Title: Designing a method to model the socio-technical systems

Authors: Mohammad Mirkazemi Mood; Ali Mohaghar; Yaser Nesari

Addresses: Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Management, Central Tehran Branch of Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: To capture the complexity and diversity of systems with both technical and social features, modelling methods are needed that similarly provide various tools and concepts. Study of developed methods shows that despite all of their advantages and strengths, there is a need for a method that with a holistic approach integrates perspectives, strengths and tools of the developed methods and models with different aspects of socio-technical systems. The main aim of the current study is to design a method for modelling complex socio-technical systems. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to design a method that is based on creativity and existing knowledge base. Therefore, design science research is used as a research strategy to design proposed method. For the first time, design science research in the field of operations research has been used to design a modelling method. This study also presents new tools and concepts for modelling socio-technical systems.

Keywords: socio-technical approach; design science research; soft operations research; problem structuring methods; system thinking; meta-synthesis; modelling methods.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIDS.2024.140185

International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 2024 Vol.16 No.3, pp.284 - 318

Received: 07 May 2021
Accepted: 08 Oct 2021
Published online: 29 Jul 2024 *

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