Information Systems Development Methodologies - High Level Models and Methodologies for Information Systems - page 48

every phase of the product lifecycle follows
the principles of user-centered design, when UCD team is provided with the proper
skills and experience, it is supported by the management commitment and a proper
UCD infrastructure and when awareness and culture are properly disseminated in
and out of the organization

The UCD is accomplished when “

(Venturi and Troost 2004 ).
Following this description, we can assert that it is not suf

”

cient to have the user
participate in a given stage of the development process, but rather, a user-centered
approach and mentality must be present in every stage of the design of a speci

c
project or organization. It is a methodology that combines user participation with a
formative assessment; thus, it is primarily based on a multidisciplinary team, the
interaction between the user and system, the active involvement of users and a
strong user-centered infrastructure.
UCD methods are generally believed to have improved IS development, product
value, and usability, even though the degree to which UCD methods are adopted
varies greatly between organizations (Vredenburg et al. 2002 ).

3.2.5 ETHICS Methodology

The Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-based Systems
methodology (known as ETHICS), originally conceived by Professor Enid Mumford
in the 1970s, is a “ problem-solving methodology aimed at identifying cause effect

-

interactions for solving problems (Adman and Warren 2000 ). Its ultimate goal is to

strike an ideal balance between the social and technical perspectives within a given
system or product. Thus, it is heavily focused on the combination between technical
factors (usability, ef

”

ciency, adequacy … ) with human factors (user needs, job sat-

isfaction, cultural context ), bringing together hard and soft thinking. However, the

ETHICS methodology implies that speci

…

c analysis of both perspectives is required
before they can be brought together into a common approach (Adman and Warren
2000 ). This approach is referred to as the socio-technical perspective, and it is the
essential component of the methodology.
The ETHICS methodology was originally created as a guide to user participation
in system design (Wong and Tate 1994 ) and, as such, it considers users knowledge

and skills as vital aspects for the successful development of a system. It presents
four central aspects that form user participation: structure (concerned both with
direct and indirect forms of participation within a complex organization), content
(engages the consideration of what subjects are to be determined), process (integrity
issues are considered), and obstacles (these include lack of trust, con

'

icts of
interest, time pressures and stress, low morale, effects of authority, and commu-
nication gaps). Thus, user participation is fundamental in the ETHICS approach
(Hirschheim and Klein 1994 ).