Authors:
António Gonçalves
1
;
Pedro Sousa
2
and
Anacleto Correia
3
Affiliations:
1
Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Portugal
;
2
Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
;
3
Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal and Universidade Algarve, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Activity Theory, DEMO, GOD, Collaborative Work, Dynamic Work, Enterprise Ontology.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
e-Business
;
Enterprise Engineering
;
Enterprise Information Systems
Abstract:
This paper makes a proposal how to find dysfunctions in the operation of an organization. For that it uses relevant work done in DEMO (Dynamic Essential Modelling of Organizations approach) and as a novelty it introduces some of the Activity Theory concepts such as the contradiction concept.
The DEMO method to construct an organization´s control is named GOD (Generation, Operationalization & Discontinuation). The GOD method aims at the diagnosis of the organization’s dysfunction, i.e., deviations from what is the expected operation, and also prepares the organization for an adequate response to such dysfunctions, so that it can continue to work. Dysfunctions are found by the declaration of control rules (i.e., norms) of some organization measures and monitoring feasible values for that rules. For example a measure could be the “income per month” of the organization, a norm could be “min income per month” and viability value could be “higher than 5000 Euros”.
Notwithstanding the e
xisting of GOD, it is not clear how to choose the proper measures, norms and the control values and how to relate them with operation of organization. To solve this challenge we propose to use Activity Theory concepts such as contradictions to propose a method to choose and monitor useful measures, norms and viability values. We will use the proposed solution via a real case study of a service (e.g., www.True-Kare.com) that allows someone to provide a remote assistance to another person by using a mobile phone.
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