Trist, E. L. (1978). "On socio-technical systems" in W. A. Pasmore and J. J. Sherwood. Socio-technical Systems. La Jolla, CA, University Associates.

At the Tavistock Institute they aim to treat organizations as open systems and treat technology and social systems together. The continued existence of any enterprise presupposes some regular exchange in products or services with other enterprises, institutions, and persons in its external environment.

The ability for an enterprise to maintain a steady state with environmental changes is a function of its internal technical flexibility. Study of a productive system therefore as an operating entity requires detailed attention to both the technological and the social components themselves both treated as systems. Both must be optimized jointly.

The technological system and the effectiveness of the total production system will depend upon the adequacy with which the social system is able to cope with these requirements. The only justification for a rigid division of labor is a technology which demands specialized, non-substitute skills.

They believe that there is an optimum level of grouping that can be determined only by an analysis of the requirements of the technical system. Groups produces the main psychological effects when workers are related by the requirements of the task and by interdependence. The worker should have a range of mutually supportive roles.

The primary task of managing the enterprise is to relate the enterprise to its environment, not just internal managment. They may need to change the social structure to take advantage of new technologies, and vice versa. They need to analyze the variances in action in the organization and put control at the source of these variances.

There is a general process to socio-technical based introductions of technology:

1. Sanctioning of the technology

2. Initial Scan to develop overall picture of the work system.

Specify all groups inside and outside the task system. Specify general inputs and outputs of the system. Study the history, sociology, and psychology that led to the current system. Based on the output, formulate a mission statment and a philosophy of change.

3. Technical Analysis

Specify every step in the work conversion process. Create a massive flow diagram of the work process and figure out any unit clusters, looking for a natural unit of work. Then one can look at the interface of work units, and look for variances.

4. Social Analysis

5. Take both analyses and do a reconfiguration, grouping natural work units and placing control of variances in hands of the people doing the work.

6. Train people to be autonomous work teams, and reward team-based skills.