[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Socio-Technical Systems Thinking

Appraisal and Prospects

## Details

**Authors** Selsky, John W.; Babüroğlu, Oğuz N.

**Year** 2023

**Publisher** Journal of Systems Thinking 3(1):1-13

**Kind of work** chapter

**Discipline** Business & Management

**Secondary disciplines** Systems Science, Sociology

**Reading level** technical

**Kind of engagement** scholarly

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.54120/jost.000012) 
10.54120/jost.000012

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Appraises socio-technical systems thinking (STST) — its origins at the Tavistock Institute, its key developments, the critiques made of it and its prospects — drawing on systems theory, organization studies, information science and ergonomics.

### What they found (results)

STST rests on three ideas: joint optimization of the social and technical systems, choice in design principles, and work systems as open systems in an environment. The authors find its diffusion has been narrow, its treatment of power thin, and its engagement with high technology slight. They argue it must become socio-ecological — extending joint optimization to the environment and to inter-organizational systems — to remain useful.

## Commentary

### In short

An appraisal of socio-technical systems thinking seventy years after the Tavistock coal-mine studies, arguing the tradition must extend from the workplace to ecosystems to stay relevant.

### Response

Published in the Handbook of Systems Thinking (Cabrera, Cabrera & Midgley, eds., 2023), a volume built on the premise that systems thinking now has a universal theory—DSRP-484. Its contents were selected on that basis by its editorial team in concert with a team of advisors.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R, P

**How to cite this** Selsky, John W.; Babüroğlu, Oğuz N. (2023). Socio-Technical Systems Thinking: Appraisal and Prospects. Journal of Systems Thinking 3(1):1-13.