RISULTATI RICERCA

The paper focuses on the relationships between power and technology in the field of organization studies, shedding light on the conceptual juxtapositions arousing from the debate. It discusses the many concepts of power and the relationship between digital technologies and power. Then it focuses on the role of digital technologies with respect to automation processes and control dynamics and deepens the transformations of jobs and professions in relation to digital technologies’ adoption. The contribution calls for overcoming the dualistic nature of debates, so to understand sociality and materiality, power and technology as a form of continuum.

L’adozione delle tecnologie 4.0 comporta, per molte imprese, l’attivazione di processi di riprogettazione dell’organizzazione. Su questo tema, la teoria dei sistemi sociotecnici ha proposto alcuni principi di progettazione, volti a massimizzare le prestazioni organizzative e al contempo a preservare o sviluppare la qualità del lavoro degli operatori. Attraverso l’analisi di tre imprese che hanno investito nelle tecnologie digitali e contestualmente riprogettato le loro strutture organizzative, il presente studio fornisce evidenze in merito a come i principi di progettazione elaborati dalla teoria sociotecnica vengano oggi declinati, mostrando la possibilità che questa prospettiva possa (ri)diventare centrale sia nella teoria che nelle pratiche manageriali.

At the end of the ’90s, digital technologies took command changing global value chains, business models, services, organisational functioning, work. Business Process Reengineering, Lean Production, CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) became very popular approaches among managers overshadowing the STS (Sociotechnical Approach). In this chapter, a reconsideration of sociotechnical approach is proposed in line with the digital revolution and the new needs for rapid and radical changes. The positive aspect of those approaches are partly incorporated in the proposal of a Sociotechnical Approach 2.0: going back to the basic as process centred organization, quality of working life, process of design and change.
1. Overcoming the bureaucratic and taylor-fordist organization. From functional to process centred organisation as the core step
2. Business process re-engineering
3. Computer Support Cooperative Work (CSCW)
4. Lean production and Toyota Production System
5. The sociotechnical design 2.0
6. The "Qualit" approach: how re-engineer and improve sociotechnical systems
7. People empowerment
8. Structural change management
9. Sociotechnical system revisited at the end of the century. Joint design of information technology, business processes and work.

The origins of development of intellectual discipline for interfacing human and machine are reviewed in terms of three fifteen-year phases from 1940 to 1985. The first phase concentrated on empirical studies and design of the physical human-machine interface, i.e., displays and controls. The second phase focused on the transformation of systems engineering models to characterize the entire closed loop communication, decision and control system containing the human operator. The third and most recent phase emphasized the application of computers to aiding and implementing operator decision. The currently available knowledge combined with the technologies of advanced computers, sensors, robot effectors and the techniques of artificial intelligence and control is now producing a new phase of telerobotics which portends fundamental change in the way people work. The emergence of telerobotics has newly accentuated four classical dilemmas: (1) determinism vs. free will; (2) reliability vs. creativity; (3) utilization of new technology vs. prevention of worker alienation; and (4) objectivity vs. advocacy. The relevance of each to telerobotics and human work is discussed. Society is now at the point of having to decide what mix of human and machine is best to produce desired goods and services and to satisfy the aspirations of workers and organizations.

Le cure di routine nelle terapie intensive neonatali (TIN) si basano soprattuttosu procedure manuali. Negli ultimi anni, diversi studi hanno mostrato come il tocco influenzi lo sviluppo dei bambini, soprattutto se pretermine, ma mancano studi sulla palpazione come strumento di valutazione clinica. Pertanto, gli autori propongono il modello Neonatal Assessment Manual scorE (NAME), una procedura di valutazione basata sul tocco che potrebbe aiutare l’equipe delle TIN. Il NAME mira a valutare come il corpo del bambino si adatta a pressioni manuali gentili. Stimolando meccanorecettori a bassa soglia, queste pressioni possono indurre una complessa risposta neurologica che può alterare l’emodinamica e il ritmo respiratorio del bambino, così come il suo volume corporeo. L’operatore può avvertire questi cambiamenti tramite la percezione aptica e ottenere informazioni riguardanti lo sviluppo e le condizioni cliniche del bambino, in quanto la risposta corporea dipende da essi. Se futuri studi dovessero confermarne la validità e l’affidabilità nella pratica clinica, il NAME potrebbe diventare parte delle cure di routine neonatali.