Citizen Engagement in ICT Design: The Challenge - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 128

organizations .” Albert Cherns formulated nine principles of sociotechni-
cal systems design (1976), which represent “ the classic formulation of the
body of experience and knowledge about work group design that has been

accumulated over the years ”. These nine principles are shown in Table 7.2.

Table 7.2. A summary of Cherns' nine principles of sociotechnical design (1976)

Principle Summary

Compatibility The processes of design should be compatible

with desired design outcomes (i.e. they should be
highly participative).

Minimal critical specification Methods of working and design must express the

essential requirements.

Sociotechnical criterion Control is local and should be given to the imme-

diate work team - the aim is to make supervision
minimal.

Multi-function Individual and groups need a range of tasks. Or-

ganisational boundaries should not be drawn to
impede the sharing of information, learning and
knowledge.

Boundary location Information should support those who need to

take action.

Information flow Those who need resources should have access to,

and authority over them; roles should be multi-
functional and multi-skilled. Information flow
should avoid intermediaries where possible.

Support congruence Other systems supporting the focal group should

be congruent in their design.

Design and human values Transitional arrangements between an existing

and a new system should be planned and de-
signed in their own right.

Incompletion Redesign is iterative and continuous and requires

review and evaluation.

These principles were drawn from the experience of a number of con-
sultants and researchers in a variety of settings, and are intended as
guidelines to, rather than prescriptions for, design practice. The original
principles have been reviewed and revised both by Cherns himself and by
others (e.g. by Clegg, 2000) but they have stood the test of time in many
respects in terms of their relevance to the design of desirable digital fu-
tures. For example, applying the principle of minimum critical specifica-
tion to large ICT developments would build in the flexibility essential to
cope with the complex and changing nature of social systems. As we have
already pointed out, human systems are subject to continuous change: they
change while you are analyzing them, they change while you are building