Application of the theory of organized activity to the coordination of social information systems

Co-ordination is seen as a fundamental aspect of organisational activity where computers can help. This is motivated by the need to reconcile the conflicts that arise from the division of labour that characterises any organisational structure and that is present in almost all business processes. We discuss the main approaches that have been proposed to address this problem and present the Theory of Organized Activity as an alternative approach. This approach, unlike most of the other computer-based approaches to coordination, focuses on the human side of activity support and sees the computer as a tool for organizing human activities instead of a way to automate these activities. In our research we have confirmed that this theory can be applied to several organisational structures, and can be used for the analysis and design of information systems that support coordination of human social activities using information technology. An example of application to the coordination of e-learn...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: ECIS
• Authors: José A. Moinhos Cordeiro, Joaquim Filipe
• Keywords: ECIS 2003, Fundamental Aspect, Information Technology, Organisational Activity, Organisational Structures