projects as a network of task-related social interactions within an organizational context. Interaction was defined as the variety or possible states one node generates for another node, while degree of coordination was defined as the extent to which a recipient node can handle the variety of interrelated nodes. Interaction Effectiveness (IE) was calculated based on the ratio of “helpful” to “not so helpful” behaviors between interrelated nodes. MPC’s average organizational IE ratio of 1.03 was used as a baseline to determine the relative effectiveness of different interactions. The IE ratio also revealed two structural network properties. First, a departmental-level analysis indicated that most network relationships were asymmetrical (76.5%), reflecting a significant discrepancy in perceptions between interrelated nodes. Second, the variability of IE ratios (standard deviation) ranged from 0.10 to 1.28, reflecting the degree of consistency among the relationships of each single node and its interrelated nodes. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between the perceived ranking of a node’s performance and the node’s IE ratio. Multiple regression analysis also indicated a significant relationship between the perceived ranking of a node’s importance and the total of that node’s helpful and not so helpful comments. Finally, the results showed that the IE ratio was almost double for employees’ positive working relationship links compared to links with which they reported negative working relationships. The qualitative findings also provide significant evidence of the method’s sensitivity to capture project management’s most crucial element of “time.” Categorizing the impact of not so helpful comments corresponded mostly to “delays” (68.87%), whereas the impact of helpful comments corresponded mostly to “saving time” (68.14%). Furthermore, categorizing decisions to handle variety revealed the dominance of “adhocracy” mechanisms (62.18%) to handle input variety as opposed to “procedural” variety handling mechanisms (20.63%). Categorizing the comments related to the not so helpful category of “unreasonable expectations” indicated that 51.4% of all comments pertained to “role overload” followed by “role conflict” (36.5%), with only 12.1% of all comments corresponding to “role ambiguity.” The quantitative follow-up survey’s primary objective was to test the research hypotheses regarding the relationship between “variety”-related concepts and different degrees of project complexity (complex versus simple). The survey supported all hypotheses except Hypothesis 7 regarding project management software. Results, limitations, potential improvements to the current study, and future research directions are discussed.

Designing high-integrity socio-technical systems requires a thorough understanding of all safety risks of such systems. For many years, safety risk assessment has been conducted separately for hardware, software, human, organizational and other entities in socio-technical systems. Safety risk assessment that does not consider all factors at the same time cannot adequately capture the wide variety of safety risk scenarios that need to be considered. This thesis proposes a model-based analysis approach that allows interpretation of humans and organizations in terms of components and their behavior in terms of failure logic. The proposal is built on top of the tool-supported model-based failure logic analysis technique called CHESS-FLA. CHESS-FLA supports the analysis of the component-based system architectures to understand what can go wrong at a system level, by applying failure logic rules at a component level. CHESS-FLA addresses only hardware and software components and as such it is inadequate for the analysis of socio-technical systems. This thesis proposes an extension of CHESS-FLA based on the preexisting classification (developed within SERA), of failures of socio entities. This extension combines CHESS-FLA and SERA - classification and delivers an approach named Concerto-FLA. Concerto-FLA is fully integrated into the CONCERTO framework allowing an automated analysis to be performed on architectures that contain human, organizational and technical entities present in socio-technical systems. The use of the approach is demonstrated on a case study extracted from the petroleum domain. The effectiveness of the delivered tool is briefly evaluated based on the results from the case study. / CONCERTO project

This dissertation presents a study on project management and its effectiveness in a multinational pharmaceutical company (MPC). A mixed qualitative-quantitative method consisting of a case study (33 managers) and a follow-up survey (122 employees) was conducted. The cybernetics theory and its related concepts were used to formulate the social and technical components of projects as a network of task-related social interactions within an organizational context. Interaction was defined as the variety or possible states one node generates for another node, while degree of coordination was defined as the extent to which a recipient node can handle the variety of interrelated nodes. Interaction Effectiveness (IE) was calculated based on the ratio of “helpful” to “not so helpful” behaviors between interrelated nodes. MPC’s average organizational IE ratio of 1.03 was used as a baseline to determine the relative effectiveness of different interactions. The IE ratio also revealed two structural network properties. First, a departmental-level analysis indicated that most network relationships were asymmetrical (76.5%), reflecting a significant discrepancy in perceptions between interrelated nodes. Second, the variability of IE ratios (standard deviation) ranged from 0.10 to 1.28, reflecting the degree of consistency among the relationships of each single node and its interrelated nodes. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between the perceived ranking of a node’s performance and the node’s IE ratio. Multiple regression analysis also indicated a significant relationship between the perceived ranking of a node’s importance and the total of that node’s helpful and not so helpful comments. Finally, the results showed that the IE ratio was almost double for employees’ positive working relationship links compared to links with which they reported negative working relationships. The qualitative findings also provide significant evidence of the method’s sensitivity to capture project management’s most crucial element of “time.” Categorizing the impact of not so helpful comments corresponded mostly to “delays” (68.87%), whereas the impact of helpful comments corresponded mostly to “saving time” (68.14%). Furthermore, categorizing decisions to handle variety revealed the dominance of “adhocracy” mechanisms (62.18%) to handle input variety as opposed to “procedural” variety handling mechanisms (20.63%). Categorizing the comments related to the not so helpful category of “unreasonable expectations” indicated that 51.4% of all comments pertained to “role overload” followed by “role conflict” (36.5%), with only 12.1% of all comments corresponding to “role ambiguity.” The quantitative follow-up survey’s primary objective was to test the research hypotheses regarding the relationship between “variety”-related concepts and different degrees of project complexity (complex versus simple). The survey supported all hypotheses except Hypothesis 7 regarding project management software. Results, limitations, potential improvements to the current study, and future research directions are discussed.

<p>This study in contemporary history describes the transformation of the public sphere in Sweden during the period 1969-1999, and analyses the role of information technology and politics in the process. The overall aim of the study is to explain how, and why, the public sphere in Jürgen Habermas sense has deteriorated during a period of rapid technological and political change, when increasing attention has been given to information technology as a new tool for improving democracy and empowering citizens.</p><p>Theoretical inspiration is drawn from two perspectives within the modern history of technology and sociology of technology; the LTS (Large Technical Systems) and STS (Science, Technology and Society) approaches, as well as from the regime theory concept within political science. This multidisciplinary framework provides the theoretical basis for the study, including terms as socio-technical systems, system builder, technification, interpretative flexibility, stabilization, closing and regime change. In addition, the analysis draws upon previous research in economic history, where focus often has been on the important role of institutions. The term path dependence is central in this tradition.</p><p>The starting point for the study is the process of a mutual legitimization between citizens and political actors that traditionally has taken place within the public sphere. In return for citizens support and trust, political actors have granted format rights to the public space. Two aspects of this interdependence are addressed: Freedom of speech and citizen’s access to public information, and their access to arenas where an exchange of political ideas and opinions is taking place. In the study, the former is a question of the legal system and the limits to freedom of speech in new medias such as the Internet, while the latter concerns citizen’s technical means and possibilities to connect to electronic networks.</p><p>Research interest is concentrated on the formal political system, focusing both actors and structural factors such as technological development, media convergence, ideological change and international integration in the transformation process. Four case studies of institutional changes during formative moments, within what is defined as the legal and the technical infrastructures, are conducted and represent the empirical base of the thesis. The case studies are centered on Swedish governmental commissions, on the government itself and on proceedings in the parliament, and concerns formation and transformation of computer law, as well as the deregulation and privatization of the technical infrastructure.</p><p>In the latter process Televerket (Swedish Telecom) has been an influential promoter of competition and institutional separation between tele- and data communications, representing a major regime change in favour of market relations in the technical infrastructure. In the area of computer law, the Swedish regime dominated by SCB (Statistics Sweden) was incorporated into a joint European data protection regime, resulting in limitations of freedom of speech on the Internet. These regime changes have also transformed the role of the state, constituting a “net watchers state”. </p><p>Another important finding is that promotion of democracy and improvement of access to the public sphere, never was on the agenda in the political transformation processes studied, although a parallel discourse on democracy and information technology existed throughout the period studied.</p>

<p>This licentiate thesis describes and analyses the modern history of the socio-technical systems for urban water supply and sanitation in East Africa with focus on Uganda and Kenya. The key objective of the thesis is to evaluate to what extent the historic processes frame and influence the water and sanitation services sectors in these countries today. The theoretical approach combines the Large Technical Systems approach from the discipline of History of Technology with New Institutional Economics. Throughout, urban water and sanitation service systems are regarded as socio-technical systems, where institutions, organisation and technology all interact. The thesis consists of three separate articles and a synthesis in the form of a framework narrative. The first article provides a discussion of the theoretical framework with special focus on the application of Public Goods theory to urban water and sanitation. The second article describes the establishment of the large-scale systems for water supply and sanitation in Kampala, Uganda in the period 1920-1950. The third article focuses on the politics of urban water supply in Kenya with emphasis on the period 1900-1990.</p><p>The main findings in this thesis are that the socio-technical systems for urban water and sanitation evolve over long periods of time and are associated with inertia that makes these systems change slowly. The systems were established in the colonial period to mainly respond to the needs and preferences of a wealthy minority and a technological paradigm evolved based on capital-intensive and large-scale technology. Attempts to expand services to all citizens in the post-colonial period under this paradigm were not sustainable due to changes in the social, political and economic environment while incentives for technological change were largely absent. History thus frames decisions in the public sphere even today, through technological and institutional inertia. Knowing the history of these socio-technical systems is therefore important, in order to understand key sector constraints, and for developing more sustainable service provision.</p>

This study in contemporary history describes the transformation of the public sphere in Sweden during the period 1969-1999, and analyses the role of information technology and politics in the process. The overall aim of the study is to explain how, and why, the public sphere in Jürgen Habermas sense has deteriorated during a period of rapid technological and political change, when increasing attention has been given to information technology as a new tool for improving democracy and empowering citizens. Theoretical inspiration is drawn from two perspectives within the modern history of technology and sociology of technology; the LTS (Large Technical Systems) and STS (Science, Technology and Society) approaches, as well as from the regime theory concept within political science. This multidisciplinary framework provides the theoretical basis for the study, including terms as socio-technical systems, system builder, technification, interpretative flexibility, stabilization, closing and regime change. In addition, the analysis draws upon previous research in economic history, where focus often has been on the important role of institutions. The term path dependence is central in this tradition. The starting point for the study is the process of a mutual legitimization between citizens and political actors that traditionally has taken place within the public sphere. In return for citizens support and trust, political actors have granted format rights to the public space. Two aspects of this interdependence are addressed: Freedom of speech and citizen’s access to public information, and their access to arenas where an exchange of political ideas and opinions is taking place. In the study, the former is a question of the legal system and the limits to freedom of speech in new medias such as the Internet, while the latter concerns citizen’s technical means and possibilities to connect to electronic networks. Research interest is concentrated on the formal political system, focusing both actors and structural factors such as technological development, media convergence, ideological change and international integration in the transformation process. Four case studies of institutional changes during formative moments, within what is defined as the legal and the technical infrastructures, are conducted and represent the empirical base of the thesis. The case studies are centered on Swedish governmental commissions, on the government itself and on proceedings in the parliament, and concerns formation and transformation of computer law, as well as the deregulation and privatization of the technical infrastructure. In the latter process Televerket (Swedish Telecom) has been an influential promoter of competition and institutional separation between tele- and data communications, representing a major regime change in favour of market relations in the technical infrastructure. In the area of computer law, the Swedish regime dominated by SCB (Statistics Sweden) was incorporated into a joint European data protection regime, resulting in limitations of freedom of speech on the Internet. These regime changes have also transformed the role of the state, constituting a “net watchers state”. Another important finding is that promotion of democracy and improvement of access to the public sphere, never was on the agenda in the political transformation processes studied, although a parallel discourse on democracy and information technology existed throughout the period studied.