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INTEGRATING IS AND HCI USING ACTIVITY THEORY AS A PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEORETICAL BASIS |
| November 4, 1998 |
Helen Hasan, University of Wollongong
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ABSTRACT
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The
fields of Information Systems (IS) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
are both multidisciplinary in nature and each is searching for an
identity as a legitimate discipline in its own right, with a firm
theoretical basis. Activity Theory offers a set of concepts, structures
and terms which are eminently suited to both fields. It has its origins
in the cultural historical psychology of Russia, and avoids the
dichotomies between thought and action, and between individuals and
society, that are prevalent in western thinking.
This paper describes the basic
principles of Activity Theory as they apply to IS and HCI, with
particular emphasis on those systems which provide knowledge about the
progress of their organisation to senior managers. Activity Theory
principles will be used in a longitudinal case study to analyse an
extensive project which attempted, with limited success, to produce
management support systems in an organisation. The Activity Theory
analysis indicates that an integrated IS and HCI approach would have
improved the outcomes of this project.
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CONTENTS
- INTRODUCTION
- SECTION 2 INFORMATION SYSTEMS SUPPORT FOR MANAGEMENT
- SECTION 3 PRINCIPLES OF ACTIVITY THEORY
- SECTION 4 THE STUDY: BACKGROUND AND METHOD
- SECTION 5 THE STUDY: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
- CONCLUSION
- REFERENCES
This paper is currently under review and may be published by Australian Journal of Information Systems. For details of this journal please refer to the Australian Journal of Information Systems web site http://www.uow.edu.au/ajis/ajis.html.
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1. INTRODUCTION
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The fields of information
systems (IS) and human-computer interaction (HCI) have much in common.
Over the past 10 to 20 years there has been an emergence of new
conferences, journals and professional associations in both IS and HCI
but both fields are still searching for identities as legitimate
disciplines in their own right.
Davies and Ledington (1991)
assert that information systems is a hybrid field which is attached to
many other disciplines. They claim that, as information is central to
our lives, attempts to restrict it to a single area of study are
futile. At the same time Carroll (1991) describes human-computer
interaction as an interdisciplinary area of applied research and design
practice. Mantovani (1996) warns however that the necessary
multi-disciplinary work, crossing barriers separating scientific
cultures, can be "highly effort demanding, time consuming, and
sometimes distressing, requiring as it does negotiation among
researchers with different ways of speaking and thinking".
The field of IS grew in an
era when large transaction processing systems were created and
maintained in organisations by specialised IS staff. The field's formal
methods of systems analysis and design (SA&D) are best suited to
the development of operational systems which automate tedious work
processes. In the traditional linear SA&D lifecycle, users were
viewed as people from whom to get initial requirements and, later on,
were there to test the final product.
A popular IS textbook by Alter (1996) states that "an information system is a system that uses information technology to capture, transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate, or display information used in one or more business processes".
This is a common usage of the term but contains several statements
which can be questioned. Must an IS be computer-based or even rely on
technology at all? What is "information"? Are IS only found in a
business context? Where is the boundary of an IS; does it just include
the information processing technology, or should it include people and
work processes in the "system"? The fact that these questions arise is
symptomatic of the confusion regarding the philosophical and
theoretical foundations of IS..
If IS research has any
traditional base it must surely be General Systems Theory (GST). The
systems approach would treat the computer technology, its human users
and any relevant part of the organisation as one whole integrated
purposeful system. Systems theorists insist that the system's approach
may be the only valid treatment of some problems and the only way to
"create coherence out of chaos" (van Gigch 1978), even though they
admit that such systems are inherently complex and hence difficult to
manage. However in practice, many researchers and most practitioners
restricted their view of IS to little more than the textbook definition
of Alter (1996) as stated above.
The advent of the personal
computer brought software products into use by the wider community, and
the use of computers became an object of research by ergonomists,
psychologists and others. The result was the emergence of the field of
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) which focuses on the users, and the
usability, of systems. A large proportion of HCI research has looked at
commercial software packages such as word-processors (see for example
the seminal work of Card et al 1983) and the introduction of
"user-friendly" operating systems (such as the famous Star Interface
from Xerox, the forerunner of the Macintosh) (Preece 1994).
HCI is strongly influenced by
the fields of computer science, cognitive psychology and ergonomics
(human factors). According to Carroll (1991) its key concern is to
understand and facilitate the creation of "user interfaces", that is,
of computers as experienced and manipulated by human users. This places
the human and the machine on an equal footing as two interacting
information processing systems where the output of one is the input of
the other (Aboulafia & Gould 1995). This cognitive science view of
HCI has reached its limitation from the point of view of prominent HCI
researchers such as Norman (1991) and Carroll (1991).
Zuboff (1988) makes a useful
distinction between computerised systems which "automate" as opposed to
those which "informate". Examples of systems which "informate" are
Executive Information Systems (EIS), Decision Support Systems (DSS),
Expert Systems (ES) and Intranets. Neither IS or HCI have a strong
record in dealing with these types of systems and so they are used here
to highlight current concerns in these fields.
The strength of HCI is its
focus on, and insistence on the involvement of, users in every phase of
system development. It favours an evolutionary prototyping approach
using participatory design (PD) or joint application design (JAD)
techniques (Hasan & Gould 1996, Hasan et al 1996). However the
users are often quite senior managers and it is difficult to get them
involved in the time consuming PD or JAD process.
The strength of IS is its
incorporation of business needs in systems development, but it does
rely on establishing a thorough set of user requirements before the
design and implementation phases. With informate-type systems, the
standard IS techniques of observation and interview, may only elucidate
vague requirements from users (Hasan & Lampitsi 1995).
A comprehensive, holistic
approach is essential for the study of projects such as the development
of systems to informate, where the user information requirements are
unclear and cooperation is required across many organisational units.
It will be shown in this paper, that there are at least two complex
activities interacting with each other in such projects: the activity
of system production (the focus of IS) and the activity of system use
(the focus of HCI). Too often those involved in each one of these
activities does not appreciate the importance and the complexity of the
other.
Research in this area must
contend with dynamic interactions between individuals and groups,
within a complex environment and served by sophisticated technology.
Activity Theory offers a set of concepts, structures and terms which
are eminently suited to this type of research. It has its origins in
the cultural historical psychology of Russia as propounded by Vygotsky
in the early 20th century. For this reason it avoids the dichotomies
between thought and action and between individuals and society that are
prevalent in western thinking (Blackler 1993).
This paper will investigate
the special characteristics of informate-type systems and describe the
basic principles of Activity Theory as they are applicable to systems
which provide information or knowledge about the progress of the
organisation. Activity Theory principles will be used to draw parallels
between IS and HCI, and a study will be presented where these
principles have been used.
A comprehensive holistic approach is essential for the study of
projects such as the development of systems to informate, where the
user information requirements are unclear and cooperation is required
across many organisational units. It will be shown in this paper, that
there are at least two complex activities interacting with each other
in such projects: the activity of system production (the focus of IS)
and the activity of system use (the focus of HCI). Too often those
involved in each one of these activities does not appreciate the
importance and the complexity of the other.
Research in this area must
contend with dynamic interactions between individual and groups, within
a complex environment and served by sophisticated technology. Activity
Theory offers a set of concepts, structures and terms which are
eminently suited to this type of research. It has its origins in the
cultural historical psychology of Russia as propounded by Vygotsky in
the early 20th century. For this reason it avoids the dichotomies
between thought and action and between individuals and society that are
prevalent in western thinking (Blackler 1993).
This paper will investigate
the special characteristics of informate-type systems and describe the
basic principles of Activity Theory as they are applicable to systems
which provide information or knowledge about the progress of the
organisation. Activity Theory principles will be used to draw parallels
between IS and HCI, and a study will be presented where these
principles have been used.
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2. INFORMATION SYSTEMS SUPPORT FOR MANAGEMENT
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With the increasing
recognition that information is an important organisational resource,
has come a demand for systems that bridge the gap between the huge
quantities of raw data in company databases and the provision of useful
information to support management. Business Intelligence (BI),
Executive Support Systems (ESS), Executive Information System (EIS) and
more recently intranets, are some of the commonly used names for
systems which aim to provide information in a form that suits the
styles and tasks of senior managers. These, together with DSS and
Expert Systems, are now among the most strategic systems in
organisations and will be collectively referred to in this paper as
Management Support Systems (MSS).
In the late 1980s, the work
of Rockart and De Long (1988) on Executive Support System (ESS)
contested the notion that rigid computer systems were essentially alien
to the unstructured and flexible work of senior managers and provided
case studies where ESS were becoming indispensable to the work of many
executives. However many organisations still do not have a functional
information system that is relevant to the work of senior executives
and there remains the complex problem of determining the requirements
of the system which differ from industry to industry, organisation to
organisation and from manager to manager.
The work of strategic
decision makers has always been inherently complex and "unstructured"
(Mintzberg 1975, Mintzberg et al 1976), but more so today than ever, as
the political, economic and social climate is constantly changing. To
establish initial specifications for a MSS, it would be worthwhile to
analyse the characteristics of the managers, the roles they adopt and
the activities in which they engage, using a list of generic management
styles, roles and activities such as those published by Fidler and
Rogerson (1996). The results of this analysis, could then be used to
determine the composition of a MSS that would support the identified
management styles, roles and activities. The contentious issue here is
the degree of processing of the data supplied to the MSS. Do executives
require highly summarised data, or something more in the form of
information or knowledge? This question raises a debate on the
definition of these 2 terms.
There has been debate in the
IS community on the IS distinction between data, information and
knowledge. (ISWORLD 1997). The discussants in this debate agreed that
data is the raw facts, events and figures, in fact, the carriers of
information and knowledge. Most definitions of information implied that
information is data which has been sufficiently processed as to be
immediately useful and thus is relative to its use. There was even the
suggestion that, in common use, information is simply the output of a
computer.
Knowledge was defined in a
number of ways such as "information which has been internalised and
results in enhanced operations" or " the application of a combination
of instincts, ideas, rules and procedures that guide actions and
decisions" and that knowledge "normally causes some change in your
internal mental map of the external world". The point was also
made in the discussion that the discipline of Information systems
should no longer be concerned with data processing or information
processing but knowledge management.
These concepts are relevant
to the design of computer support for senior executives. Cognitive
research shows that people use map-like structure to make sense of
information (Fiol 1992) and cognition can be defined as the activity of
knowing: the acquisition, organisation and use of knowledge (Neisser
1976). Norman (1991) states that managers have working mental models of
their organisation and Fiol (1992) argues that the broad strategic
concerns of managers require a portfolio of different kinds of
cognitive maps which are used as a decision aid. She contends that the
interaction among these maps is important, as is the recognition that
many of these maps are in the form of ingrained, and taken-for-granted,
assumptions. Wagner (1995) observes that decision makers in
organisations continually face "messy", wide-and-open, non-quantitative
problems and proposes techniques that rely on the human problem solver
to "make sense" of the problem in a structured way.
A related concept, used by
Kuutti and Virkkunen (1995), Randall et al (1996) and others, is the
term "organisational memory", a metaphor relating to the collective
memories of an organisation's members. The need for "organisational
memory" may be a consequence of restructuring and downsizing when
organisations discover that much of the organisation's "knowledge"
leaves with sacked or released employees. Kuutti and Virkkunen (1995)
propose that there should be methods and systems which can capture this
"knowledge" and make it available to new members of the organisation.
In summary an ideal MSS
should provide knowledge management that enhances the accuracy of
managers "mental maps", support the solution of "messy" problems and
captures organisational memory. It should be relevant to the management
styles of real people in the roles they play and the activities in
which they engage. MSS designers must anticipate changing requirements
and be sensitive to the context in which it will be used.
A framework in which this can
be done is that provided by Activity Theory. The reasons for this
choice will be elaborated below but are well articulated by Blackler
(1993) in his review of the relationship between knowledge organisation
and the management. where he says "Activity Theory reframes management
by modelling the recurrent and embedded nature of human activities, by
revealing the tentative nature of knowledge and its action orientation
and by highlighting the opportunities for individual and collective
development that engagement and dilemma can provide".
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3. PRINCIPLES OF ACTIVITY THEORY
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Activity Theory has its roots
in the work of the Russian psychologist Vygotsky during the first half
of this century, and is based on the idea that human activity is
mediated by cultural signs: words and tools, which cause changes in
that activity, and thus its internal mental reflection (Vygotsky 1978).
Vygotsky's work was continued by others including Leontjev who
developed a conceptual framework for the theory of Activity. (Leontjev
1981). The theory therefore has a well established tradition and has
been applied in education, linguistics, anthropology, cultural research
and more recently HCI (Kaptelinin 1994), computer science, (Bodker1991)
and IS (Kuutti 1990). An excellent compilation of work on Activity
Theory and computer-based systems can be found in the book by Nardi
(1996).
According to Kuutti (1996),
Activity Theory is "a philosophy and cross-disciplinary framework for
studying different forms of human practices and development processes,
with both individual and social levels interlinked". It requires a
paradigm shift for most western researchers and it is not easily
comprehended on a first encounter. The following is an overview of key
principles that could be applied to MSS.
In Activity Theory the basic
unit of analysis of all human endeavour is "activity", a broader more
embracing concept than individual goal-oriented actions. The word
"activity" has been chosen in English to be the best, but not perfect,
equivalent of the Russian word. "deyatelnost" roughly meaning human
"doing" (performing or operating both physically and mentally). An
activity is the minimum meaningful context for individual human actions
and unless the whole activity is the unit of analysis, the analysis is
incomplete. This is not unlike the General Systems Theory model which
assumes that life in society is organised around complex systems which,
when studied, should be treated as whole entities (Hasan 1998).
An MSS project usually
requires an organisation-wide data model, cross-functional integration
and cooperation from many sources and is often related to
Data-Warehousing (Hasan 1995). This "activity" of MSS development must
be studied as a whole and failure to take this broad view of the
project can often be its downfall. Political rivalry and conflicts over
"data ownership" must be anticipated and an MSS project team should
realise that a system which informs management decisions can impact on
the progress of the whole organisation.
Central to Activity Theory is
the concept that all human activity involves the use of tools and that
this distinguishes human activity from the activities of animals.
Activity Theory recognises that there are physical, material tools,
such as computer and psychological tools, such as language and ideas.
While physical tools produce changes in the material object,
psychological tools influence the psyche and behaviour of subjects.
Modern computer systems act as both material and psychological tools to
support human activity but this tool concept is not always recognised
in HCI or IS.
Most of the initial work in
HCI, such as that by Card et al (1983), was based on the cognitive
science model of humans as information processors with sensory inputs
and motor outputs not unlike the computer (Aboulafia & Gould 1995).
The interaction between human and machine was comparable to the
interface between two computers where the output of one was the input
to the other. This perceived equality of person and computer is
evidenced by the term artificial intelligence. Some eminent HCI
researchers have challenged that image. Norman (1991) uses the term
"cognitive artefact" to describe a computer system and suggests that
the real "interface" of interest is that between the artefact and the
task. Carroll (1991) likewise proposes a dynamic task-artefact cycle
that serves the needs of the human user.
In the field of IS, task
analysis of work process is more likely to look for those tasks which
can be automated, than those that can be done by people with the
computer as a support tool. An effective methodology for developing the
latter type of systems is missing from most IS training curricula. One
approach that has merit is that suggested by Ciborra and Francesco
(1989), where a minimal set of hardware and software is put in place
and further development is done as needed, either by end-users
themselves, or by a professional team.
Activity Theory opens up the
concept that, together with the physical MSS, the information and
knowledge it provides should also be viewed as tools. This is related
to the concept of internalisation that is discussed below and very
relevant to the way a manager might use an MSS.
An activity is undertaken by
a human actor motivated towards an object and mediated by a tool as
shown in Figure 1. Activities are distinguished from each other
according to their objects. The word object is used in the sense of the
"object of the exercise" and is related to the motive driving the
activity, hence the term object-oriented activity is often used. In
other words, transforming the object into an outcome motivates the
existence of an activity (Kuutti 1996).
![[Figure 1]](hasan_files/hasfig1.gif)
In the context of MSS use, it
is proposed that the principle "activity" has the components shown in
Figure 2, where the manager uses the MSS to make sense or understand
the organisation and its environment in order to make more appropriate
decisions.
![[Figure 2]](hasan_files/hasfig2.gif)
Activity Theory recognises
that there are two kinds of objects: real, physical (material) objects
and ideal (mental) objects, present in the subject's mind. The motive
of an activity is always objective whether real or ideal and Activity
Theory considers social and cultural properties of the environment to
be as objective as the physical and biological ones. The object
"sense-making" in Figure 2 is an example of a valid ideal object.
There is no activity without
an object, that is activity is always purposeful although sometimes
even the subject is not fully aware of that purpose. Activities can be
polymotivated, an issue that must be addressed in MSS use, where the
motivation may include the desire to be better informed and make better
decisions but may also for status, to impress one's competitors or a
variety of other reasons.
In the activity of MSS
development, the object is the final MSS product and a successful
outcome is more likely if all members of the development team are aware
of, and agree on, its purpose.
Another dynamic addressed by
Activity Theory is the active nature of the subject of an activity. A
person brings with them a whole range of biases that will affect how
they approach the activity: previous experience, cognitive skills,
personality and culturally determined traits. These will continue to
evolve as the person undertakes the activity. In the activity of
management decision making the subjects are the MSS users, usually high
powered company executives.
The principal tenet of HCI
has been "early and constant focus on the user" (Preece 1994) and user
involvement in product design has been a constant theme. Communication
between the triad of management, IS staff and system users, has often
been difficult (Hasan & Cheung 1994) and the HCI techniques of PD
and JAD have proved to be effective in facilitating this communication.
The users of a MSS can be a heterogeneous mix with different management
styles, personalities and cognitive skills. A review of the research
literature in this area could produce a checklist of possible
combinations of characteristics with guidelines as to the possible
systems design that may be suitable for each. The term "executive
profiling" is becoming popular in the organisational management
community.
Participating in an activity
involves performing conscious actions, that have an immediate and
definite goal, and operations according to the hierarchy in Figure 3.
![[Figure 3]](hasan_files/hasfig3.gif)
Activities are always related
to motives, whereas actions are always related to goals. Goals are
always conscious, but the operations which make up actions are usually
non-conscious and automatically performed. Most importantly, although
an activity can consist of many actions and operations in context, it
is more than the sum of these.
The hierarchical structure
shown in Figure 3 is a dynamic one. One activity usually is performed
by several actions and operations. The same activity can be performed
by different sets of actions. The same action can be used in different
activities, as most subjects are often engaged in several concurrent
activities.
This Activity Theory
hierarchy has two significant messages for IS and HCI. One is that
focussing on the whole activity, and not the detailed actions, may
facilitate dialogue between the different stakeholders. At this top
level, the purpose of the system is at issue, and cross-disciplinary
communication should be easier.
Secondly the interplay
between the levels of actions and operations is important with the
desire for more usable, transparent computer systems. The aim in
interface design is to allow the user to concentrate on conscious
actions that are a significant part of the activity and relegate the
use of the machine to the realm of unconscious operations.
Activity Theory provides a
model of humans in their social and organisational context. One of the
main criticisms of the current cognitive science bias of HCI research
is that it does not provide an appropriate conceptual basis for
computer use in its wider social and organisational context. Activity
Theory demands that activities are always studied in situ, taking into
account the political, economical, social and cultural realities. Two
examples of contextual concepts are Collective Activity and Tool
Mediation.
The basic activity structure
applies to an individual subject. However as Kaptelinin (1996) observes
the cultural-historical tradition emphasises the social nature of human
beings and it would be natural to expect that Activity Theory would
support the study of group activities.
The scheme of Engestrom
(Kuutti 1996) as shown in Figure 4 extends the basic structure of
Activity Theory to include group activities. In this scheme the entity
of community is added to those of subject and object in the structure
of activity. Whereas the subject-object relationship is mediated by the
tool, the community-subject relationship is mediated by rules. The
relationship between community and object is labelled "division of
labour" but this term may need rethinking outside the Scandinavian
tradition.
![[Figure 4]](hasan_files/hasfig4.gif)
It is this model of activity
that offers most promise for the study of MSS which are used in
organisational contexts and may include communication facilities and
tools for data manipulation to support decision making processes.
The structure of activity is
strongly cognisant of the power of the tool to mediate and change the
activity it supports. The mediating property of the tool modifies
existing activities and opens the possibilities for new ones.
Developers rarely consider how the tool they design will mediate
activities, changing work practices as well as social and cultural
norms.
It is common that, only as
users become familiar with the system, can they appreciate the
possibilities it offers. This is why an evolutionary prototyping method
of development is recommended so that the system can grow with the
user. This however means an ongoing commitment of resources as the
system may not be signed off as complete even after a long period of
real use.
A fundamental principle of AT
is the unity of consciousness and activity, where consciousness is
considered to be the human mind as a whole and activity is considered
as the interaction of the human with objective reality. This leads to
the object oriented model of a subject's interaction with the
environment.
The concept of
internalisation is described by Vygotsky (1978) as the underlying
mechanism for the origin of mental processes. Mental processes are
derived from external actions through the course of internalisation.
This is in apposition to conventional cognitive psychology which
emphasises the mind as the source of action. It is through activity
that we learn and internalise concepts that then become a psychological
tool that is manipulation in the Internal Plane of Action (IPA). The
IPA is a concept developed within Activity Theory that refers to the
human ability to perform manipulation with an internal representation
of external objects before starting actions with these objects in
reality (Kaptelinin 1996). IPA is more general than the cognitive
concepts of working memory and mental models and is well suited to the
analysis of the processes of dealing with the "messy", unstructured
problems of senior managers. The information provided and the knowledge
managed by an MSS should support the user's IPA..
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4. THE STUDY: BACKGROUND AND METHOD
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The benefits of applying
Activity Theory to MSS from both an IS and HCI perspective, is
demonstrated in the following longitudinal case study which analysed
the attempts made in a project to provide relevant and useful
information to support quality management initiatives in an Australian
university. The university project began in 1993 as a quality assurance
initiative and evolved into a data-warehouse development (1994-1997).
Though useful outcomes were produced, the project did not succeed in
producing a useable MSS. The case study described in this paper
investigated both system development (IS) and usability (HCI) issues of
the MSS project. The Activity Theory approach gave new insight into the
processes and outcomes.
The author conducted the case
study by observation and periodic interviews with principal
stakeholders, over the five year period of the project. Data was
collected in the form of transcripts of interviews, notes from
observation and documents. The documents covered initiatives for
quality assurance and performance indicators, planning and review,
information systems policy and implementation as well as government and
industry reports. As presented earlier in this paper, Activity Theory
was considered the most appropriate method of qualitative data analysis
suitable for this lengthy study, based on similar work by Boedker and
Groebak (1996), Kuutti (1996) and Engestrom and Escalante (1996).
Whereas these previous
applications of Activity Theory as a research tool were highly
descriptive in nature, a much more categorical approach to data
analysis was used in this work using the following steps:
- The activities of interest were chosen and identified by defining their objects (in the activity theory sense).
- Activity Theory diagrams were then drawn to display this data.
- The structure of activity was used to filter and organise the data into categories of subject, outcome, community and tool.
- The resulting situation was described in the language of Activity Theory
- Other
activity theory concepts, such as the action/operation hierarchy, tool
mediation and internalisation/externalisation, could then be used in a
focussed way to interpret the data and draw conclusions.
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5. THE STUDY: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
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The 5 steps listed above will
now be demonstrated in a detailed analysis of the university MSS
project. Words used with their specific Activity Theory meaning will be
written in italics.
Step 1
The first step here is critical and, using an approach similar to that
of Boedker and Groebak (1996), it was recognised that the activities central to this study were firstly the activity of creating the MSS, for which the MSS is the outcome, and secondly the activity of being informed, which uses the MSS as a tool. These activities correspond respectively to an IS and an HCI perspective.
Step 2
These 2 activities are interrelated, as shown in Figure 5, using Engestrom diagrams for both activities. the top activity (Figure 4 inverted) is the use activity and the lower one is the development activity, the object of which is the tool for the first activity. The terms use and development will be used for these two activities in the remainder of the paper.
![[Figure 5]](hasan_files/hasfig5.gif)
Step 3
The quality assurance initiative and data warehousing development are
now described using Activity Theory language and structure.
Following considerable
restructuring of the tertiary education sector in the 1980s, in the
early 1990s the Australian government turned its attention to making
the system work effectively and efficiently and it was felt that
quality assurance could best be achieved through the use of performance
indicators. The first stage of the project included in this study was
begun in early 1993 when a group, coordinated by the head of the
Education Policy Research Program, was awarded a grant for the
investigation of institution-based Quality Assurance, in line with
government policy. The project group included representation from top
university management, and had expertise in TQM as well as education
and research performance evaluation. These were all potential subjects of the use activity.
There was no permanent member of the group with IS development
expertise and only occasional representation from the university's
Administration Information Systems (AIS) department, who maintained the
student database and other operational systems. Several group members,
mainly those who had experience in the design of educational software,
took on the role of subjects of the development activity. Their knowledge of IS development, in particular data analysis and design, was very limited.
The outcomes of this phase of
the project were: (1) a set of research papers, (2) an Information
Needs Audit for the broad spectrum of university staff and (3) a
"user-friendly information system prototype to be accessible on line by
staff of all ranks, in academic as well as administrative units, to
support informed decision-making" (Fasano 1994). Unfortunately this
prototype lacked credibility, as the technology, and IS development
expertise, used for the prototype was restricted to the authoring
systems that were used in the Education Department for computer-aided
learning applications. The Information Needs Audit was a lengthy list
of information requirements gathered from representatives of various
groups on campus. There was no evidence that this list was
comprehensive and there was no allowance for the way in which the needs
would change over time. However it was a useful document.
In 1994 there was a decision,
driven by AIS, to create a Data-Warehouse in an effort to meet the
rapid growing need for easily accessible information on students as
identified in the Information Needs Audit. This Data Warehouse has been
successfully implemented by AIS staff using an ORACLE database. The
main reason for this choice was to be compatible with the anticipated
release of a new student enrolment system by a consortium of Australian
Universities. However development of this system is still a long way
behind schedule and the Data-Warehouse continues to be used with
regular daily updates from the legacy operational student database.
This development activity, performed by subjects with IS skills, has produced an outcome
that is technically sound but not very useable. Control of end-user
access to the Data Warehouse was not left with AIS but given to the
Planning and Marketing Department (PMD) on the assumption that they
would know what the users want. Employing contract programmers PMD have
made three attempts to create a user-interface to the Data Warehouse:
once using downloads into Excel spreadsheets, once using a web browser
interface and a third end-user system using a suite of Oracle queries
and reports. None of these systems have passed the prototype stage and
PMD continue to use ORACLE programmers to generate ad hoc reports from
the Data Warehouse, in response to specific requests from management,
and for the periodic government reporting. The use activity in this case has virtually failed.
The most useful outcome
of the whole project has been the realisation of the complexity of the
information needs of university management at all levels. The quality
assurance project's conclusion highlighted the need by all
decision-makers in the university to access information "well beyond
what is provided by pre-established lists of indicators" and that there
is a "need of staff to access information processing capabilities, as
well as just information, allowing individual and specialised
reporting" (Fasano 1994)..
Step 4
The language of Activity Theory is useful when describing this situation. It is clear that the objects of the two activities, development and use,
are quite distinct. The object of one is to produce an artefact, the
MSS, while the object of the other is to get a sense of how the
organisation is preforming using that artefact. It is well known that
the subjects of these two activities are often worlds apart and
do not communicate well. The MSS developers are familiar with technical
tools whereas managers often have little in the way of computing
skills. It was apparent in the two projects of the study, that the
activities are often confused, with project teams contain both sets of
subjects, and one or other group tends to dominate.
At the Quality Assurance stage of the project, the activity of MSS use was dominant and the outcome was a somewhat useful "Information Needs Audit" but a weak system. The Data Warehouse development phase had a successful outcome in the Data Warehouse but still no useable interface that could provide an MSS for managers.
Using Figure 5 as a model it is clear that subjects of the MSS development activity and the subjects
of the MSS use activity have a different perception of the aim of an
MSS project. The developers aim to produce a robust, working system,
while the managers want an easy-to-use tool that will provide a
clear picture of the organisation's performance. Senior managers
usually find it difficult to specify what sort of tool would be useful for their activity in a language that is meaningful a technical person. Both sets of subjects however are members of the same community which strongly depends on the outcomes of both activities.
Step 5
Identifying the activities and their components is only the first phase
in an Activity Theory analysis. All the other concepts of the theory,
as described in Section 3 above can be brought to the analysis of the
problem. Three of these are now briefly discussed.
This study is typical of most
MSS projects run by teams composed of members, from different
backgrounds, to whom different aspects of the project are important.
The hierarchical structure of Activity Theory provides a means of
dealing with this problem by insisting that the "unit of analysis" or
"focus of study" should be a single identified purpose or object of the whole activity. An MSS project comprises a development and a use activity whose objects
should be made clear to all. Once the main purpose is established and
agreed by the team, then all points of disagreement should be on lower
implementation issues at the action or operation level
(see Figure 3). Activity Theory stipulates that one activity may be
undertaken by different sets of actions and operations which may vary
depending on the state of the subject, the tool and the community
at the time. Less importance can then be placed on deciding which are
the best actions to achieve the object of the activity. Team members,
aware that there is no necessity to agree on one correct set of actions
to carry out the activity, should find it easier to communicate and
cooperate.
The concept of tool mediation
anticipates that changes will take place in an activity through the use
of the tool. Participants in an MSS project usually focus on what sort
of system would be useful for an activity as it is now. Activity Theory
states that the question should be: "what sort of system would adapt
with the users as they became more competent and reliant on the tool".
The process by which managers
use information in the decision-making process is not well understood.
The Activity Theory concept of IPA, introduced in Section 3.6 of this
paper, deals with the way in which information is internalised by
subjects as a mapping from the external world. This concept could be
used to guide the design of information structure and presentation in
an MSS. Further research in this area is strongly recommended.
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6. CONCLUSION
|
MSS are organisational
systems that are normally the province of IS. However, as systems which
"informate" rather than automate, they differ from traditional
organisational systems, in that they have uncertain specifications and
a non- homogeneous user population. The field of HCI specialises in
problems of users and the field of IS could, in general, benefit from
some of its teachings. However both IS and HCI lack a sufficiently
contextual and flexible methodology to adequately support the
development and use of information systems to support senior managers.
The principles of Activity
Theory have much offer both IS and HCI and could be an appropriate
philosophical and theoretical foundation for the study of systems such
as MSS in the following ways:
Nardi (1997), an
anthropologist, believes that Activity Theory provides a common
vocabulary to facilitate cross-disciplinary discussion and Activity
Theory has already proved to be applicable for descriptive and
explanatory studies of HCI and IS problems (for example the studies of
Bodker 1991 and Engestrom & Escalante 1996). Attempts are now being
directed at a more prescriptive application of Activity Theory to
problems of HCI using a design checklist (Nardi & Kaptelinin 1997).
The study presented in this paper suggested that another prescriptive
use of Activity Theory could be the use of the diagram shown in Figure
5 which relates system building to system use. This diagram, together
with the dynamic and contextual principles of Activity Theory, could be
a vehicle for describing the situation, identifying important issues
and warning of common pitfalls.
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